By Jeff Milby–

No. 2 baseball (22-2, 8-1 ACC) easily defeated Western Kentucky (9-17, 3-3) at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cardinals dominated from start to finish, ending with a 11-1 win.

“Our depth is our strength, and we need them all,” coach Dan McDonnell said.

It took four pitches for Louisville starter Shane Hummel to make it out of the first inning. The Cards’ bats didn’t wait long to get into the action either. Junior Colby Fitch doubled off the left field wall. Junior Devin Hairston sent Fitch home on the next at bat.

In the second inning, Louisville tacked on two more. Freshman Tyler Fitzgerald and senior Ryan Summers both singled off WKU’s Jeff Ciocco. A wild pitch advanced both runners, and then Fitch grounded out to first base, scoring Fitzgerald from third. A Hairston single to second base scored Summers, and Louisville lead 3-0 at the end of two innings.

Western Kentucky got one in the third when Colie Currie tripled down the right field line, then scored on a Kevin Lambert ground-out to second base.

The Cardinals put two more runs across the plate in the fifth as designated hitter Brendan McKay led off with a single to left-center. A Colin Lyman bunt-hit saw McKay advance to third. Devin Mann’s sacrifice-fly allowed McKay to tag up from third. Lyman then scored as Fitzgerald clubbed his first career triple to extend the lead to 5-1.

Stowers and Summers scored on two separate errors in the seventh for Louisville, while McKay continued his strong day with an RBI double, scoring Fitch. Louisville led 9-1 after seven innings.

The Cardinals’ Logan Ryan scored in the eighth from a single from Michael Bollmer, and Fitzgerald scored his second run of the on a wild pitch, extending the lead to ten runs with the score 11-1 after eight innings.

Louisville next takes the field against No. 16 Virginia on March 31 in Charlottesville.