Junior lefthander Brendan McKay had a career-high 15 strikeouts while also driving in a run as the No. 4 Louisville baseball team opened its Atlantic Coast Conference schedule with a 3-0 victory over Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium.

 

McKay was masterful in surrendering just two singles and issuing only one walk in seven scoreless innings to move to 3-0 on the season and 24-7 in his collegiate career. The 15 strikeouts for McKay were two better than his previous high of 13 in a win over Notre Dame on March 11, 2016. Friday's outing marked the 20th time in his collegiate career McKay as finished with eight or more strikeouts.

 

Moving into third in career wins at Louisville with the victory, McKay has allowed only one earned run in 18.0 innings (0.50 ERA) this season with 29 strikeouts and just five walks. In 19 career starts at Jim Patterson Stadium, McKay has a 17-1 record with a 1.48 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 127.0 innings.

 

Following McKay on Friday was junior righthander Lincoln Henzman, who had three strikeouts in two no-hit innings of relief to earn his second save of the season and clinch Louisville's fifth shutout in 13 games. In four appearances this season, Henzman has registered 11 strikeouts and allowed only one hit in 8.2 innings of shutout relief.

 

With the victory, Louisville moved to 13-0 overall extending the best start to a season since winning the first 13 games in 2010. The Cardinals have won 29 straight regular season home games while also winning their conference opener for the fourth straight season.

 

Offensively, the Cardinals out-hit the Panthers (7-5) 10-2 marking the 12th time in 13 games this season they have finished with 10 or more hits. Junior Drew Ellis paced the way going 2-for-3 with a double, one RBI and one run scored, while senior Colin Lyman added two hits and drove in a run. Sophomore Devin Mann chipped in with his fifth straight two-hit performance and scored once, while McKay added a RBI sacrifice fly in the win.

 

Louisville opened the scoring Friday with a pair of runs in the first inning against Pittsburgh lefty Josh Mitchell. McKay plated the first run with his run-scoring flyout left to send junior Colby Fitch home. Ellis followed with a two-out RBI single to right to score Mann for the 2-0 lead. The Cardinals added the final run of the game in the third inning when Ellis reached base with a two-out double to right field before scoring on a RBI single from Lyman.

 

Louisville Athletics - McKay’s Career-High 15 Strikeouts Pace Louisville in 3- Win

McKay came back strong (to say the least) after skipping a start. He was filthy both on velo and with the hammer curveball.

 

Offense was not clicking with runners in scoring position (10 hits and only 3 runs) but did enough to get the win.