LOUISVILLE, KY – Brendan McKay’s third-inning grand slam led No. 1 seed Louisville to a 10-3 win over No. 12 seed Notre Dame on Friday night in ACC Tournament Pool A play.
McKay came to the plate with the bases loaded after Notre Dame’s starter Michael Hearne walked a batter, surrendered a hit, and hit a batter – all after two outs. The Louisville two-way star hit the first pitch he saw on to the roof of the patio deck in right field, and the home crowd was electrified.
Drew Ellis hit a solo shot in the second for an early 1-0 lead, and then McKay’s slam put Louisville up 5-0. Devin Hairston knocked in two more runs when he hit a double in the seventh that scored Logan Taylor and Josh Stowers and extended the lead to 7-3.
On the mound, McKay retired six of the first seven batters, but he ran into some trouble once he went through the Notre Dame batting order a second time. After retiring the eighth and ninth batters in the Irish lineup at the start of the third, McKay gave up a single, a walk, and then a two-run double to Matt Vierling. He would then walk the next two batters to load the bases before striking out Cole Daily to end the threat.
The Irish scored one more in the fifth when Vierling came home on a wild pitch, but Stowers threw out Eric Gilgenbach after he tried to score from second base on Eric Feliz’s base hit. McKay’s final line: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R (3 ER), 4 BB, 8 SO, and 1 WP. He threw 119 pitches (74 strikes), and for the 27th time in his collegiate career, he struck out at least eight batters.
The Cardinals played a little add-on in the top of the ninth putting up three more runs, two on sacrifice fly balls.
The winner of Friday’s Louisville/Florida State game at 3 p.m. will advance to Saturday’s 1 p.m. semifinal v. Duke, who upset Virginia Thursday afternoon and won Pool D.
