Louisville Takes Down Bucknell on Opening Day

The Cardinals move to 13-4 in season openers under Dan McDonnell.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
BU	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	0
UL	0	0	4	0	0	0	2	1	X	7	11	0

W: Ryan Hawks (1-0), L: Will Greer (0-1)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - College baseball made its triumphant return Friday, and the Louisville baseball program got their 2023 season started on the right foot, taking down Bucknell 7-1 on Opening Day at Jim Patterson Stadium.

The No. 5 Cardinals move to 13-4 in season-opening games under head coach Dan McDonnell. Louisville has not lost a season-opener since falling 3-2 to UConn on Feb. 15, 2019 down in Lakeland, Fla., and have not lost their home opener since Feb. 19, 2020 when they lost 10-3 to Wright State.

The winning effort was fueled primarily by a productive effort from Ryan Hawks (6.1 IP, 9 K, 1 BB, 3 H, 1 ER). Making only the second start of his collegiate career, the right-hander not only set a career-high in strikeouts and innings pitched, but posted the longest opening day start by a Louisville pitcher since Kyle Funkhouser went 7.0 innings deep in the 2015 opener against Alabama State.

Louisville got the scoring started on the afternoon with a four-spot in the third inning. Isaac Humphrey (1-5, HR, 2 RBI) brought home the first runs of the 2023 season in style, blasting a 398-foot, two-run homer over the right field wall. That was then followed up by an RBI triple from Eddie King Jr. (2-3, RBI, 2B, 3B, BB), who then scampered home thanks to an RBI groundout from Brandon Anderson (0-4, RBI).

Bucknell took advantage of a pitching change in the seventh, breaking Louisville's shutout attempt in the process. After Hawks allowed a leadoff single, left-hander Evan Webster (1.2 IP, 3K) was inserted into the game, where a grounder and another single allowed the runner to reach home.

The Cardinals didn't waste much time getting that run back, and then some. Ryan McCoy (3-4, HR, 2 RBI) launched the second right field no-doubter of the day in the bottom of the frame, this time going for 427 feet. Tyeler Hawkins (1-2, HR, RBI, BB) also got in on the home run parade, launching a solo shot to left field in the eighth.

Webster bounced back by striking out the side in the eighth, then Alex Galvan (1.0 IP, 2 K) followed that up with a scoreless ninth to shut the door on the Bisons.

Next up for Louisville, they'll continue their opening weekend against Bucknell with game two. First pitch is slated for Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 970 WGTK.

(Photo of Jack Payton: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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