Hawks' Gem, Consistent Hitting Powers Louisville to Series-Opening Win vs. Boston College

The Cardinals got a quality start on the mound from Ryan Hawks, and a much better approach at the plate than in recent weeks.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
BC	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	7	0
UL	0	1	0	3	1	0	0	1	X	6	13	1

W: Ryan Hawks (5-1), L: Henry Leake (3-3)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Kicking off a crucial top-10 weekend series against Boston College, the Louisville baseball program took a much needed first step back in the right direction, winning the opener 6-4 Thursday at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Heading into the matchup, the No. 9 Cardinals (22-7, 5-5 ACC) had dropped six of their last 11 games after starting the season 16-1. The three-game set against the No. 7 Eagles (21-7, 8-5 ACC) kicks off a seven-game stretch in which Louisville plays nothing but top-10 opponents.

Once again, Louisville got a dominant outing from starting pitcher Ryan Hawks (8.0 IP, 8 K, 2 BB, 4 H, 1 ER). While Boston College struck first in the showdown with an RBI single in the opening frame, that would be the only run tallied by the Eagles during his time on the mound.

It marked the longest start of his career, and his fewest earned runs and hits allowed since his start against Texas A&M on Mar. 3. He came one strikeout shy of matching his career high, and retired the final 12 batters of his outing.

Offensively, the Cardinals put together a much better approach at the plate than they have in recent weeks. They tied for their most hits in ACC play up to this point, while only striking out six times on the night.

Eddie King Jr. (2-4, 2 RBI) and Christian Knapczyk (1-2, 2 RBI, BB, HBP) each drove in a pair of runs to pace the offense. King, Brandon Anderson (2-4), Logan Beard (2-4, RBI, 2B) and Patrick Forbes (2-3) all had multi-hit days as well.

King would drive in Louisville's first two runs of the game, delivering an equalizing RBI single in the second and a go-ahead RBI single in the fourth. Knapczyk followed the latter up with a two-run single later in the frame, then Will Cook (1-3, RBI) added an RBI single of his own in the fifth. The Cardinals capped off their scoring efforts with an eighth inning RBI single from Beard.

Things did get a bit hairy in the ninth inning with reliever Tate Kuehner (1.0 IP, 1 K, 1 BB, 3 H, 2 ER) tasked with closing it out. A bases loaded dropped infield fly plated one run for Boston College, then an RBI single and throwing error brought home two more runs to pull the Eagles within two. Fortunately, Kuehner was able to induce a two-out groundout to end the game and stave off the late rally.

Next up for Louisville, they'll try and clinch the series against Boston College in game two. First pitch is slated for Friday, Apr. 7 at 6:00 p.m. EST, and will be televised on ACC Network Extra and broadcast on 93.9 The Ville.

(Photo via Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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