Louisville, Ky. – A balanced 16-hit offensive attack and seven and 1/3 solid innings from Collegiate Baseball Freshman of the Year Brendan McKay lifted No. 3 nationally-seeded Louisville to a 9-3 Super Regional victory over Cal State Fullerton to even the best-of-three NCAA Super Regional series Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Cardinals (47-17) force a third and deciding game against the Titans (38-23) on Monday at a time to be determined following the result of the Fort Worth Super Regional between Texas Christian and Texas A&M. The winner will advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. Sunday's Louisville victory was also the Cardinals' first victory over the Titans in five meetings.
McKay (9-3) worked seven-plus innings for the seventh time in 2015, and limited the Titans to just eight scattered hits, three off the bat of junior David Olmedo-Barrera. The designated hitter doubled in his last at bat and was the last batter to see McKay. He later came around to score, one of two runs the rookie surrendered on the afternoon.
Titan Freshman All-American John Gavin (7-3) didn't fare as well as McKay, lasting just two and 1/3 innings, his shortest outing of the year. The lefty gave up two runs on five hits, struck out two and walked one in his first Super Regional appearance. It was his first loss since May 10 against UC Santa Barbara. All five Titan pitchers that appeared on Sunday were charged with at least one run.
Chad Hockin, on in relief of Gavin, surrendered the game-winning hit to Danny Rosenbaum two batters into his appearance in the third. The hit, the first of four for the Cardinal first baseman, drove in Zach Lucas to make it 2-1 in the third inning.
The big blow to the Titans came by way of a four-run sixth inning from the Cardinals. Hockin was in his season-high third inning of work when he was touched for three of those runs on runs on three hits.
Rosenbaum led things off in the sixth with a leg-double – his third of a game-high four hits – and went to third on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, eight-hitter Devin Hairston singled home Rosenbaum and then scored on Logan Taylor's two-run homer to left field making it 5-1, Cardinals.
Maxwell Gibbs relieved Hockin and recorded the final two outs of the inning, but not before a walk and an extra base hit made it 6-1 in Louisville's favor.
The Cardinals made it 8-1 in the eighth, scoring twice off of right-hander Willie Kuhl. Corey Ray logged a two-run single, his third hit of the day, driving home Taylor (walk) and Sutton Whiting (single), who were in scoring position via a sacrifice bunt.
The Titans chipped in a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth, one off McKay, the other off reliever Jake Sparger. Pinch hitter Jake Jefferies had a sacrifice fly and Tanner Pinkston chipped in an RBI-double to cut the deficit to 8-3. Louisville would tack on one more in the ninth off righty Shane Stillwagon.
Shortstop Timmy Richards drove in the Titans only other run in the bottom of the second, knocking in Jerrod Bravo from second with a line-drive single to center to tie the game 1-1. Bravo was aboard safely for his 43rd straight game of the year (tying a school record) via a base on balls. He moved into scoring position on a McKay wild pitch.
Fullerton totaled 10 hits on the day, with Olmedo-Barrera (3), Richards (2) and Pinkston (2) logging multi-hit days.
NOTES:
• The Cardinal's second-inning run was the first scored against the Titans by Louisville in postseason action without the benefit of a home run. The only runs scored in the first three Super Regional meetings between Fullerton and Louisville came from long balls off the bats of Chris Dominguez (two in 2009), Mike White and Brendan McKay (Saturday).
• Bravo reached base in his 43rd straight game on Sunday with a walk in the bottom of the second inning. He tied Tyler Pill's school record set in 2010. Interestingly, Bravo's streak began on Feb. 15 against Louisville in a non-conference match-up at the Opening Weekend Challenge in Clearwater, Fla.
• The Titans are 17-11 (.607) in 12 Super Regional appearances dating back to the tournament format change in 1999. This series in Louisville is just the third Super Regional the Titans have played on the road (at Ohio State in 1999 and at UCLA in 2010).
