LOUISVILLE, Ky. - No. 2 Louisville scored four times in the first inning and multiple runs in three subsequent frames, defeating Purdue baseball 13-2 Tuesday.
The Cardinals (28-4) improved to 21-1 at home this season. Cleanup hitter Brendan McKay recorded five RBI, connecting for a three-run homer and two-run double. The first five batters in the Louisville lineup batted in each of the first three innings.
Nick Dalesandro posted his second collegiate four-hit game. In his fifth at-bat, he smoked a line drive through the shortstop's glove but the play was ruled an error. The Boilermakers (17-15) had at least one base runner in every inning but one. However, they stranded 11 men on base, one shy of a season high.
Eight of Purdue's 15 losses this season have come in games in which the opposition has scored 10-plus runs.
McKay's homer to right center was the only ball hit of the infield in Louisville's four-run first inning. A pair of errors and a passed ball helped the home team take control of the game quickly.
The Boilermakers had runners on second and third with one out or fewer in both the fourth and fifth innings, but failed to drive in a run on both occasions. Purdue finished the night 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-17 with runners on base.
Leadoff man Evan Warden reached base safely four times, recording a single and two walks to extend his reached safely streak to 13 consecutive games. He was also hit by a pitch for the 21st time, the most in the nation. He scored both of the Boilermakers' runs. Dalesandro plated Warden with a double down the right field line in the fifth inning and again with the line drive through the shortstop's glove in the top of the ninth.
Bryce Bonner doubled in his first at-bat as part of a two-hit night. It was his ninth double in his last 49 at-bats dating back to March 12. Fellow freshman Skyler Hunter's 21-game reached base safely streak came to an end with an 0-for-5 night. It was the first time he was kept off base since March 4.
Dating back to his eighth-inning single in Friday's comeback win vs. Indiana, Dalesandro now has 10 hits in his last 15 at-bats, recording six RBI and four runs scored in the process.
Purdue starter Jack Dellinger (1-3) issued four walks and surrendered three extra-base hits over 2 2/3 innings. Brian Ghiselli worked consecutive 1-2-3 frames and retired eight consecutive batters to settle things down in the middle innings, but Louisville finally got to him for a three-spot in the bottom of the sixth.
After McKay also walked twice and Michael Bollmer registered a pinch-hit single in the bottom of the eighth, the Boilermakers were unable to record an out vs. the cleanup spot in the Louisville lineup for the night.
The Boilermakers are back in action Friday when they open a Big Ten series at Rutgers. It will be Purdue's first-ever trip to the state of New Jersey. First pitch Friday is slated for 3 p.m. ET.