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College  | Story  | 4/24/2016

Funkhouser salvages series

Jheremy Brown     
Photo: University of Louisville Sports Information




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No. 7 Louisville 6, Boston College 2

The woes on the road continued for the Louisville Cardinals this weekend as they dropped the first two contests against Boston College to open the weekend but senior righthander Kyle Funkhouser did his part to help salvage a win and take the Sunday affair. With the win the Cardinals have now gone 1-2 in all four weekends series that occurred on the road, three of which were ACC contests, and is something that will need to be monitored as postseason play and regional hosts begin to clear up in a couple of weeks. 


 

A highly regarded prospect ever since stepping foot on campus, Louisville senior Kyle Funkhouser returned for his senior season after being selected 35th overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers last June. And while the 2016 season has seen its ups and downs this spring, Funkhouser took his team on his back Sunday afternoon and helped carry his team to a much needed 6-2 victory.

Despite not having his best raw stuff in terms of velocity as he sat in the 88-91 mph range throughout each of his six innings, including a 92 in the sixth, Funkhouser didn’t surrender his first hit until the fourth inning while improving to 4-3 on the year. And it’s not like the velocity hasn’t been there for the strongly built 6-foot-3, 225-pound Funkhouser as just last weekend he was popping 95s and working steadily at 92-93 mph. Just as he did last weekend, the senior showed the ability to move his fastball throughout the zone and consistently work either side of the plate.

Moving into his delivery with a measured leg lift just up past his belt, Funkhouser did a nice job of staying very short and compact with his arm action upon release with each of his three pitches while exerting little effort. With every inning that passed Funkhouser’s command continued to sharpen and he began living in the bottom third of the strike zone with consistent running life to his arm side. His ability to pitch to contact and work ahead in the count more often than not, he walked just two, enabled Funkhouser to take the ball deep into the game while carrying his velocity well.

While he showed the willingness throw his fastball for strikes early and often in any given at-bat, Funkhouser was able to lean heavy on his curveball as a put away pitch and of his four strikeouts a couple came looking at the big bender. The curveball, like his fastball command, was a pitch that continued to sharpen the more he threw it as the 77-80 mph offering lacked a consistent shape in the opening innings. The more he threw the pitch the sharper it became as at its best the pitch would show late, sharp bite with the ability to get to the back foot of lefthanded hitters. At other time the pitch featured more 12-to-6 shape with plenty of depth, a version that can be seen at the 1:10 mark of the video above.


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