Cardinal Nine Embarks upon 2002 Season
February 22, 2002 | Baseball
Feb. 22, 2002
The University of Louisville baseball team opens the 2002 season Friday at home when they host Vanderbilt at 3:00 p.m. in what is the first of a three-game weekend series. Nineteen letterwinners return from last seasons team which posted the fifth- best turnaround among Division I teams, posting a 32-29 record, a 15-win improvement over the 2000 season.
This will mark the seventh season for Cardinal Head Coach Lelo Prado who knows what it takes to win, "It always comes down to pitching. It has to be there and we have to do all of the little things."
"If we do the little things right, we feel real good about this team. They've worked hard, and there is some talent on this team that we feel good about," added Prado, who was named the head coach of the USA Baseball National Team in January.
Louisville will play its first 18 games at home this season before hitting the road for the first time March 19th, when they play two mid week games at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are currently ranked eighth in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll. The Cards face two other teams that are ranked in the poll, travelling to New Orleans to face #6 Tulane, who competed in the College World Series in Omaha last season, and new conference member 29th ranked East Carolina whom U of L will play the final weekend of the season before the Conference USA Tournament in Greenville. The Tournament will be played in Kinston, North Carolina May 21-26 and will be hosted by ECU.
The weekend series with Vanderbilt will include games on Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in Cardinal Stadium. Louisville's Sunday starter has not been named, but the Commodores have announced that former Ballard star Jeremy Sowers will make his collegiate debut in the final game of the series. Admission to Cardinal baseball games is free.
All U of L baseball games will be updated on the athletic website by way of live stats at http://uoflsports.fansonly.com/livestats/m-basebl/. Live stats offers text play-by-play on the internet as the game is played. A majority of the games will also be broadcast live on the internet at http://uoflsports.fansonly.com/sports/m-basebl/sched/lou-m-basebl-sched.html. Sean Moth will handle the play-by-play duties.
The 2001 Cardinal nine set school records for fielding percentage(.972), double plays(63), fewest errors(63), and tied the mark for shutouts(6). The Card were statistically the fifth-best defensive team in the country.
The pitching staff from the 2001 squad set a new conference record with 14 complete games. Returning to anchor the staff will be junior Mike Tisdale who was twice named C-USA pitcher of the week last season, twirling four complete games, two of which were shutouts. He struck out 73 in his 94.2 innings of work walking only 15 batters. He will start for the Cardinals in Friday's game.
Scott Barber, a junior righty from Kishwaukee College in Illinois was drafted by the Yankees in the 2000 draft and will start on Saturday in the 1:00 p.m. game.
Senior Josh Ring was named the closer on the Conference USA All-Conference team after last season. He had 10 saves, tying him for 13th in the country and first in single season efforts at Louisville. He appeared in 28 games-also tying a single season school record.
Offensively, the Cards will look to the left side of the infield. Senior third baseman Mike Budak and junior shortstop Adam Haley lead the team in 16 offensive categories last season.
Budak was tied for the lead with seven home runs, and lead the squad in RBI(58), doubles(21-tying the fourth best single season in Cardinal history), starts(60), hits(70) and total bases(114).
Haley was the top hitter on the team, swinging the bat from the left side at a .347 clip, was tops in runs(45), HBP(14-a Cardinal record), sacrifices(8) and lead the conference in assists with 193. Haley hit .289 with 19 runs, 13 RBI and nine steals in 36 games for the Torrington Twisters in the NECBL and was named to the all-league team that met the Cape Cod all-stars in a midseason classic this past summer.
U of L will also count on sophomore Mark Jurich in rightfield who tied for the team lead in home runs with seven in 2001. Jurich was a member of the H & B honorable mention freshman All-America list, and was a member of the All-Conference freshman team.
The middle of the lineup will see junior Josh Bolen, who was tabbed by the Boston Red Sox in the previous draft, but elected to toil with the Cardinals this season. He hit .399 with 21 home runs and 95 RBI in his two seasons at Illinois Central CC, all school records, including 15 bombs last season alone.
Behind the dish for the Cards senior Fernando Isa returns following a season that saw him hit .310 with 12 doubles and 26 RBI.
