Louisville Baseball Ranked 17th in Rivals.com Preseason Top 25
January 18, 2009 | Baseball
Jan. 18, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville baseball team has been selected at No. 17 in the Rivals.com 2009 Preseason Top 25 countdown published on Saturday.
It is the fourth preseason Top 25 ranking for the Cardinals, who are No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll, No. 11 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll and No. 20 in the Ping!Baseball rankings.
The unanimous favorite to win the 2009 BIG EAST Conference title according to the league's head coaches, Louisville returns eight of nine position starters for 2009, including All-American third baseman and preseason BIG EAST Player of the Year Chris Dominguez. Third-year head coach Dan McDonnell's squad also returns a deep stable of talented pitchers, led by All-American and BIG EAST Preseason Pitcher of the Year Justin Marks.
Last season, Louisville earned its second straight NCAA Championship bid after winning the program's first ever BIG EAST Tournament title. The Cards finished 41-21 overall in 2008 after being eliminated from the Athens Regional by eventual College World Series runner-up Georgia.
Dominguez (Miami, Fla.), who elected to return to Louisville for his junior season despite being drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies, was named to five All-America teams in 2008 and earned BIG EAST Co-Player of the Year honors after hitting .365 with a team-leading 21 home runs and 75 RBI.
Marks, left-handed starter from Owensboro, Ky., was named to a pair of All-America teams and earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors last season with a 9-2 record, a 2.37 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 91 innings of work.
Earlier this month, both Dominguez and Marks were named to the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, NCBWA and Ping!Baseball Preseason All-America teams as well as the Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year Award Watch List.
Louisville will open the 2009 season with a three-game series against the SEC's Florida Gators on Feb. 20-22 in Gainesville, while the Cards' 2009 home-opener is set for Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. ET, against Eastern Kentucky.
