Louisville Baseball Arrives in Gainesville for 2009 Season Opener
February 19, 2009 | Baseball
Feb. 19, 2009
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The eighth-ranked University of Louisville baseball team arrived in Gainesville, Fla., on Thursday afternoon in preparation for the 2009 season-opening series at No. 11 ranked Florida.
The Cards and Gators will open their three-game series on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET at McKethan Stadium. Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell will send junior left-hander Justin Marks to the mound to face UF senior righty Patrick Keating on Friday night. Marks, the 2009 Preseason BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year and a preseason All-American, was 9-2 with a 2.37 ERA last season and is 18-4 with a 2.53 ERA in his career as a Cardinal. Keating was 8-1 with a 4.16 ERA last year for the Gators.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 1 p.m., ET, while the finale is scheduled for Sunday at Noon ET. The Cards plan to send sophomore lefty Dean Kiekhefer (1-1, 4.88 ERA) to the hill for Saturday's game against Florida freshman Alex Panteliodis. On Sunday, Louisville expects to start junior Matt Lea (5-0, 2.72 ERA) against freshman lefty Nick Maronde.
Live audio for all three games of the Louisville-Florida series can be heard through CardsTV at UofLSports.com.
The Cards, ranked No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll and in the top 25 in all of the major preseason polls, are the unanimous favorite to win the BIG EAST title in 2009 according to the league's head coaches. Last season, the Cards earned their second straight NCAA Championship appearance after winning their first ever BIG EAST Tournament title. U of L finished 41-21 overall in 2008 after being eliminated from the Athens Regional by eventual College World Series runner-up Georgia.
Florida, ranked No. 11 in the Rivals.com Preseason Top 25, earned an at-large NCAA Regional bid in its first season under the direction of head coach Kevin O'Sullivan in 2008. The Gators were 34-24 overall and finished second in the SEC East with a 17-13 record before being eliminated from the Tallahassee Regional after losses to Tulane and Florida State.
Following the season-opening series at Florida, the Cards will return home for four straight games at Jim Patterson Stadium. The 2009 home-opener is set for Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET against Eastern Kentucky and will be followed by a three-game weekend series against Bowling Green.
