No. 16 Baseball Welcomes Oakland for Weekend Series
February 24, 2012 | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2012
Game Day Links
| Friday, 3 p.m. | #16 UofL vs. Oakland | CardsTV Audio/Video | |
| Saturday, 1 p.m. | #16 UofL vs. Oakland | CardsTV Audio/Video | |
| Sunday, 12 p.m. | #16 UofL vs. Oakland | CardsTV Video |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 16th-ranked Louisville baseball team hosts its first weekend series of the season as the Oakland Grizzlies visit Jim Patterson Stadium for a three-game set.
Live play-by-play of the first two games of the weekend can be heard on News/Talk 1570 AM (WNDA). Live video of the series as well as live audio (Fri-Sat only) will be available to subscribers of CardsTV online at UofLsports.com. Live scoring for the game will also be available through the Gametracker feature on the baseball schedule page at UofLsports.com.
Series Overview
This weekend's series will be the first ever between the University of Louisville and Oakland University on the baseball diamond. The Cardinals have a 4-1 record all-time against current members of The Summit League, which Oakland has been a member of since 1998. U of L is 3-1 all-time against Western Illinois and 1-0 against IPFW. The Cardinals are scheduled to play Summit League member Oral Roberts on March 9 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Cardinals Begin First of Two Nine-Game Homestands with EKU Win
With Wednesday's 7-2 triumph over in-state foe Eastern Kentucky, the Cardinals successfully began the first of two scheduled nine-game homestands at Jim Patterson Stadium this season. The EKU game also started a stretch in which Louisville plays 22 of 26 games at home from Feb. 22 through April 3.
Cardinals Finish 2-1 at Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge, Which Ends Tied at 15-15
Louisville lost its first ever game at the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge but bounced back to finish 2-1 on the weekend as the two league's finished tied for the first time in the history of the four-year event. The BIG EAST had won back-to-back Challenge titles entering this season. The Cards won their first six games in the event in 2010 and 2011 before dropping the 2012 opener to Minnesota.
The 2012 Challenge featured 10 games each day matching teams from the two leagues. Joining Louisville from the BIG EAST for the 2012 event was Cincinnati, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall, St. John's, USF and West Virginia, while the Big Ten had Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue.
About Oakland
Oakland enters the weekend at 0-1 overall after season-opening 11-4 loss at No. 16 Vanderbilt on Wednesday. The Grizzlies are led by head coach John Musachio, who is 79-132 in his fifth season at the helm of the Rochester, Mich., school. Last season, OU finished 19-39 overall and was seventh in The Summit League at 10-18.
Notes and Trends to Follow...
Cole Sturgeon and Jeff Gardner have hit safely in each of the Cardinals' first four games in 2012. Gardner is riding an eight-game hitting streak going back to last season... With his two-run bomb aganist EKU, Stewart Ijames connected for his first home run of the season and the 34th of his career. The rest of the Cardinals on the 2012 roster have a combined seven career home runs... With his 2-for-4 performance, Sturgeon stayed hot and is hitting .538 (7-for-13) with three runs, two RBI and two sacrifices through the first four games. He has at least two hits in three of the Cards' four games this season... Along with his highlight reel defensive plays in the outfield, Adam Engel is performing at a high level offensively hitting .444 (8-for-18) with three RBI and three runs scored and is 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts in four games... Engel and Nick Ratajczak have hit safely in three straight games - all Louisville wins... With starts at third base in the Cards' last two games, Ty Young is 5-for-6 (.833) with three doubles, a triple, four runs, two RBI and a stolen base.
Five Cardinals Made Louisville Debuts in Florida; Three More Against EKU
Five different players made their Louisville debuts at the season-opening Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge. Position players Shane Crain (vs. Michigan State), Matt Helms (vs. Minnesota), Nick Ratajczak (vs. Minnesota) and Mason Snyder (vs. Illinois) and pitcher Jared Ruxer (vs. Michigan State) saw game action for the first time as Cardinals.
Three more Louisville players debuted in the home-opening win against EKU as pitcher Nick Burdi pitched 4.0 scoreless innings to earn the win, lefty Joe Filomeno struck out the side in order in the eighth inning in his first ever appearance and infielder Sutton Whiting scored as a pinch runner in his first action as a Cardinal.
