No. 21 Baseball Continues Homestand with Series Against Ball State
March 15, 2012 | Baseball
March 15, 2012
Game Day Links
| Friday, 6 p.m. | Ball State at #21 Louisville | CardsTV Audio/Video | |
| Saturday, 1 p.m. | Ball State at #21 Louisville | CardsTV Audio/Video | |
| Sunday, 1 p.m. | Ball State at #21 Louisville | CardsTV Audio/Video |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 21st-ranked Louisville baseball team continues its second nine-game homestand of the season as the Ball State Cardinals visit Jim Patterson Stadium for a three-game series this weekend.
Live play-by-play of the games can be heard on News/Talk 1570 AM (WNDA). Live video of the series as well as live audio will be available to subscribers of CardsTV online at the links at the top of the page. Live scoring for the games will be available through the Gametracker feature on the baseball schedule page or the links above.
Series Overview
Entering the weekend, Louisville holds a 13-8 advantage in the all-time series with Ball State, which dates back to 1960. Most recently, Louisville won two of three over Ball State on March 19-20, 2010 at Jim Patterson Stadium. U of L has won six of the last seven in the series. After the opening game of the series was played at a neutral site in 1960, every game since (20) has been contested in the city of Louisville. U of L is 5-1 against Ball State under the guidance of head coach Dan McDonnell.
Cardinals Continue Second Nine-Game Homestand of 2012
Following its road trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala., Louisville returned home to host its second nine-game homestand of the 2012 season at Jim Patterson Stadium, which started with a two-game split against No. 12 Ole miss. In their first homestand of the season Feb. 22-March 6), the Cardinals went 7-2 overall, including three straight wins to close it out. Overall, Louisville is in the midst of a stretch in which it is scheduled to play 22 of 26 games at home between Feb. 22 and April 3.
Busy Stretch for Louisville Continues with Five Games This Week
With its trip to Tuscaloosa last week, Louisville will opened a busy and challenging stretch of nine games in 12 days. While in Alabama, the Cardinals went 1-2 overall with a win over Oral Roberts and losses to Alabama and then-No. 29 East Carolina. After an off day, U of L returned home for a pair of mid-week games against No. 12 Ole Miss. Sandwiched between its second and third off days in the stretch, the Cardinals now host a three-game set with Ball State before welcoming Ohio State on March 20 for a single game to conclude the 12 days.
About Ball State
Ball State enters the weekend at 3-9 overall after dropping two of three at Middle Tennesee last weekend. The Cardinals are led by coach Alex Marconi, who is 18-44 in his second season at the helm of the Muncie, Ind., school. Last season, BSU finished 13-35 overall and was tied for sixth in the MAC West at 11-15.
Notes and Trends to Follow...
In his first season as a Cardinal, junior Nick Ratajczak has reached base safely in all 17 games in 2012... During his current career-best eight-game hitting streak, Ratajczak is hitting .531 (17-for-32) with nine runs and four RBI... The home run for senior Stewart Ijames last Saturday at Alabama was his team-leading fifth of the season and the 38th of his career. The rest of the Cardinals on the 2012 roster have a combined 10 career home runs (Wasserman 4, Gardner 3, Seiz 2, Chittenden 1)... Ijames finished with three RBI on Wednesday, his third three-RBI game of the season... Sophomore Cole Sturgeon had two hits on Wednesday for his sixth multi-hit game of the season, which is tied for second most on the team... Sophomore Adam Engel had two stolen bases on Wednesday and is now 13-of-14 on stolen base attempts this season... Overall, the Cardinals are 35-for-41 on stolen bases, while their opponents are just 13-for-19... Freshman outfielder Mike White played in each of the Cards' two games with the Rebels to become the 12th first-year Louisville player to see game action this season.
