Louisville Baseball Pizza Bowl Schedule, Rosters Announced
October 15, 2013 | Baseball
Oct. 15, 2013
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With the Louisville baseball team concluding its fall workouts this week, the team rosters and full schedule for the eighth annual Pizza Bowl series were announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The three-game series is set to begin on Wednesday at 3 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium, while game two is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. The fall ball finale is set for Friday at 4 p.m., ET and will precede the Louisville football team's nationally televised home game against UCF inside Papa John's Cardinal Stadium next door to the ballpark. Fans attending the open scrimmages should note that parking will not be available in the left field lot near Iowa Street due to a campus construction project.
The two teams in this year's Pizza Bowl series will be guided by assistant coach Kyle Cheesebrough and student manager Chad Deely. Team Cheesebrough will include position players Shane Crain, Jeff Gardner, Mike White, Sutton Whiting, Michael Bollmer, Will Smith, Nick Solak, Ryan Summers, Logan Taylor and Blake Tiberi, as well as pitchers Nick Burdi, Joe Filomeno, Jared Ruxer, Jakson Deyer, Jonah Philley, Robert Strader, Ryan Lauria, Josh Rogers, Alex Sears and Jake Sparger. Team Deely will include position players Alex Chittenden, Aaron Gershenfeld, Kyle Gibson, Cole Sturgeon (also will pitch), Zach Lucas, Danny Rosenbaum, Jordan Striegel, Grant Kay, Colin Lyman, Corey Ray and Matt Rowland, and pitchers Kyle McGrath, Brandon Alphin, Brad Hedden, Kyle Funkhouser, Anthony Kidston, Jordan Simons, Zack Burdi, Drew Harrington and Mason Richardson.
The tentative starting pitchers for the series include Sparger against Harrington in Wednesday's opener, Ruxer versus Funkhouser in game two and Filomeno against McGrath in Friday's finale.
About the Pizza Bowl
Upon his hiring as Louisville head coach in the summer of 2006, Dan McDonnell immediately created an atmosphere of competition throughout the Cardinal baseball program. Whether it's through conditioning in the Omaha Challenge, or in preseason scrimmages, McDonnell believes in creating competitive situations to give his players numerous opportunities to prepare for what they will see during conference and postseason games.
One of the most effective ways McDonnell and his coaching staff can provide the Louisville players with those competitive, game-like situations is through the annual Pizza Bowl series. Following six weeks of fall practice sessions, the Cardinals take to the field for what started as a one-game scrimmage in the fall of 2006 and has become an ultra-competitive three-game or five-game intra-squad series. The winning team is rewarded by being served as much pizza as it would like by the losing squad, which in turn shares what is left. The Pizza Bowl series has become an exciting and highly anticipated ending to the fall for Louisville coaches, players and fans.
About Louisville Baseball
Directed by McDonnell, who is entering his eighth season at the helm, Louisville returns 19 letterwinners from last year's squad, which won a school record 51 games, the program's fourth regular season conference title in five seasons and hosted NCAA postseason games for the fourth time. The Cardinals capped the season by defeating No. 2 national seed Vanderbilt in the Nashville Super Regional to clinch the program's second College World Series berth and a No. 8 national ranking.
Among the top returnees for Louisville for the 2014 season are senior captains and All-Conference standouts Jeff Gardner and Cole Sturgeon, junior righty pitcher and All-American Nick Burdi, All-Conference shortstop Sutton Whiting, senior catching duo Shane Crain and Kyle Gibson and Freshman All-American pitchers Kyle Funkhouser and Anthony Kidston. A strong group of experienced upperclassmen including the likes of infielders Alex Chittenden, Zach Lucas and Danny Rosenbaum, outfielder Mike White and pitchers Jared Ruxer, Kyle McGrath and Joe Filomeno are joined by a deep and talented set of newcomers setting the stage for an entertaining fall and spring on the baseball diamond for the Cardinals.
In his seven seasons guiding the Louisville baseball program, McDonnell has placed the Cardinals among the nation's elite with two College World Series berths, three NCAA Super Regional appearances, six NCAA Regional bids, four conference regular season titles, two conference tournament titles and 309 wins overall.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
