No. 10 Baseball Visits EKU on Tuesday Afternoon
May 06, 2013 | Baseball
May 6, 2013
GAME DAY INFO: #10 Louisville (37-10) at Eastern Kentucky (17-27)
Date: May 7, 2013
Times: 3 p.m. ET
Location: Richmond, Ky.
Venue: Turkey Hughes Field
Radio: None
TV: None
Internet: CardsTV (Audio) at GoCards.com
Live Stats: Gametracker at GoCards.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLBaseball
| Tuesday, 3 p.m. ET | CardsTV Listen | Gametracker |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 10 Louisville baseball team visits Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday at 3 p.m., ET for a game that was originally scheduled for March 6 but was postponed due to inclement weather.
Live audio of the Cardinals and Colonels from Turkey Hughes Field will be available to subscribers of CardsTV at GoCards.com, while live scoring will be available through the Gametracker feature on the baseball schedule page at GoCards.com.
PITCHING MATCHUP
UofL: Fr. RHP Kyle Funkhouser (2-1, 2.05 ERA)
EKU: Sr. LHP Shane Grimm (4-4, 5.90 ERA)
SERIES OVERVIEW
- Louisville owns a 60-48-1 advantage in the all-time series with EKU which dates back to 1927.
- The Cardinals trail 26-19 in games played in Richmond. This will be Louisville's first visit to EKU since dropping a 7-5 decision on March 3, 2009.
- Louisville has won 11 of the last 12 in the series, including a 17-6 victory earlier this season on Feb. 20 at Jim Patterson Stadium.
- UofL head coach Dan McDonnell is 8-1 against Eastern Kentucky.
- Louisville redshirt sophomore lefty Kyle McGrath started his collegiate career at EKU going 3-4 with a 7.49 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 45.2 innings and 11 appearances.
ABOUT EASTERN KENTUCKY
EKU enters the week at 17-27 overall and in fifth place in the OVC with a 13-10 league mark after winning a pair of games at Eastern Illinois last weekend. Last season, EKU was 31-23 overall and was 19-7 in winning a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular season title. The Colonels ended their season with an 0-2 finish at the OVC Championship.
LOUISVILLE NOTES AND TRENDS TO TRACK
- With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Louisville is one game out of first in the BIG EAST Conference race with its 14-4 mark. USF and Pittsburgh sit atop the league standings at 15-3, while Seton Hall is one behind the Cardinals in fourth with a 13-5 record.
- The Cardinals' 37-10 mark is the second best record through 47 games in school history trailing only the 39-8 effort of the 2010 team, which set school records for regular season wins (46) and total wins (50).
- Among the nation's best pitching staffs entering the weekend, Louisville is ninth in the NCAA in ERA at 2.57 and first in strikeouts per nine innings with 9.7.
- The Cardinals are third in the nation in stolen bases with 125. Adam Engel paces the UofL running attack with 37 steals (fourth nationally) in 45 attempts.
- Louisville has allowed only 30 stolen bases in 48 attempts so far this season.
- UofL is 26-4 against righty starters while only 11-6 against lefties this season.
- The Cards are 30-5 when scoring first, including 17-2 when scoring in the first inning.
- The Cardinals have allowed two or fewer earned runs in 27 of 47 games this season.
- Louisville is 33-0 this season when leading after the eighth inning.
- Nick Ratajczak is the second toughest player in the nation to strike out doing so once for every 22.8 at-bats.
- Coco Johnson has reached base safely in 22 straight games overall, the longest such streak of the season for a Louisville player.
- Louisville ranks fifth in the nation in hit-by-pitch with 96, while Nick Ratajczak and Coco Johnson are tied at 18th nationally with 17 HBPs each.
LOUISVILLE RETURNS TO TOP 10 AFTER TWO WEEKS AWAY
The Cardinals enter week 13 of the season as high as No. 10 and no lower than 12th in the five major national polls. UofL, ranked in at least one national poll for 27 straight weeks in the regular season dating back to the 2012 preseason, is 10th in the Perfect Game, the NCBWA and the Collegiate Baseball newspaper polls, 11th in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll and 12th in the Baseball America Top 25. Following two weeks just outside the nation's top 10, Louisville returns to a position it held for the first 10 weeks of the 2013 season.
THOMPSON NAMED TO GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD WATCH LIST
Louisville junior righthander Jeff Thompson was among the 60 players named to the midseason Golden Spikes Award watch list released on May 2 by USA Baseball. Thompson is now 8-1 overall with a 2.15 ERA and 83 strikeouts in 75.1 innings pitched this season. Six of his 12 starts have been scoreless outings and opposing batters are hitting just .181 against him. For his career, Thompson is 19-6 on the mound as a Cardinal with a 3.03 ERA and 199 strikeouts in 193.1 innings pitched. He has struck out 12 batters in two outings this season -- Feb. 16 against USF and May 4 at Villanova. During the course of four straight starts, Thompson had a career best stretch of 28.0 shutout innings from March 9 to March 29.
BURDI INVITED TO USA BASEBALL COLLEGIATE NATIONAL TEAM
Sophomore righty Nick Burdi has been selected for the 2013 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team as announced on April 24. A native of Downers Grove, Ill., Burdi leads the Cardinals' in saves with 10 to go with a 0.76 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 19 relief appearances and 23.2 innings pitched this season. Opposing batters are hitting just .198 against the hard-throwing Burdi, who has a 2-2 record overall on the mound. Burdi is the sixth UofL player to earn an invitation to the USA Collegiate National Team. Previous Cardinals to participate in the selection process for Team USA include Ryan Wright (2010), Phil Wunderlich (2009), Tony Zych (2009), Justin Marks (2008) and Mark Jurich (2002). Training for the team is set for June 21-July 2 in Cary, N.C., at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. Team USA will travel to Japan from July 6-11 and is also scheduled to play Cuba from July 18-23 in the U.S.
YOUNG LEADS THE WAY FOR THE CARDINALS' OFFENSE
The Cardinals' top hitter in 2012, junior infielder Ty Young is among the leaders in several major hitting categories for Louisville in 2013. He ranks first in hitting (.375), RBI (48), doubles (9), triples (6) and on-base percentage (.457) while ranking second in stolen bases (24-of-29), slugging (.554) and runs (40). A Third Team All-BIG EAST selection last season, Young has started all 47 games in 2013 with 45 of those at third base.
LOUISVILLE STAYS AGGRESSIVE ON THE BASES IN 2013
Louisville has already surpassed last season's stolen bases total while remaining among the nation's best in that category ranking third with 125 in 160 attempts. Last season, the Cardinals had 96 stolen bases in 63 games, while the school record is 153 stolen bases in 71 games during the 2007 College World Series season. Ranking fourth nationally with 37 steals in 45 attempts, Adam Engel leads six Cardinals with nine or more stolen bases this season.
THREE BAGS AND A CLOUD OF DUST FOR THE CARDINALS
With their 22nd triple of the season on May 4, the Cardinals (who rank seventh in the NCAA in triples) have already surpassed last season's total of 18 three-baggers. Five players have at least two triples this season with Ty Young leading the way with six, which ranks seventh in the nation overall. Louisville's previous highest triple total in any of Dan McDonnell's first six seasons as head coach was 19 in 2009, while the lowest total was just nine in 2010. The school record for triples is 34 set in the 1980 and 1992 seasons.
LOUISVILLE MATCHES SCHOOL SHUTOUT RECORD WITH NO. 7
With their 6-0 win over Villanova on May 3, the Cardinals equaled the school record for shutouts in a season claiming their seventh of 2013. The 2007 College World Series squad set the UofL record for shutouts earning seven en route to advancing to Omaha. Overall, Louisville has 31 shutout wins under the direction of seventh year head coach Dan McDonnell -- four in 2012, six in 2011, five in 2010, one each in 2009 and 2008 and the school record of seven in 2007. During that stretch, the Cardinals have been shutout just 10 times.
GREEN SUCCESSFUL AND CONSISTENT AS CARDINALS' FRIDAY STARTER
Having never made a regular season weekend start when the 2013 season opened, junior righthander Chad Green has handled the role as the Cardinals' Friday starter solidly through the first 12 weekends. With a 7-2 record overall, Green has a 1.91 ERA and 52 strikeouts to only 13 walks in 75.0 innings pitched. On Feb. 22, he allowed only one hit and issued just one walk with three strikeouts in seven shutout innings against Akron, while on May 3, he struck out a career best nine in 7.1 shutout innings at Villanova.
KIME DELIVERS IN TWO STARTS DURING LOUISVILLE'S 4-0 WEEK
Making a pair of starts during the Cardinals' 4-0 week from April 30-May 5, junior righty Dace Kime went 2-0 with 16 strikeouts while allowing just one run in 12.0 dominant innings (0.75 ERA) in wins over Western Kentucky and Villanova. In the April 30 midweek victory over the Hilltoppers, Kime struck out six in five scoreless innings giving up just four hits. Five days later, Kime had a career-best 10 strikeouts allowing only one run on just three hits in a career-long seven innings to earn his second win of the week as Louisville completed a sweep of Villanova with a 6-2 victory. Overall, Kime is 4-1 with a 3.30 ERA and 58 strikeouts in 46.1 innings pitched this season.
KIDSTON EARNS FIVE WINS AND A SAVE TO OPEN COLLEGE CAREER
Freshman righty Anthony Kidston has been impressive and successful early in his UofL career earning wins in each of his first two appearances on the mound, picking up a save in his third outing and adding three more wins in his first four starts. Overall, Kidston is 5-0 with a save, a 1.31 ERA and 58 strikeouts while allowing only 25 hits in 48.0 innings of work. His best start of the season came on April 14 when he matched a career high with seven strikeouts while working a career best eight shutout innings to earn the win against visiting Elon.
BURDI BRINGS HEAT TO JIM PATTERSON STADIUM
Penciled in as the closer entering the 2013 season, sophomore righty Nick Burdi was impressive in his first ever save situation. With the Cards holding a one-run lead over Akron on Feb. 24, Burdi entered from the Patterson Stadium bullpen and promptly delivered 11 straight strikes to earn his first career save. His first three pitches registered at 100 mph on the stadium radar gun making him the first pitcher in the history of the ballpark to reach triple digits.
FUNKHOUSER OPENS WITH NO EARNED RUNS IN FIRST 21.1 INNINGS
Freshman righthander Kyle Funkhouser started his collegiate career in highly impressive fashion allowing no earned runs in his first 21.1 innings overall. Earning a win in his first career start with 5.2 innings of quality baseball against USC on March 20, Funkhouser has a 2-1 record overall with a 2.05 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 30.2 innings of work so far.
WHITING HELPS PACE OFFENSE IN FIRST SEASON AS A STARTER
Entering 2013, sophomore infielder Sutton Whiting had never made a start while only playing in 20 games total. While being used as a pinch runner for most of his appearances as a freshman, Whiting was hitless in his only five at-bats. However, after a strong fall and even better preseason, Whiting earned the opening day start at shortstop and has been outstanding since. As one of the Cards' top hitters with a .340 average, Whiting has chipped in with 25 RBI and 18 stolen bases while hitting in the No. 9 spot in the lineup.
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