Louisville Conducts First Preseason Scrimmage of 2014
January 27, 2014 | Baseball
Jan. 27, 2014
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville baseball team officially kicked off preseason preparations for the 2014 season over the weekend highlighted by Sunday afternoon's scrimmage opener at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Cardinals, coming off a record-setting College World Series season in 2013, worked 12 innings on Sunday with the Red squad earning a 16-7 win over the Black team. Leading the way for the offense on Sunday was freshman Ryan Summers, who was 3-for-6 with a grand slam and seven RBI overall for the Red, while junior Grant Kay was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBI. For the Black squad, freshman Corey Ray was 3-for-4 with a triple, a double, two runs scored and a RBI. On the mound, junior righty Jared Ruxer, junior lefty Joe Filomeno (three strikeouts) and freshman righty Drew Harrington pitched two shutout innings each for the Red team, while freshman righty Jake Sparger pitched two scoreless frames for the Black team.
"We had terrific weather on Sunday afternoon and we were able to get a lot accomplished to close out the first preseason weekend," said Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. "The offense stood out, especially for this early, but we also had some strong individual performances on the mound. We still have a lot of work to do before we're ready to open the season in Charleston, but this was a good way to start the spring."
Louisville, ranked No. 8 nationally in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper preseason poll released last month, will open the 2014 slate on Feb. 14-16 in Charleston, S.C., at the Homewood Suites Tournament hosted by The Citadel, while the Cardinals' home-opener is set for Feb. 19 at 3 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium against Eastern Kentucky.
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.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
