Louisville Baseball Week Five Fall Notebook
October 07, 2014 | Baseball
Junior Danny Rosenbaum and the Cardinals continue fall scrimmages on Wednesday.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville baseball team will conclude its fifth week of fall practice with a pair of open scrimmages on Wednesday and Thursday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
This week's scrimmages are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m., ET each day with pregame batting practice slated to begin one hour prior to first pitch. Following the completion of this week's scrimmages, the Cardinals will have only one week of fall ball remaining in preparation for the 2015 season.
PIZZA BOWL NEXT WEEK
The tentative dates for next week's annual Pizza Bowl intra-squad series have been released with the Cardinals scheduled to play on Wednesday (Oct. 15), Friday (Oct. 17) and Saturday (Oct. 18). The first two games of the series will likely begin at 3 p.m., ET, while Saturday's finale is expected to be played prior to the Louisville football team's Homecoming game against NC State (kickoff at 3:30 p.m.).
WEEK FOUR SCRIMMAGE HIGHLIGHTS
In last Thursday's scrimmage, the Black squad scored five runs in the final inning of a 7-6 victory over the Red team at Patterson Stadium. Freshman catcher Colby Fitch was 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI while sophomore infielder Nick Solak was 2-for-4 with a triple and scored twice in the win for the Black. For the Red, junior infielder Danny Rosenbaum was 3-for-4 with a double and scored twice, while sophomore outfielder Corey Ray chipped in with two hits.
On Friday, the Black team won 6-1 over the Red during Scout Day at Patterson Stadium. Rosenbaum was 2-for-4 with one RBI and senior outfielder Mike White added a RBI double, while Fitch and freshman Austin Clemons each drove in runs in the win. Sophomore lefty Josh Rogers struck out three in two scoreless innings and junior righty Anthony Kidston had two strikeouts in two shutout innings.
FALL SCRIMMAGE NUMBERS
Through seven scrimmages this fall, Fitch has continued to swing a hot bat at the plate hitting .550 (11-for-20) with a home run, two doubles, two triples and five RBI. Rosenbaum has remained a tough out hitting .478 with (11-of-23) with two doubles and three runs driven in.
Sophomore catcher Will Smith has driven in eight runs in the seven games while hitting .364 (8-for-22) with a double and two triples. Ray has picked up where he left off to end the Cardinals' 2014 College World Series season hitting .357 (10-for-28) with two doubles and three RBI, while freshman first baseman and lefty pitcher Brendan McKay has carried a .375 average (6-for-16) with two doubles and four RBI.
ABOUT LOUISVILLE BASEBALL
Louisville returns 19 letterwinners from its 2014 squad, which finished 50-17 overall, won the program's fifth regular season conference championship in six seasons and hosted NCAA postseason games for the second straight year. The Cardinals defeated Kennesaw State in the Louisville Super Regional to clinch their third CWS berth in eight seasons under the guidance of head coach Dan McDonnell. Louisville, which has hosted six different rounds of NCAA postseason baseball in the last eight years, ended the season ranked as highly as sixth in the national polls.
Leading the list of returnees for Louisville in the 2015 season is junior righthanded pitcher Kyle Funkhouser, a Second Team All-American in 2014 who set a school record for wins finishing 13-3 overall with a 1.94 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 120.1 innings. The Cardinals also return senior infielder and 2014 All-Conference honoree Zach Lucas, talented starting pitchers Anthony Kidston (junior righty) and Josh Rogers (sophomore lefty).
In his eight seasons guiding the Louisville baseball program, McDonnell has placed the Cardinals among the nation's elite with the three College World Series berths, four NCAA Super Regional appearances, seven NCAA Regional bids, five conference regular season titles, two conference tournament titles, 14 All-Americans and 359 wins overall (seventh most nationally during that eight-year span).
FOLLOWING THE CARDINALS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
