Cardinals Begin 2015 at Opening Weekend Challenge
February 12, 2015 | Baseball
Senior Sutton Whiting and the Cardinals begin the 2015 season Friday afternoon.
GAME DAY INFO: #7 Louisville (0-0, 0-0 ACC) at Opening Weekend Challenge
Date: Feb. 13-15, 2015
Location: Clearwater, Fla.
Venue: Bright House Field (8,500)
Live Stats: Gametracker at GoCards.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLBaseball
Friday, Feb. 13 | 3:00 p.m. ET (vs. Alabama State)
TV: None | Radio: None | Web: CardsTV Audio (Listen) | Live Stats: Gametracker
LOU: Jr. RHP Kyle Funkhouser (13-3, 1.94 ERA in 2014)
ASU: Sr. RHP T.J. Renda (6-5, 4.10 ERA in 2014)
Saturday, Feb. 14 | 6:00 p.m. ET (vs. USF)
TV: None | Radio: None | Web: CardsTV Audio (Listen) | Live Stats: Gametracker
LOU: Jr. RHP Anthony Kidston (9-1, 3.40 ERA in 2014)
USF: Sr. RHP Casey Mulholland (4-3, 3.65 ERA in 2014)
Sunday, Feb. 15 | 11:00 a.m. ET (vs. Cal State Fullerton)
TV: None | Radio: None | Web: CardsTV Audio (Listen) | Live Stats: Gametracker
LOU: So. LHP Josh Rogers (3-3, 3.63 ERA in 2014)
CSF: Fr. LHP John Gavin
• Louisville Baseball Game Notes (at Opening Weekend Challenge) | Media Center
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 7 Louisville baseball team will begin its inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a visit to a familiar place as the Cardinals participate in the Opening Weekend Challenge this weekend at Bright House Field.
Louisville will open the season against Alabama State on Friday at 3 p.m., ET before challenging USF on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Cardinals will conclude the weekend against No. 17 Cal State Fullerton on Sunday at 11 a.m. All games will be played at the spring training home of the Philadelphia Phillies, a facility Louisville has competed in during each of the last seven seasons in conference tournaments.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
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. 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. In eight seasons at Louisville, Dan McDonnell has led the Cardinals to three College World Series berths, four NCAA Super Regional appearances, seven NCAA Regional bids and five conference regular season titles.
LOUISVILLE RETURNS TO BRIGHT HOUSE
Louisville has been very successful at Bright House Field compiling a 21-12 record at the ballpark since its first visit for the 2006 Big East Tournament. Along with playing in eight conference tournaments at Bright House Field, the Cardinals also played in season-opening events in 2011 and 2013.
ABOUT ALABAMA STATE, USF AND CAL STATE FULLERTON
Alabama State was 37-20 overall last season and won its division in the SWAC with a 21-3 in mark. The Hornets ended their season with a loss in the SWAC Tournament final. USF was 27-31 in 2014 and finished fifth in the American Conference with at 10-14. The Bulls closed their season going 1-2 in pool play at the American Tournament. Cal State Fullerton was 34-24 last season and fourth in the Big West Conference at 14-10. The Titans advanced to an NCAA Regional falling to host Oklahoma State in the title round.
SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Alabama State are meeting for the first time. The Cardinals enter Saturday's game with USF trailing 40-35 all-time in the series but they have won 16 of the last 22 against the Bulls. Louisville and Cal State Fullerton will meet for first time since the Titans won the 2009 Super Regional in Fullerton, the only two previous games between the teams.
LOUISVILLE NOTES AND TRENDS
• The Cardinals have opened each of the last five seasons by winning at least two of their three games during the opening weekend.
• Louisville was 43-0 last season when leading after the eighth inning and has won 98 straight games when entering the ninth with the lead going back to May 2012.
• The Cardinals were 38-3 last season when out-hitting their opponents and 10-12 when being out-hit.
• Louisville has won 55 straight games dating back to 2013 when scoring five runs or more including a 39-0 record last season.
• The Cardinals were 32-8 last season against righty starters and 18-9 against lefties.
• The Cardinals allowed two or fewer earned runs in 40 of 67 games last season, something they did in 36 of 65 in 2013.
• Having won 23 of the last 29 games in 2014, the bullpen had a 2.16 ERA in 87.2 innings in that stretch. Overall, the pitching staff had a 2.41 ERA in the last 29 games with 248 strikeouts in 258.0 innings.
• Louisville closed the season ranked second in the nation in stolen bases with 133 and fifth in stolen bases per game at 1.99.
• The Cardinals were also sixth nationally in HBP (109), 5th in runs (417), 12th in hits (636) and 33rd in scoring (6.2 per game).
• The Louisville pitching staff ranked 5th in strikeouts per 9 IP (8.4), 12th nationally in hits allowed per 9 IP (7.40) and 20th in ERA (2.80).
• Kyle Funkhouser finished tied for the NCAA lead in wins with his school record total of 13.
• Seniors Zach Lucas and Sutton Whiting are the only Cardinals with active hitting streaks entering the season with both riding modest three-game streaks.
CARDINALS ENTER THIRD STRAIGHT SEASON WITH TOP 10 RANKING
Receiving its second highest preseason ranking in school history, Louisville enters 2015 ranked as highly as No. 7 in the USA Today preseason coaches poll. The ranking, which marks the third straight season the Cardinals are positioned in the top 10 in a preseason poll, is second to only the No. 4 ranking by Baseball America in 2013. Louisville is ranked in the top 12 in each of the five preseason national polls in 2015. The Cardinals are also at No. 9 in the Perfect Game preseason Top 25, No. 11 in the D1Baseball Top 25 and No. 12 in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball newspaper polls. Louisville is ranked in the preseason for the eighth straight season and the Cardinals have remained in the national polls every week since the release of the 2012 preseason rankings. Louisville closed last year's College World Series season ranked as highly as No. 6 overall.
FUNKHOUSER RECEIVES MULTIPLE PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN HONORS
Louisville junior righty Kyle Funkhouser was tabbed as a preseason First Team All-American by Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball newspaper, the NCBWA and Perfect Game while D1Baseball.com named him as a second team choice entering 2015. A native of Oak Forest, Ill., Funkhouser earned multiple All-American honors in 2014 finishing 13-3 overall with a 1.94 ERA and 122 strikeouts (third most at Louisville) in 120.1 innings pitched (second most at Louisville) as the Cardinals' ace. He was named First Team All-America by ABCA, a Second Team Louisville Slugger All-American by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, Second Team All-America by NCBWA and was Third Team All-American by both Baseball America and Perfect Game.
During his two collegiate seasons in Louisville, Funkhouser is 18-4 on the mound with a 2.01 ERA and 177 strikeouts in 175.0 innings and 24 total starts. Last summer, he was 1-2 with a 1.27 ERA (four earned runs in 28.1 innings) and a team-high 36 strikeouts in six appearances and five starts for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.
LOUISVILLE PICKED SECOND IN ACC ATLANTIC DIVISION
The Louisville baseball team was named as the second choice in the 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division race by the league's head coaches. Entering their inaugural season in the ACC, the Cardinals received four first-place votes and 84 total points to trail only Florida State, winners of eight straight Atlantic titles and the top choice again in 2015 after garnering seven first-place votes and 91 points overall. Clemson was third with three first-place votes and 77 points and was followed by NC State (53 points), Wake Forest (39 points), Notre Dame (25 points) and Boston College (23 points).
Virginia, which reached the College World Series Finals last season, was named by 13 coaches as the top team in the Coastal Division (97 points) and was the preseason choice as overall champion by the coaches. Defending Coastal champion Miami received one vote for first place. The Cavaliers totaled 97 points in the voting and were followed by North Carolina (78 points), Miami (75 points and one first-place vote), reigning ACC Tournament champion Georgia Tech (54 points), Duke (43 points), Virginia Tech (24 points) and Pittsburgh (21 points).
LUCAS, WHITING AND KIDSTON NAMED LOUISVILLE CAPTAINS IN 2015
Senior infielders Zach Lucas and Sutton Whiting and junior righthanded pitcher Anthony Kidston were chosen by Louisville players and coaches as team captains for the Cardinals baseball team in 2015. A Third Team All-American Conference selection and a team captain in 2014, Lucas hit .270 with five home runs, 44 RBI, 13 doubles and 38 runs scored in 65 starts as a junior. In three collegiate seasons, the Louisville native and Butler High School product has 120 career starts and has played in 142 games for the Cardinals.
A team captain as a junior last season, Whiting (New Wilmington, Pa.) finished in the top five nationally with 37 stolen bases while hitting .216 with a .369 on-base percentage and 51 runs scored in 2014. Named to the 2014 NCAA Louisville Regional All-Tournament Team, Whiting has 123 career starts and has played in 145 games overall during his first three collegiate seasons. As a sophomore, he earned Second Team All-BIG EAST accolades hitting .308 with one home run, 30 RBI, 41 runs scored and 24 stolen bases in 63 starts.
In two collegiate seasons, Kidston (Defiance, Ohio) has compiled a 14-1 record overall with a 2.60 ERA and 127 strikeouts in 124.2 innings pitched. Last season, he was 9-1 with a 3.40 ERA and 69 strikeouts in 14 starts. In 2013, Kidston was chosen as a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American after finishing 5-0 with one save and a 1.31 ERA while making 13 appearances on the mound, including six starts.
FUNKHOUSER NAMED TO GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD WATCH LIST
Junior righthander Kyle Funkhouser was named to the 50-player preseason USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award watch list on released on Feb. 10. The preseason watch list features 50 of the nation's top amateur players, and will be a "rolling" list until May 22 -- when the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalists are announced -- ensuring that athletes can play themselves into consideration for the award throughout the collegiate and high school seasons. On April 9, USA Baseball will release its 60-man midseason watch list, shaped by the Golden Spikes Award committee. On May 22, USA Baseball will announce the semifinalists for the 2015 Golden Spikes Award. The semifinalists list will be sent to a voting body consisting of past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers, members of the media that follow the amateur game closely, select professional baseball personnel, current USA Baseball staff and the 37 previous winners of the award, representing a group of more than 200 voters.
Fan voting will once again be a part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2015. Friday, May 22, marks the day when amateur baseball fans across the country will be able to vote for their favorite semifinalists at GoldenSpikesAward.com. As part of this selection process, all voters will be asked to choose three players from the list. On Tuesday, June 3, USA Baseball will announce the finalists, and voting will once again commence that same day. The 2015 Golden Spikes Award winner will be named on Tuesday, June 23, at a presentation in Los Angeles. The finalists and their families will be honored at the Rod Dedeaux Foundation Dinner that evening at the Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.
STRONG WORK IN THE CLASSROOM CONTINUES FOR LOUISVILLE BASEBALL
The 2014 fall semester proved to be another good one for the Louisville baseball team in the classroom as the Cardinals earned a cumulative team GPA of 3.251 marking the seventh straight semester the team has finished above a 3.0 as a group. A total of 29 Louisville players finished the fall semester with a 3.0 GPA or higher.
ACC BASEBALL TV SCHEDULE INCLUDES 23 LOUISVILLE GAMES
The Louisville baseball team has 23 regular season games slated for national and regional television coverage in 2015 as part of the Atlantic Coast Conference TV schedule. The Cardinals will make two appearances on ESPNU for "ACC Monday" matchups at Virginia on April 6 and at Clemson on May 4. Louisville will have 19 regular season games televised on ESPN3, including 16 at Jim Patterson Stadium. Additionally, the Cardinals will have two road games televised by the Regional Sports Network - May 2 at Clemson and May 16 at NC State. Additionally, each of the first 14 games of the ACC Championship on May 19-23 in Durham, N.C., will be televised by the Regional Sports Network, while the ACC Championship title game on May 24 at 1 p.m., ET will be carried by ESPN2. All of Louisville's remaining 17 home games not selected for national/regional television will be available for viewing through CardsTV at GoCards.com.
93.9 THE VILLE NEW RADIO HOME FOR LOUISVILLE IN 2015
Radio coverage will be provided for 53 regular season games and all postseason games for the Cardinals in 2015 with most of those airing on 93.9 The Ville. Selected games within that slate of 53 will be broadcast on 1450 WXVW. The 53 regular season broadcasts are the most ever for Louisville baseball and its radio partners.
With Sean Moth calling the action again this season, the radio schedule includes all 33 home games, three games each at ACC foes Virginia, Duke, Clemson and NC State, midweek games at Indiana, Ohio State, Cincinnati and Kentucky and all of the Cardinals' ACC Championship and NCAA Championship games. Additionally, all Louisville baseball radio broadcasts as well as streaming audio for the Cardinals' three games at the Clearwater Tournament during the opening weekend will be available to subscribers of CardsTV at GoCards.com.
ESPN Louisville, the group behind local stations ESPN 680 and 105.7 FM, announced on Jan. 26, 2015 the launch of 93.9 The Ville, Powered by ESPN. The station, which went live on Jan. 29 at 93.9 FM, provides coverage of the Cardinals through an official partnership with Louisville Sports Properties, which represents U of L athletics.
SIX CARDINALS NAMED TO PERFECT GAME TOP 100 LISTS
Louisville had six players named to the Perfect Game Top 100 class-by-class rankings released in January. Leading the way for the Cardinals was righthanded pitcher Kyle Funkhouser, who was slotted as the No. 2 junior in the nation by Perfect Game. Infielder Zach Lucas was ranked at No. 20 on the Top 100 Seniors list while outfielder Mike White landed at No. 68 on that list. Righthander Zack Burdi was tabbed as the 22nd-best sophomore in the nation, while outfielder Corey Ray was ranked at No. 62 on that list. With the release of the Top 100 Freshmen, lefthanded pitcher and first baseman Brendan McKay was placed at No. 60 overall.
LOUISVILLE OVERCOMES DEPARTURES TO RETURN TO OMAHA IN 2014
As the only program to advance to the 2013 College World Series and then return to Omaha in 2014, Louisville did so despite numerous roster departures due to graduation and the MLB Draft. The Cardinals lost three seniors and seven juniors (all seven signed with MLB teams) from the record-setting, 51-win team in 2013, including five everyday position starters, three starting pitchers and one impact reliever. Statistically, Louisville lost 43 of its 65 starts on the mound (66 percent), 31 of its 51 wins (60 percent) and more than 54 percent of its innings pitched (323.1 of 589.2) from the 2013 team. Offensively, the Cardinals' departures accounted for 67 percent of the stolen bases (101 of 150), 55 percent of the team's RBI (200 of 361) and 51 percent of the extra-base hits (79 of 153).
CARDINALS IN SELECT COMPANY WITH ANOTHER 50-WIN SEASON IN 2014
Following the 2014 College World Series, Louisville was one of only three programs to have three or more 50-win seasons over the last five years. Louisville (2010, 2013, 2014), Virginia (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014) and Vanderbilt (2011, 2013, 2014) are the three schools with three or more 50-win seasons since 2010. Only five schools, including Louisville, have more than one 50-win season over that span -- Louisville (3), Virginia (4), Vanderbilt (3), North Carolina (2), South Carolina (2).
LOUISVILLE IN A GROUP OF 16 SCHOOLS WITH FOUR OR MORE NCAA SUPER REGIONAL APPEARANCES IN LAST EIGHT SEASONS
Louisville is one of 16 Division I schools with four or more NCAA Super Regional appearances in the last eight seasons (since 2007). Joining the Cardinals on this impressive list is Florida State (7), Arizona State (5), Cal State Fullerton (5), North Carolina (5), South Carolina (5), Virginia (5), Florida (4), LSU (4), Rice (4), Stanford (4), Texas (4), TCU (4), UC Irvine (4) UCLA (4) and Vanderbilt (4).
CARDINALS AMONG 11 SCHOOLS TO HOST FOUR OR MORE NCAA REGIONALS IN LAST SIX YEARS
Louisville is one of just 11 Division I schools to have hosted four or more NCAA Regionals over the last six seasons (since 2009). That list includes seven schools serving as hosts for 2014 Regionals -- Florida (5), Florida State (5), Louisville (4), LSU (4), Rice (4), South Carolina (5), TCU (4) and Virginia (5). Also joining that group are Cal State Fullerton (4), North Carolina (4) and UCLA (4).
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.
