Louisville Baseball Hosts 2015 Media Day
February 09, 2015 | Baseball
Anthony Kidston and Kyle Funkhouser talk to reporters during Monday's news conference.
CardsTV Videos - 2015 Louisville Baseball Media Day News Conferences:
• Head Coach Dan McDonnell
• Senior Infielders Zach Lucas & Sutton Whiting
• Junior Pitchers Kyle Funkhouser & Anthony Kidston
Photo Gallery: 2015 Louisville Baseball Media Day
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville baseball head coach Dan McDonnell and members of the seventh-ranked Cardinals met with reporters to preview the 2015 season during Monday afternoon's media day activities in the Omaha Room at Jim Patterson Stadium.
McDonnell, in his ninth season at Louisville, was joined by senior infielders Zach Lucas and Sutton Whiting and junior pitchers Kyle Funkhouser and Anthony Kidston in discussing the Cardinals' debut season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Along with the news conferences, reporters were also given a preview of the newly installed LED video board at Patterson Stadium during Monday's media day activities.
Ranked in the top 12 in each of the major 2015 preseason polls, 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 Funkhouser, an 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. In McDonnell's eight seasons guiding the Louisville baseball program, the Cardinals have earned 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 won 359 games overall (seventh most nationally during that eight-year span).
The No. 7 Cardinals will begin the 2015 season on Friday at 3 p.m., ET against Alabama State at the Opening Weekend Challenge at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. Louisville's opening weekend slate will also feature games against USF (Saturday, 6 p.m.) and No. 17 Cal State Fullerton (Sunday, 11 a.m.) with all games at Bright House Field. The Cardinals' 33-game home slate at Jim Patterson Stadium is set to begin on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 3 p.m., ET against Eastern Kentucky.
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
