Louisville Visits Virginia in Top 10 Clash
April 02, 2015 | Baseball
Sophomore catcher Will Smith has started 21 games this season and has 42 career starts.
GAME DAY INFO: #7 Louisville (22-7, 11-1 ACC) at #9 Virginia (19-9, 6-6 ACC)
Date: April 4-6, 2015
Location: Charlottesville, Va.
Venue: Davenport Field (4,980)
Live Stats: Gametracker at GoCards.com
Twitter Updates: @UofLBaseball
Saturday, April 4 | 4 p.m. ET
TV: VirginiaSports.com (Watch) | Radio: 93.9 The Ville
Web: CardsTV Audio (Listen) | Live Stats: Gametracker
LOU: Jr. RHP Kyle Funkhouser (3-2, 2.40 ERA)
UVA: Jr. LHP Nathan Kirby (4-1, 1.01 ERA)
Sunday, April 5 | 1 p.m. ET
TV: VirginiaSports.com (Watch) | Radio: 93.9 The Ville
Web: CardsTV Audio (Listen) | Live Stats: Gametracker
LOU: Fr. LHP Brendan McKay (4-0, 1.36 ERA)
UVA: So. RHP Connor Jones (4-1, 2.88 ERA)
Monday, April 6 | 7 p.m. ET
TV: ESPNU (Watch) | Radio: 93.9 The Ville
Web: CardsTV Audio (Listen) | Live Stats: Gametracker
LOU: So. LHP Josh Rogers (4-1, 3.96 ERA)
UVA: Jr. LHP Brandon Waddell (2-1, 3.47 ERA)
? Louisville Baseball Game Notes (vs. Virginia) | Media Center
Travel/Practice Day Photo Gallery (Friday)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 7 Louisville baseball team travels to Charlottesville for a top 10 Atlantic Coast Conference clash against No. 9 Virginia on Saturday (4 p.m., ET), Sunday (1 p.m.) and Monday (7 p.m.,) at Davenport Field. Monday's series finale between the Cardinals and Cavaliers will be televised on ESPNU with Jason Benetti (play-by-play) and Mike Rooney (analyst) calling all of the action.
All three games of the ACC series will be aired live on 93.9 The Ville in Louisville, while CardsTV subscribers can listen to the action online at GoCards.com. Live scoring will be available through Gametracker at GoCards.com. Additionally, streaming video for each of the first two games in the series will be available at VirginiaSports.com.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville, ranked as highly as seventh in five of the six national polls, earned its third straight ACC sweep and maintained sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division with three wins against Georgia Tech last weekend. The Cardinals, who pushed their winning streak to four games with Tuesday night's 16-5 non-conference victory over Miami (Ohio) at Jim Patterson Stadium, used strong pitching and early scoring while never trailing in any of the three games against the Yellow Jackets. Louisville has won 10 straight conference games while the 11-1 ACC mark is the best 12-game league record in school history.
SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Virginia have no previous meetings on the baseball diamond. This weekend's series marks the first visit to the state of Virginia for the Cardinals since playing a three-game Metro Conference series at VCU on March 24-26, 1995.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS
Virginia enters the weekend at 19-9 overall after splitting a pair of midweek games against VMI (7-6 home loss on Wednesday) and VCU (5-3 road win on Tuesday) this week. The Cavaliers are tied for second in the ACC Coastal Division with a 6-6 conference mark after earning a three-game series sweep at Notre Dame last weekend. Last season, Virginia advanced to the College World Series Finals falling 3-2 to Vanderbilt in the deciding game of the best-of-three series. The Cavaliers finished with a 53-16 record overall last season and were second in the ACC Coastal with a 22-8 league mark.
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE RACE
After four weeks of ACC action, Louisville is atop the Atlantic Division with an 11-1 conference mark. The Cardinals hold a two-game lead over Florida State (9-3), with NC State in third at 6-5, Wake Forest in fourth at 6-6 and Clemson fifth at 5-7. Miami leads the Coastal Division at 8-4, while Virginia, North Carolina and Virginia Tech are tied for second with 6-6 conference marks.
TEAM NOTES AND TRENDS
? Louisville has won nine straight series (including three this season) against nationally ranked foes with the last loss coming in 2011 at No. 15 Connecticut.
? Through 29 games this season, the Louisville bullpen has a 1.67 ERA with a 12-0 record, 134 strikeouts in 113.0 innings pitched and opposing batters are hitting just .166.
? In 12 ACC games, the Cardinals have a 2.21 ERA overall with 115 strikeouts in 118.0 innings. The bullpen has a 1.29 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 42.0 innings of work in conference action.
? Louisville has won 118 straight games when entering the ninth inning with a lead dating back to May 2012. The Cardinals were 43-0 last season and 46-0 in 2013 when leading after the eighth.
? The Cardinals are 18-1 this season when out-hitting their opponents, 1-5 when out-hit and 3-1 when hits are tied. Last season, Louisville was 38-3 when out-hitting its opponents.
? The Cardinals allowed two or fewer earned runs in 40 of 67 games last season, something they did in 36 of 65 in 2013. So far in 2015, they have allowed two or fewer earned runs in 17 of 29 games overall.
? Louisville is 8-0 this season when scoring in the first inning and 14-0 when scoring first.
PLAYER NOTES AND TRENDS
? Senior Sutton Whiting leads the Cardinals with a .382 average through 29 games and is hitting .438 in ACC games.
? Sophomore Corey Ray leads the team with four home runs, 27 RBI, 21 runs scored, three triples and 13 stolen bases on 16 attempts.
? As the first player in Dan McDonnell's nine seasons to start on the mound and play virtually every day as a position player/hitter, freshman Brendan McKay is 4-0 with four saves, a 1.36 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 33.0 innings pitched (10 appearances, three starts.). At the plate, he is hitting .316 with one home run, 13 RBI, 17 runs scored and 19 walks in 22 starts as a hitter.
? In his last three starts, junior Kyle Funkhouser is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 21.0 innings. Overall, he is 3-2 with a 2.40 ERA and 49 strikeouts on the season.
? In his last five starts, sophomore lefthander Josh Rogers is 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 31.0 innings pitched.
? Sophomore lefty Drew Harrington has allowed only one earned run in 12 appearances on the mound this season. In 25.1 innings of work in 2015, Harrington is 3-1 with four saves, a 0.36 ERA, 39 strikeouts to just seven walks while opposing hitters are batting just .092 against him.
? Ray leads the Cardinals with 12 multiple-hit games this season, while Nick Solak and Sutton Whiting are next with 11 each. Devin Hairston has seven multiple-RBI performances to lead the club, while Ray is next with six.
LOUISVILLE PITCHERS LEAD NATION IN STRIKEOUTS SINCE 2012
Since 2012, Louisville's pitchers lead the nation in strikeouts with 1,954 overall (entering the week). The Cardinals, who had 287 strikeouts through the first 28 games of 2015, finished with 563 strikeouts last season, had an NCAA best 629 in 2013 and finished with 474 in 2012. Vanderbilt ranks second since 2012 with 1,899 strikeouts, while NC State (1,886), Mississippi State (1,872) and North Carolina (1,848) round out the top five.
TEN CARDINALS MAKE COLLEGIATE DEBUTS IN 2015
A total of 10 Cardinals have made their collegiate debuts thus far in the 2015 season. During the Opening Weekend Challenge in Florida, Devin Hairston, Colby Fitch, Lincoln Henzman, Kade McClure, Brendan McKay and Blake Tiberi took the field for Louisville, while Butch Baird and Sean Leland saw their first chances for the Cardinals in the series against Arkansas State. On Feb. 24, Chandler Dale became the ninth player to see action with a relief appearance against Butler. Junior Jimmy Faul added his name to the list as the 10th player when he had a pinch hit single against Boston College on March 14.
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.
CARDINALS COMPLETE MOST SUCCESSFUL MARCH IN SCHOOL HISTORY
Louisville finished with its highest winning percentage ever for the month of March after compiling a 16-3 record overall (.947 winning percentage) this season. The Cardinals surpassed the previous best record for March of 15-3 (.833) during the 1984 season, while the third highest winning percentage in the month came during the 2010 season when Louisville finished at 14-3. The month of March has proven to be a successful one for the Cardinals under the guidance of coach Dan McDonnell. Louisville has never finished with a losing record in the month while seven of the nine seasons they have won 13 or more games in March.
LOUISVILLE IN NATIONAL POLLS EVERY WEEK SINCE BEGINNING OF 2012
The Louisville baseball program has enjoyed a historic run by remaining in at least one of the major national polls every week since the release of the 2012 preseason rankings -- the longest such span in school history. The Cardinals received their second highest preseason ranking ever prior to 2015 after being tabbed as highly as No. 7 in the USA Today preseason coaches poll. The ranking, which marked the third straight season the Cardinals were positioned in the top 10 in a preseason poll, was second to only the No. 4 ranking by Baseball America in 2013.
Earning a preseason national ranking for the eighth straight season, Louisville was ranked in the top 12 in each of the six preseason national polls in 2015. The Cardinals were 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.
SMITH NAMED TO JOHNNY BENCH AWARD WATCH LIST
On March 11, Louisville sophomore Will Smith was among 75 catchers named to the official watch list for the 2015 Johnny Bench Award presented by BaseballSavings.com. Because the award is given annually to the top division one collegiate catcher, the list will be updated to include other candidates until May 4. The watch list will be narrowed to the semifinalists on May 14, while the finalists will be announced June 2. A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita and the winner will be announced at the 18th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 25, 2015.
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.
