Tuesday, April 16
Lexington, KY
6:30 PM
University of Louisville
at
Kentucky
No. 7 Louisville Set to Tangle With Kentucky Tuesday
April 15, 2019 | Baseball
The Cardinals and Wildcats will play Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m., ET in Lexington.
| GAME DAY INFORMATION #7 Louisville at Kentucky Location: Lexington, Ky. Venue: Kentucky Proud Park (5,000) Twitter Updates: @LouisvilleBSB Game Notes: Louisville | Kentucky Tuesday, April 16 | 6:30 p.m. ET | Live Stats TV: SECN+ | Radio: 93.9 The Ville LOU: Jr. RHP Luke Smith (4-0, 3.55 ERA) UK: Fr. LHP Dillon Marsh (2-1, 5.97 ERA) |
ABOUT THE LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
Louisville was red hot last week, racking up four wins behind an explosive offensive outburst. The Cardinals scored 45 runs on 56 hits in the four victories, including a three-game sweep at second-ranked North Carolina State. With the three wins in Raleigh, the Cardinals took over the top spot in the ACC.
Six different Cardinals had a batting average of at least .400 last week with 10 or more at bats as Louisville hit .359 as a team. In addition to the offense prowess, UofL limited NC State to just 15 runs in the three-game series after the Wolfpack entered the weekend averaging 8.5 runs per game.
The Cardinals began head coach Dan McDonnell's 13th season ranked as high as fourth in the national polls. UofL is coming off a 45-19 record in 2018, its seventh straight 40-win season and the 11th in 12 seasons under McDonnell. The Cardinals advanced to the championship round of an NCAA Regional for the seventh straight season.
ABOUT KENTUCKY
Kentucky comes into Tuesday's matchup at 20-16 overall, with a 4-3 mark since taking a loss against the Cardinals at Jim Patterson Stadium two weeks ago. The Wildcats scored their biggest series victory of the season over the weekend, sweeping a doubleheader at Ole Miss on Sunday to capture the series in Oxford.
SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's Battle of the Bluegrass will be the 110th all-time meeting between the two programs with the Wildcats leading the series 63-45-1. Louisville is just 16-35 against Kentucky in Lexington and has lost the last two games played there. Under Dan McDonnell, the Cardinals are 16-11 against their in-state rival.
LAST MEETING
Kentucky jumped on the board first with a pair of runs in the third inning, but the Cardinals answered back with eight unanswered runs over the next four frames on their way to an 8-3 victory. Adam Elliott earned his second win of the year with two scoreless innings of relief. Drew Campbell, Zeke Pinkham and Jake Snider all had two hits to pace the Cardinals offensively.
TEAM NOTES AND TRENDS
- Louisville pitching currently leads the ACC and ranks top 15 in the country in ERA (3.14), WHIP (1.14), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.98) and hits allowed per nine innings (6.77).
- Louisville's starting pitcher has pitched five innings or more with one earned run or fewer allowed in 16 games this season.
- UofL has had a starting pitcher throw seven no-hit innings on three occasions this season, with Reid Detmers doing it against Brown and James Madison, and Bobby Miller against Wake Forest.
- Louisville pitchers set a Jim Patterson Stadium record with 18 strikeouts against Georgia Tech on March 22. The Cardinals have struck out 10 or more in 20 games this season, with a 17-3 record when doing so.
- The Cardinals have been active offensively in the first inning this season, plating at least one run in the opening inning of 20 games. Louisville has scored 33 first inning runs overall and is 17-3 when scoring in the first.
- The Louisville offense tallied double digit hits in all three games last weekend, giving it 16 games this season with at least 10. The Cardinals are 24-0 this season when they outhit the opposition.
- Logan Wyatt is third in the country with 43 walks through 36 games and is currently on pace for 67 this season. The UofL single season record in 69 by Kevin Malone in 1980. Wyatt moved to ninth all-time on Louisville's career walk list with three walks Tuesday vs. NKU.
- Louisville swiped a season-high nine bases on March 6 against Morehead State. It was the most since the Cardinals finished with 10 stolen bases against Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 20, 2013. UofL currently leads the ACC with 71 stolen bases on the year. Louisville has finished in the top five in the country in stolen bases in four of the last six seasons.
- In the victory over Morehead State on March 6, the Cardinals set a program record with eight different players recording a stolen base.
- The Cardinals are 24-0 this season when leading after eight innings. From 2012-17, Louisville accumulated a six-year record of 266-3 when entering the ninth with a lead, including a 50-0 mark in 2017.
- UofL has won 35 of its 46 ACC series since joining the league and is 38-7 in its series finales during that span, including an 11-4 record in rubber games.
- The Cardinals have won 18 of their 23 ACC series at home since debuting in the conference.
- Twelve different Cardinals have made their Louisville debuts this season (Albanese, Binelas, Davis, Leonard, Lohman, Masterman, Metzinger, Perkins, Poland, Schmeltz, Smith and Wright). It was the collegiate debut for 11 of the 12.
- While at Louisville, coach Dan McDonnell has guided the Cardinals to four College World Series berths, seven NCAA Super Regional appearances, 11 NCAA Regional bids, eight regular season conference championships and two conference tournament titles with 37 All-Americans.
BINELAS CAPTURES ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Freshman third baseman Alex Binelas was named the ACC Player of the Week after leading the offensive charge in the four victories last week.
Binelas was at the forefront of the offensive outburst, going 8-for-15 (.533) at the plate with four doubles, a home run and seven RBI. The freshman tallied seven of his eight hits in the sweep at NC State, with four going for extra bases.
The Oak Creek, Wis. native has been on a tear over the last month, hitting .357 during that stretch with five home runs and 15 RBI. On the season, Binelas holds a .293 average and leads the Cardinals in long balls and slugging percentage.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION IN RALEIGH
Louisville entered the weekend series at NC State with a .258 team batting average and scoring 6.2 runs per game. The Cardinals blew past those numbers against the Wolfpack, tallying 34 runs over three games and hitting .379 for the weekend.
UofL scored 14 runs in both games on Saturday, marking the first time the Cardinals had reached double digit runs in both games of a doubleheader since March 16, 2004 against Murray State (13-1, 13-4).
The 28 runs scored on Saturday were the most in a doubleheader for the Cardinals since March 23, 1991 when they scored 40 in two games against Western Illinois. The 28 runs were also the most runs scored by Louisville in consecutive ACC games since joining the conference in 2015.
DETMERS NAMED TO GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD MIDSEASON WATCH LIST
Reid Detmers drew more recognition on Wednesday, as USA Baseball named him to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list.
Detmers is the 12th player in Louisville program history to appear on the midseason watch list and the first since Brendan McKay in 2017. McKay went on to win the Golden Spikes Award that season.
Since the inception of the midseason watch list in 2012, Louisville is tied for fourth nationally with the 12 players selected. Only the Cardinals and Oregon State have had at least one representative on the list in seven of the eight years.
LOUISVILLE'S BACK END BULLPEN RESURGENCE
Louisville has consistently produced top of the line bullpen arms, many of which are spread across pro baseball. This season is no different, with the Cardinals a perfect 24-0 when leading after eight innings.
Michael Kirian and Michael McAvene have been key pieces at the end of games in 2019 with marked improvement from their 2018 numbers. Kirian held a 12.71 ERA in 11.1 innings as a freshman last season, while McAvene had a 4.55 ERA over his two-year career entering 2019. This season, Kirian is 2-0 with a save and has given up just two runs in 17.2 innings for a 1.02 ERA. McAvene is 1-0 with four saves and four runs allowed in 16.1 innings. The duo has combined to strike out 46 batters with just seven walks.
In Sunday's win over Clemson, McAvene and Kirian pitched the final six innings of the game, striking out eight with no runs and just three hits allowed.
CARDINALS CONTINUE TO FIND SUCCESS IN ACC PLAY
Since joining the ACC before the 2015 season, Louisville has seen its success at the conference level spill over into its new league. The Cardinals won regular season titles in each of their first three seasons in the ACC and were voted the preseason favorite in 2019.
Louisville has won 35 of 46 conference series since joining the league. With sweeps this season against Wake Forest and at Duke and NC State, the Cardinals have tallied 10 conference road sweeps over the last four-plus seasons and 20 sweeps in ACC play altogether.
Louisville is currently third in the Atlantic Division with a 10-5 start at the midway point in conference action.
LOUISVILLE'S CONTINUED FLIRTATIONS WITH NO-HITTERS
The Cardinals have taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning on three separate occasions this season. Reid Detmers tossed seven no-hit innings against Brown on February 22 before the Bears spoiled things against the UofL bullpen with two outs in the ninth. Detmers followed it up with seven hitless innings the next week versus James Madison, only to see the bid end in the eighth.
In the finale against Wake Forest, Bobby Miller made his own run at history with seven hitless innings in his second start of the season. However, the Demon Deacons broke through against the relievers in the eighth.
It has been more than 35 years since Louisville last tossed a no-hitter, going all the way back to Dave McCormick's gem against Cincinnati on March 26, 1983. The Cardinals have five in program history.
DETMERS EARNS MIDSEASON HONORS
Sophomore Reid Detmers has racked up midseason honors this season, being named the Midseason Pitcher of the Year by Perfect Game, Midseason Top Pitcher by D1Baseball and the March National Pitcher of the Month by the NCBWA.
Detmers ranks second in the country with 94 strikeouts and has walked just 13 batters in 60.1 innings.
Of his nine starts in 2019, three have ended with a career high in strikeouts. Detmers worked seven hitless innings with a then-career best 11 strikeouts against Brown on Feb. 22. His next start out against James Madison, he once again carried a no-hitter through seven innings, finishing with 14 punchouts on the night.
Following victories over Boston College and Duke, Detmers set the Jim Patterson Stadium record striking out 16 Georgia Tech hitters over 7.2 innings on March 22. The lefty gave up just one run in 7.1 innings against Wake Forest on March 29 while tallying double digit strikeouts for the fifth time on the year.
FOUR FORMER CARDS ON MLB OPENING DAY ROSTERS
The Major League Baseball season opened up on Thursday and four former Louisville baseball players were on Opening Day rosters.
Nick Burdi (Pittsburgh Pirates), Adam Engle (Chicago White Sox), Chad Green (New York Yankees) and Matt Koch (Arizona Diamondbacks) were each on the roster to start the 2019 season.
Since the hiring of head coach Dan McDonnell prior to the 2007 season, 64 Louisville players have signed professional contracts after being selected in the Major League Baseball Draft, including a school-record nine Cardinals in 2010.
LOUISVILLE FRESHMEN HAVE BIG WEEK AT THE PLATE
On a roster that returned seven of its position starters from the 2018 season, Louisville had three freshmen with memorable moments at the dish the week of March 11-17.
Alex Binelas was the first of three to hit his first collegiate home run, doing so in the third inning against Ole Miss. The two-run shot was part of a 2-for-4 showing with four RBIs for the Oak Creek, Wis. native.
Henry Davis, who has split time behind the plate this season, launched his first collegiate home run with a towering shot in the seventh inning of Louisville's opening win at Duke. He then added a second long ball in the finale, when he was 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Two batters after Davis hit his second homer of the weekend, Jared Poland got in on the act with a two-run blast that tied the game at four as the Cardinals rallied back for the victory.
DETMERS EARNS BACK-TO-BACK ACC PITCHER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Sophomore lefthander Reid Detmers was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week in consecutive weeks after dominant starts against Brown and James Madison.
Detmers tossed seven no-hit innings with 11 strikeouts against Brown. The southpaw retired the first 16 batters he faced before issuing a walk with one out in the sixth inning. Detmers then retired the next five hitters to finish off his outing.
He then followed it up with seven more hitless innings against James Madison before allowing the only hit of the game to lead off the eighth. Detmers finished his eight innings with a career-high 14 strikeouts.
LOUISVILLE LEADS COUNTRY IN WINS SINCE 2007
Dan McDonnell took the reins of the Louisville baseball program in 2007. Louisville entered 2019 with the most wins of any Division I program from 2007-18 with 554.
| Most Wins Since 2007 | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. Louisville | 581 | |
| 2. North Carolina | 576 | |
| 3. LSU | 575 | |
| 4. Florida State | 574 | |
| 5. Vanderbilt | 564 | |
FEELING AT HOME INSIDE JIM PATTERSON STADIUM
Since opening the gates at Jim Patterson Stadium in 2005, the Cardinals have won more than 77 percent of their games in the ballpark posting a 390-111 record (.778 winning percentage), including an impressive 33-4 mark during the 2017 season at the corner of Third and Central. The Cardinals are 19-4 on their home field this season. Louisville set a school record for home wins with 36 in 2016 and the Cardinals have registered 30 or more wins at home in four of the last six seasons.
LOUISVILLE IN NATIONAL POLLS EVERY WEEK SINCE START OF 2012
Louisville, which surpassed its previous high national ranking of No. 2 (in 2016) with the No. 1 ranking on March 13 and March 20 during the 2017 season, has enjoyed a historic run by remaining ranked in at least one major national poll every week since the release of the 2012 preseason rankings -- the longest such span in school history.
Ranked in the top 25 in all six major preseason polls for 2019, the Cardinals have earned a preseason national ranking in 11 straight seasons (2008-2018) overall. Louisville entered the 2019 season ranked fourth in the D1Baseball rankings, eighth in the Perfect Game and USA Today polls, ninth in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and NCBWA rankings and 11th by Baseball America.
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