Thursday, April 18
LOUISVILLE, KY
5:00 PM
University of Louisville
vs
Miami
Photo by: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics
No. 7 Cardinals Open Series with No. 22 Miami Thursday
April 17, 2019 | Baseball
First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium.
| GAME DAY INFORMATION #7 Louisville vs. #22 Miami Location: Louisville, Ky. Venue: Jim Patterson Stadium (4,000) Twitter Updates: @LouisvilleBSB Game Notes: Louisville | Miami Tickets: GoCards.com/bsbtickets Thursday, April 18 | 5:00 p.m. ET | Live Stats TV: ACC Network Extra | Radio: 93.9 The Ville LOU: So. LHP Reid Detmers (6-2, 2.24 ERA) UM: Fr. RHP Slade Cecconi (5-2, 3.83 ERA) Friday, April 19 | 6:00 p.m. ET | Live Stats TV: ACC Network Extra | Radio: 93.9 The Ville LOU: So. RHP Bobby Miller (2-0, 4.11 ERA) UM: Jr. RHP Evan McKendry (6-1, 4.12 ERA) Saturday, April 20 | 1:00 p.m. ET | Live Stats TV: ACC Network Extra | Radio: 93.9 The Ville LOU: Jr. LHP Nick Bennett (5-2, 3.35 ERA) UM: Jr. RHP Brian Van Belle (5-2, 3.28 ERA) |
ABOUT THE LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
After a huge road sweep at then-No. 2 North Carolina State, the Louisville offense put 18 more runs on the board in an 18-6 victory over in-state rival Kentucky to complete the regular season sweep of the Wildcats. The Cardinals pounded out 23 hits, their most in nearly 15 years.
Louisville has won six consecutive games heading into the weekend, outscoring the opposition 70-27 over that stretch. The Cardinals have moved up to fifth in the ACC in runs per game at 6.9 and seventh in batting average at .278.
UofL sits atop the Atlantic Division of the ACC standings at 13-5 through six of the 10 conference weekends. The Cardinals hold a slim one-game lead over NC State and are two clear of Clemson.
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 MIAMI
Like the Cardinals, the Hurricanes come to Jim Patterson Stadium with victories in six straight contests. Miami has won three midweek games over Florida Gulf Coast and swept a three-game series at Virginia last weekend.
Miami enters Thursday's game with the top batting average (.295) in the ACC and is third in the league in scoring with 7.4 runs per game. The Canes are also third with a team ERA of 3.67, but rank 12th in the conference with a .963 fielding percentage.
SERIES HISTORY
The Cardinals and Hurricanes have met 10 times previously, including three matchups in the NCAA Tournament. Louisville holds a 6-4 edge in the series with the Cardinals winning a pair of games against Miami in the 2007 NCAA Regional in Columbia, Mo., and once in the 2013 regional in Louisville.
As members of the ACC, the Cardinals won two of three over Miami in their first-ever ACC series in 2015 at Jim Patterson Stadium and dropped two of three in Miami the following season.
TEAM NOTES AND TRENDS
- Louisville pitching currently leads the ACC and ranks top 15 in the country in ERA (3.21), WHIP (1.15), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.94) and hits allowed per nine innings (6.80).
- 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 each of the last four games, giving it 17 games this season with at least 10. The Cardinals are 25-0 this season when they outhit the opposition.
- Logan Wyatt is third in the country with 43 walks through 37 games and is currently on pace for 65 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 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 25-0 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.
LOUISVILLE SLUGGERS STAY HOT IN LEXINGTON
Louisville's red-hot offense kept rolling on Tuesday night in Lexington, with the Cardinals pounding out 18 runs on 23 hits. Both totals were season highs and the 23 hits were the most for Louisville since tallying the same number on April 24, 2005 at Saint Louis.
Other notable numbers for the Cardinals on Tuesday included the most doubles (6) since June 4, 2016 against Ohio State, the most runs scored (18) against Kentucky since April 22, 1976, and the largest defeat of Kentucky (12) since April 10, 2012.
Over the last four games, the Cardinals have 52 runs on 70 hits, raising the team's batting average from .258 to .278.
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.
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 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 | 582 | |
| 2. North Carolina | 576 | |
| 3. LSU | 575 | |
| 4. Florida State | 574 | |
| 5. Vanderbilt | 565 | |
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.
Players Mentioned
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