Cardinals Set for First Home ACC Weekend

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The ninth-ranked University of Louisville baseball team jumps back into conference play this weekend as it welcomes No. 13 Boston College to Jim Patterson Stadium. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET, while Saturday and Sunday are each set for 1 p.m. ET. All three games will be televised on ACC Network Extra and radio coverage will be available on 93.9 The Ville.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals got back into the win column on Tuesday with an 8-3 victory over Murray State. Louisville was powered by a big night from Cooper Bowman, who had a pair of home runs and drove in four to lead the way.

Louisville has dominated opponents on the basepaths this season. The Cardinals lead the country with 40 stolen bases while allowing only six. Louisville tallied a season-best eight in Tuesday's win, including a school-record five from Levi Usher.

SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Boston College have 16 previous meetings with the Cardinals holding an 11-5 advantage in the series that began in 2015. UofL is 8-1 all-time against the Eagles at Jim Patterson Stadium. BC has won the last two contests against Louisville, winning the series finale in 2019 before defeating the Cardinals in pool play of the 2019 ACC Tournament.

TEAM NOTES

Louisville owns 112 conference wins since joining the ACC in 2015, the most conference wins during that time of any Power Five school.
UofL has won 39 of its 52 ACC series since joining the league and is 42-9 in its series finales during that span, including a 14-6 record in rubber games.
The Cardinals have won 20 of their 25 ACC series at home since debuting in the conference.
The Cardinals found their offense over the last four games, scoring 36 runs on 51 hits during that stretch. Louisville currently leads the ACC in stolen bases and walks, ranks second in the ACC in hits, hit by pitch and on-base percentage, and third in batting average.
Louisville has been the best in the country on the basepaths this season with 40 stolen bases, 23 more than anyone in the ACC. Levi Usher leads the country with 13, while Luke Brown is second with six and Henry Davis is tied for third with five.

PLAYER NOTES

Cooper Bowman slid into the leadoff spot for the three-game series at Georgia Tech and made an immediate impact. In four games in the leadoff spot, Bowman is 7-for-15 (.467) with three home runs, five RBIs and seven runs scored. Bowman leadoff homer on March 7 at Georgia Tech was the first for the Cardinals since Corey Ray at Miami on March 18, 2016. One game later, he became the first Cardinal since Alex Binelas in 2019 to homer twice in a single game.
Henry Davis has been the most consistent hitter for the Cardinals through 12 games, picking up at least one hit in every game so far. Davis is currently hitting .381 and ranks fourth in the ACC with 14 RBIs. The catcher also ranks third in the conference with five stolen bases after having just one through his first two seasons at Louisville.
Christian Knapczyk has started each of the last four games at shortstop for the Cardinals and has been a sparkplug at the bottom of the UofL lineup. The freshman is 8-for-14 (.571) in his four starts, tallying four doubles, five RBIs and scoring five times. Knapczyk has a hit in all six games he's played in this season.
Trey Leonard has been rolling at the plate, recording multiple hits in three of his last four games, despite not starting two of those three. Leonard is 6-for-9 (.667) in his last four games and has hit average up to .429 on the year.
Levi Usher set a Louisville school record (since 2000) with five stolen bases in the win over Murray State. Usher is the national leader in stolen bases with 13, seven more than anyone else in the ACC. Since joining the Cardinals, Usher is 24-of-25 (13-for-13 this year) on the basepaths in 28 career games.
Lucas Dunn got off to a slow start in 2021, hitting just .167 (3-for-18) through the first five games of the season. However, Dunn is hitting .444 (12-for-27) over the last seven games, including seven hits in the final two games at Georgia Tech. The junior now has hit average up to .333 on the season and is second on the team with 15 hits.
Michael Kirian continued his dominant run on the mound last weekend at Georgia Tech, working six innings and allowing just one run for his second win of the season. Since the start of the 2019 season, Kirian has a 1.28 ERA in 49.1 innings with 60 strikeouts and just 12 walks.
Kaleb Corbett has made a massive impact in his first season with the Cardinals. The right-hander has made five relief appearances, tossing 9.1 scoreless innings with just five hits allowed and 14 strikeouts. Corbett earned the win against Eastern Kentucky and then went the final 3.1 innings in the finale versus Western Illinois for his first career save.

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Players Mentioned

Alex Binelas

Cooper Bowman

Luke Brown

Kaleb Corbett

Henry Davis

Lucas Dunn

Michael Kirian

Christian Knapczyk

Trey Leonard

Levi Usher

University of Louisville Athletics