No. 7 Louisville Heads to Raleigh for Weekend Series

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The seventh-ranked University of Louisville baseball team heads to Raleigh, N.C. this weekend for three games at NC State. The series begins on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET with the other games set for Saturday at 2 p.m. ET and Sunday at 11 a.m. ET. All three games will be televised on ACC Network Extra and radio coverage of the game will be available on 93.9 The Ville.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals suffered a 6-3 loss at Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday night in Richmond. EKU plated three runs with two outs in the seventh inning to break a 3-all tie and secure the victory. Cameron Masterman hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season, while Luke Brown registered his seventh multi-hit game of the year.

SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and NC State have 16 previous meetings heading into the weekend. The Cardinals are 12-4 all-time against the Wolfpack, including a 7-2 mark in Raleigh.

The last time Louisville and NC State met, the Cardinals captured a series sweep in Raleigh in 2019 behind a potent offensive attack. Louisville scored 14 runs in both halves of the doubleheader to begin the weekend before sealing the series with a 6-3 victory on Sunday. Alex Binelas went 7-for-12 with three doubles and a home run in the series, while Henry Davis tallied four hits and drove in a pair.

TEAM NOTES

Louisville owns 115 conference wins since joining the ACC in 2015, the most conference wins during that time of any Power Five school.
UofL has won 40 of its 53 ACC series since joining the league and is 43-9 in its series finales during that span, including a 14-6 record in rubber games.
Louisville's offense ranks among the best in the ACC this season. The Cardinals currently lead the ACC in stolen bases and walks, while ranking second in the ACC in hits, hit by pitch, home runs, on-base percentage and runs.
The Cardinals have been the best in the country on the basepaths this season with 50 stolen bases, 32 more than anyone in the ACC. Levi Usher leads the ACC and country with 15, while Henry Davis is second in the ACC with eight and Luke Brown is fourth with six.

PLAYER NOTES

Cooper Bowman slid into the leadoff spot for the three-game series at Georgia Tech and made an immediate impact. In eight games in the leadoff spot, Bowman is 12-for-30 (.400) with four home runs, eight RBIs and 10 runs scored. Bowman hit a 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 16 games, picking up at least one hit in every game so far. Following his first career four-hit game on Sunday against Boston College, Davis is currently hitting .411 and ranks fifth in the ACC with 23 hits and 16 RBIs. The catcher also ranks second in the conference with eight stolen bases after having just one through his first two seasons at Louisville.
- Longest Hitting Streaks in Louisville History
  - 25 - Tommy Barnes (3/5-4/22/1992)
  - 21 - Dave Williams Jr. (4/1-5/4/2003)
  - 20 - Nick Haley (3/7-4/9/2004)
  - 20 - Nick Solak (3/27-4/28/2015)
  - 19 - Boomer Whiting (3/7-4/6/2007)
  - 18 - Henry Davis (3/8/2020-3/16/2021)
Christian Knapczyk has started each of the last eight games at shortstop for the Cardinals and has been a sparkplug at the bottom of the UofL lineup. The freshman is 11-for-25 (.440) in his eight starts, tallying four doubles, a triple, eight RBIs and scoring nine times. Knapczyk has a hit in nine of the 10 games he's played in this season.
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 15, seven more than anyone else in the ACC. Since joining the Cardinals, Usher is 26-of-27 (15-for-15 this year) on the basepaths in 32 career games.
Michael Kirian has smoothly made the transition from closer to weekend starter this season. The southpaw improved to 3-0 on the season after not yielding an earned run in five innings against Boston College. Since the start of the 2019 season, Kirian has a 1.16 ERA in 54.1 innings with 67 strikeouts and just 14 walks.
Glenn Albanese drew the Opening Day start this season for the Cardinals, allowing just one run in five innings against Bellarmine. After missing two weeks, he returned to the mound Saturday against Boston College and give up just one hit in 4.1 scoreless innings. Albanese has a 1.50 ERA over the last two seasons, allowing just three earned runs in 18 innings.
Kaleb Corbett has made a massive impact in his first season with the Cardinals. The right-hander has made seven relief appearances, tossing 11.1 scoreless innings with just five hits allowed and 17 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.

FOLLOW LOUISVILLE BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at @LouisvilleBSB.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Glenn Albanese

Alex Binelas

Cooper Bowman

Luke Brown

Kaleb Corbett

Henry Davis

Michael Kirian

Christian Knapczyk

Cameron Masterman

Levi Usher

University of Louisville Athletics