Cardinals Open ACC Play with No. 1 Notre Dame

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville baseball team starts ACC play this weekend with a three-game series against No. 1 Notre Dame. The series begins on Friday night at 4 p.m. ET and continues with Saturday and Sunday games at 1 p.m. ET. All three games will be televised on ACC Network Extra. Radio coverage will be available on 93.9 The Ville throughout the weekend.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville heads into ACC play having won 10 of its last 11 games. The Cardinals' offense has been one of the best in the country this season and is averaging 11.8 runs and 12.6 hits per game over the last 13 contests. Louisville is third nationally is runs per game and has scored double-digit runs in three straight.

LOUISVILLE AGAINST NO. 1 TEAMS
Notre Dame comes to Jim Patterson Stadium ranked No. 1 in two of the six major polls. Louisville has not played against a top-ranked team since defeating Kentucky twice when the Wildcats were No. 1 in April of 2012. UofL is 4-3 against No. 1 teams since 2000 and is playing its first weekend series against the top-ranked team since March 25-26, 2005 when it took 2-of-3 from Tulane.

SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Notre Dame have met 42 times previously with the Cards holding a 33-9 advantage in the series. Louisville had won 20 straight over the Irish before Notre Dame picked up a 5-3 victory in the second game of last year's series between the two. The two teams split last season's series after the series finale was canceled.

TEAM NOTES

Louisville is 7-0 all-time in ACC openers, including a 13-6 victory at Georgia Tech last season, and has won the opening conference series in six of its seven seasons in the ACC. This is the first time the Cardinals have started ACC play at home since 2019, when they took 2-of-3 from Boston College.
Louisville owns 127 conference wins since joining the ACC in 2015, the most conference wins during that time of any Power Five school.
UofL has won 45 of its 62 ACC series (one series ended 1-1) since joining the league and is 47-13 in its series finales during that span, including a 17-6 record in rubber games.
The Cardinals have won 24 of their 30 ACC series at home since debuting in the conference.
Louisville's offense has been scorching hot over the last 13 games. The Cardinals are averaging 11.8 runs and 12.6 hits per game over that stretch with 72 extra-base hits (32 doubles, 15 triples, 25 home runs), 76 walks, 25 HBPs and 35 stolen bases.
UofL starting pitching turned in its best week of the season against TCU and Michigan. Jared Poland, Tate Kuehner and Riley Phillips turned in quality starts with the trio each working six innings. The three starters combined to strike out 21 batters and allowed just nine hits (seven singles).
UofL is 11-0 this season when it tallies more hits than the opposition. During Dan McDonnell's 16 seasons at Louisville, the Cardinals are 528-60 (.898) when they record more hits.

PLAYER NOTES

Christian Knapczyk has hit in the leadoff spot in all 12 games this season after hitting ninth in 42 of his 43 starts in 2021. Knapczyk leads the Cardinals with 10 multi-hit games and leads the country with 31 runs scored. The Louisville shortstop has scored at least one run in 16 of 17 games this season, including two or more in 10. Knapczyk picked up his first career home run in the second game of the Akron series and hit a leadoff homer against Northern Kentucky. Knapczyk ranks fifth nationally in triples and 15th in hits.
Jack Payton played sparingly as a freshman, appearing in 13 games with seven starts. Payton tallied just six hits and two RBIs in his first season. Through the first 17 games of 2022, Payton is hitting .417 with 25 hits, six doubles and eight RBIs. Payton has four straight multi-hit games entering the weekend and is 10-for-16 (.625) over that span.
Ben Metzinger returned fully healthy in 2022 and has been one of the pillars of the Louisville lineup. The senior ranks eighth nationally with eight home runs and his 25 RBIs are 13th-best in the country. Metzinger has homered seven times in the last 10 games, and has 11 long balls in the last 19 games dating back to last season. His five home runs were tied for the most through 11 games of any Cardinal under Dan McDonnell (Chris Dominguez - 2009, Corey Ray - 2016). Metzinger hit a three-run walk-off homer against Morehead State, the first walk-off blast for the Cardinals since Nick Solak's home run beat Notre Dame on March 11, 2016.
Levi Usher struggled during the 2021 season and got off to a slow start in 2022, but the senior has started to heat up over the last two weeks. Usher was named the ACC Player of the Week on Monday after going 9-for-15 (.600) in four games last week with two doubles, a triple, a homer, eight RBIs and six stolen bases. Usher is 12-for-28 (.429) over the last eight games and is now 9-of-9 in stolen bases this season, upping his career total to 46-for-49 at Louisville.
Ben Bianco has already turned in a career season this spring setting career highs in runs (16), hits (19), triples (3) and RBIs (21), while matching his career best with three home runs. The fifth-year senior had five hits in the finale against Dartmouth, becoming the first Cardinal with five hits in a game since Alex Binelas did so against Alabama A&M on April 26, 2019.
Logan Beard used the 2021 season as a redshirt year and has made the most of his opportunity to play in 2022. The Louisville native has started 15 of 17 games, hitting .353 with a three doubles and two homers and 18 RBIs. Beard is 12-for-30 (.400) over the last nine games, scoring 12 runs and driving in 13, including a two-homer game in the series finale against Akron.
Tate Kuehner moved into the Friday starter role this season and has allowed just four earned runs through his first four starts. Kuehner is 3-0 with 19 strikeouts in 20.2 innings and is holding opponents to a .182 batting average.
Riley Phillips pitched just 4.2 innings as a freshman with a 15.43 ERA, but has taken on a much larger role during his sophomore campaign. The southpaw has moved into a weekend starter role and enters the weekend 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA and a team-high 23 strikeouts.
Jared Poland started his time at Louisville as a two-way player, playing second base and pitching out of the bullpen. Poland took on a pitcher-only role in 2021 and has now worked into a starting pitcher. The right-hander has given up just two earned runs in 13 innings this season.
Michael Prosecky has taken over as the Louisville closer for the 2022 season after pitching in a variety of roles during his first two years. The southpaw recorded the final six outs in each of Louisville's first two victories, earning his first two career saves. Prosecky closed things down twice last week as well, earning saves against TCU and Michigan, and then again on Wednesday versus Bellarmine. He is currently tied for third nationally with five saves.

CARDINALS OFF TO FAST START AT THE PLATE
The 2022 Louisville offense has been arguably the most potent in Dan McDonnell's 16-year tenure. The Cardinals have more runs (175), hits (200), triples (15), home runs (28), total bases (352) and a higher batting average (.334) and slugging percentage (.589) through 17 games than any other Louisville team under McDonnell.

Louisville currently ranks third nationally averaging 10.3 runs per game. The Cardinals also lead the country in triples and rank third in slugging percentage, fourth in batting average, fourth in runs, sixth in hits and seventh in on-base percentage. Louisville is also top 15 in home runs, hit by pitch and stolen bases.

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Players Mentioned

Logan Beard

Ben Bianco

Alex Binelas

Christian Knapczyk

Tate Kuehner

Ben Metzinger

Jack Payton

Riley Phillips

Jared Poland

Michael Prosecky

Levi Usher

University of Louisville Athletics