Tuesday, May 3
Nashville, Tenn.
6:00 PM
University of Louisville
at
Vanderbilt
Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics
Cards Head to Vanderbilt Tuesday for Battle of the Barrel
May 02, 2022 | Baseball
First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET in Nashville.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Two of college baseball's premier programs get together on Tuesday night as the fifth-ranked University of Louisville baseball team heads to Nashville to take on No. 14 Vanderbilt in the Battle of the Barrel. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. ET. and will be televised on SEC Network. Tuesday's game can be heard on 93.9 The Ville.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville enters Tuesday on a five-game winning streak after picking up a three-game sweep of Clemson over the weekend. The Cardinals plated 35 runs over the three games, including 18 on Sunday, which was a record for Louisville in ACC play.
SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Vanderbilt are the two winningest programs since 2007 when Dan McDonnell took over the reins of the UofL program. The two programs have combined for 1,364 wins, 10 College World Series appearances and 17 super regionals over that time.
Tuesday night will be the 39th meeting all-time between Louisville and Vanderbilt. The Commodores lead the series 27-11 and 13-5 in Nashville, but the Cardinals will be making their first trip to the Music City since 2018. Louisville took the 2021 Battle of the Barrel with a 7-2 victory last May in Louisville. Carter Lohman allowed one run in four innings to earn the victory.
TEAM NOTES
PLAYER NOTES
NO GAME IS OVER FOR THE CARDS
Louisville has had a knack for rallying back after falling behind in games this season, including two more times last week in wins over Western Kentucky and Clemson.
The Cardinals have now won 17 games during which they trailed, including eight of their 14 ACC victories. UofL has won six games in which it trailed in the seventh inning or later, four of which were in ACC play.
Louisville has excelled at the plate in the late innings, scoring 152 runs in the seventh inning or later and outscoring opponents 96-42 from the eighth inning on.
BIANCO DOING DAMAGE WITH THE BASES LOADED
Ben Bianco has found himself at the plate with an opportunity to drive in runs on a consistent basis this season. Despite hitting ninth in the Louisville order, he currently ranks 16th in the ACC and third on the team with 44 RBIs.
Nearly half of his RBI total this season has come thanks to his work with the bases loaded. With the bases juiced, Bianco is 6-for-12 with a triple, three grand slams and 19 RBIs.
The three grand slams have all come at important times for the Cardinals. Bianco's first extended Louisville's 2-1 lead to 6-1 in the eighth inning against then No. 1 Notre Dame on March 19. The second turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead against No. 20 North Carolina in a game the Cardinals would go on to win in 10 innings on April 9. Bianco then left the yard again on April 22 against No. 23 NC State, erasing a 4-1 deficit in the seventh inning.
LOUISVILLE LINEUP SHOWING DEPTH TOP TO BOTTOM
Louisville's offensive attack has drawn headlines for its performance this season and the Cardinals are doing it by committee with strong production up and down their lineup.
All nine of Louisville's regulars are hitting better than .285 this season, the only lineup in the ACC with nine qualified hitters above that mark. Louisville's starting nine all have at least 40 hits and 30 runs scored, the most of any team in the ACC in either category.
KNAPCZYK, METZINGER PROVIDING LETHAL 1-2 COMBINATION
The Louisville offense has beat opponents in a variety of ways in 2022, but the combination of Christian Knapczyk and Ben Metzinger at the top of the Cardinals' lineup has been at the center of it all. Both players were named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List for their performances through the first half of the season.
Knapczyk is hitting .339 and has been an on-base machine in the leadoff spot, ranking ninth in the ACC with a .475 on-base percentage. The shortstop has scored 63 runs through 43 games, the third most in the country.
Metzinger has taken advantage of having his fellow infielder on base in front of him, hitting .326 with 52 RBIs. The senior has 14 home runs on the season, 10 of which have come with Knapczyk on base.
The duo has scored 115 runs, the most of any ACC teammates, and been active on the basepaths as well, combining for 24 stolen bases on the season in just 28 attempts.
LOUISVILLE SHOWING OFF RARE COMBO OF SPEED AND POWER
Louisville's offense has showed off its versatility this season, beating teams with power at the plate and speed on the basepaths.
The Cardinals have tallied 75 stolen bases and 67 home runs through 43 games, making them one of only two teams in the country (Campbell) with at least 65 of each.
All nine of Louisville's regular starters have at least two home runs and a stolen base.
CARDINALS FEATURE ONE OF NATION'S TOP OFFENSES
The 2022 Louisville offense has been arguably the most potent in Dan McDonnell's 16-year tenure. The Cardinals have more runs (417), total bases (821), walks (249) and a higher on-base percentage (.429) through 43 games than any other Louisville team to this point in the season under McDonnell.
Louisville currently ranks second the country in scoring at 9.7 runs per game. The Cardinals rank third nationally in on-base percentage, sixth in batting average, seventh in runs, eighth in slugging percentage, eighth in walks, ninth in hits, 10th in triples, 21st in doubles, 23rd in home runs and 26th in stolen bases.
FOLLOW LOUISVILLE BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at @LouisvilleBSB.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville enters Tuesday on a five-game winning streak after picking up a three-game sweep of Clemson over the weekend. The Cardinals plated 35 runs over the three games, including 18 on Sunday, which was a record for Louisville in ACC play.
SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Vanderbilt are the two winningest programs since 2007 when Dan McDonnell took over the reins of the UofL program. The two programs have combined for 1,364 wins, 10 College World Series appearances and 17 super regionals over that time.
Tuesday night will be the 39th meeting all-time between Louisville and Vanderbilt. The Commodores lead the series 27-11 and 13-5 in Nashville, but the Cardinals will be making their first trip to the Music City since 2018. Louisville took the 2021 Battle of the Barrel with a 7-2 victory last May in Louisville. Carter Lohman allowed one run in four innings to earn the victory.
TEAM NOTES
- Louisville has an .843 winning percentage (129-24) in regular season non-conference games since the start of 2016, including a 105-12 (.897) mark in regular season non-conference home games.
- UofL's offense has been explosive so far this season, plating four or more runs in an inning 40 times through 43 games, surpassing its total of 19 in 50 games in 2021.
- Louisville has scored 10 runs or more 19 times this season and registered at least 10 hits in 28 games, including 17 of its last 22.
- UofL is 25-2 this season when it tallies more hits than the opposition. During Dan McDonnell's 16 seasons at Louisville, the Cardinals are 542-62 (.897) when they record more hits.
PLAYER NOTES
- 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. He is currently leading the team with 21 multi-hit games on the season, including nine with three hits. Payton has at least one hit in 28 of the last 30 games and ranks top five in the ACC in batting average (4th), doubles (4th) and hits (5th).
- 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 all but two games, hitting .343 with eight doubles, four homers and 44 RBIs. Beard has 17 multi-hit games on the season and has driven in 14 runs in the last nine games, including four in the finale against Clemson. He has also been Louisville's top weapon with runners in scoring position, hitting .439 (25-for-57) in those situations.
- Isaac Humphrey has quietly put together an excellent season for the Cardinals after not seeing action during the 2021 season. Humphrey is currently the team leader and ranks sixth in the ACC with a .483 on-base percentage. The sophomore is 26-for-66 (.394) over his last 19 games, surging his average up to .333. Humphrey has been Louisville's second-best hitter this season with runners in scoring position, hitting .432 (19-for-44) and reaching base at a .582 clip in that situation.
- Levi Usher has been a terror on the basepaths for opponents since arriving at Louisville for the 2020 season. The centerfielder led the ACC with 26 stolen bases in 2021 and is 27-for-28 this season. Usher has moved into seventh place on Louisville's career stolen base list with 64 in 68 attempts. Usher is hitting .378 (28-for-74) over his last 18 games and has his batting average above .300 for the first time this season.
- Christian Knapczyk has hit in the leadoff spot every game this season after hitting ninth in 42 of his 43 starts in 2021. Knapczyk owns 20 multi-hit games and is third in the country with 63 runs scored. The Louisville shortstop has scored at least one run in 36 of 43 games this season, including two or more in 20. 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 top 10 in the ACC in runs (1st), triples (2nd), hit by pitch (3rd), stolen bases (6th) and on-base percentage (9th).
- Ben Metzinger returned fully healthy in 2022 and has been one of the pillars of the Louisville lineup. Metzinger is top 10 in the ACC in walks (4th), home runs (7th) and total bases (9th). He earned ACC Player of the Week honors after tallying four straight multi-hit games against Lipscomb and Boston College. Metzinger owns walk-off home runs against Morehead State and North Carolina this season, the first walk-off blasts for the Cardinals since Nick Solak's home run beat Notre Dame on March 11, 2016.
- Ben Bianco has already turned in a career season this spring setting career highs in runs (32), hits (41), triples (3), home runs (9) and RBIs (44). 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. Bianco also homered in all three games of the weekend series against North Carolina, including a go-ahead grand slam in game two and a leadoff shot that helped sparked Louisville's ninth-inning rally in the finale. He is currently 16th in the ACC in RBIs.
- 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 has continued his strong work out of the bullpen and put together 15 consecutive scoreless innings before allowing two unearned runs against North Carolina. The junior is second in the ACC with eight saves.
NO GAME IS OVER FOR THE CARDS
Louisville has had a knack for rallying back after falling behind in games this season, including two more times last week in wins over Western Kentucky and Clemson.
The Cardinals have now won 17 games during which they trailed, including eight of their 14 ACC victories. UofL has won six games in which it trailed in the seventh inning or later, four of which were in ACC play.
Louisville has excelled at the plate in the late innings, scoring 152 runs in the seventh inning or later and outscoring opponents 96-42 from the eighth inning on.
BIANCO DOING DAMAGE WITH THE BASES LOADED
Ben Bianco has found himself at the plate with an opportunity to drive in runs on a consistent basis this season. Despite hitting ninth in the Louisville order, he currently ranks 16th in the ACC and third on the team with 44 RBIs.
Nearly half of his RBI total this season has come thanks to his work with the bases loaded. With the bases juiced, Bianco is 6-for-12 with a triple, three grand slams and 19 RBIs.
The three grand slams have all come at important times for the Cardinals. Bianco's first extended Louisville's 2-1 lead to 6-1 in the eighth inning against then No. 1 Notre Dame on March 19. The second turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 lead against No. 20 North Carolina in a game the Cardinals would go on to win in 10 innings on April 9. Bianco then left the yard again on April 22 against No. 23 NC State, erasing a 4-1 deficit in the seventh inning.
LOUISVILLE LINEUP SHOWING DEPTH TOP TO BOTTOM
Louisville's offensive attack has drawn headlines for its performance this season and the Cardinals are doing it by committee with strong production up and down their lineup.
All nine of Louisville's regulars are hitting better than .285 this season, the only lineup in the ACC with nine qualified hitters above that mark. Louisville's starting nine all have at least 40 hits and 30 runs scored, the most of any team in the ACC in either category.
KNAPCZYK, METZINGER PROVIDING LETHAL 1-2 COMBINATION
The Louisville offense has beat opponents in a variety of ways in 2022, but the combination of Christian Knapczyk and Ben Metzinger at the top of the Cardinals' lineup has been at the center of it all. Both players were named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List for their performances through the first half of the season.
Knapczyk is hitting .339 and has been an on-base machine in the leadoff spot, ranking ninth in the ACC with a .475 on-base percentage. The shortstop has scored 63 runs through 43 games, the third most in the country.
Metzinger has taken advantage of having his fellow infielder on base in front of him, hitting .326 with 52 RBIs. The senior has 14 home runs on the season, 10 of which have come with Knapczyk on base.
The duo has scored 115 runs, the most of any ACC teammates, and been active on the basepaths as well, combining for 24 stolen bases on the season in just 28 attempts.
LOUISVILLE SHOWING OFF RARE COMBO OF SPEED AND POWER
Louisville's offense has showed off its versatility this season, beating teams with power at the plate and speed on the basepaths.
The Cardinals have tallied 75 stolen bases and 67 home runs through 43 games, making them one of only two teams in the country (Campbell) with at least 65 of each.
All nine of Louisville's regular starters have at least two home runs and a stolen base.
CARDINALS FEATURE ONE OF NATION'S TOP OFFENSES
The 2022 Louisville offense has been arguably the most potent in Dan McDonnell's 16-year tenure. The Cardinals have more runs (417), total bases (821), walks (249) and a higher on-base percentage (.429) through 43 games than any other Louisville team to this point in the season under McDonnell.
Louisville currently ranks second the country in scoring at 9.7 runs per game. The Cardinals rank third nationally in on-base percentage, sixth in batting average, seventh in runs, eighth in slugging percentage, eighth in walks, ninth in hits, 10th in triples, 21st in doubles, 23rd in home runs and 26th in stolen bases.
FOLLOW LOUISVILLE BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at @LouisvilleBSB.
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