Cardinals Head on Road for Series at Wake Forest

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville baseball team heads out on the road for a three-game series at No. 14 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C. The series gets underway on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network. Friday's game is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET and Saturday's at 1 p.m. ET with both on ACC Network Extra. Radio coverage of the series will be available on 93.9 The Ville and 970 WGTK.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals bounced back from two straight losses for an 11-1 victory over Bellarmine on Tuesday night. The Cardinals reached double figures for the 11th time on the season in the seven-inning win.

Louisville will play its first true road games this weekend after two neutral site contests and 19 straight at home. The Cardinals will be on the road for seven of the next eight games.

SERIES HISTORY
Louisville leads the all-time series 20-8-1 against Wake Forest, including a 7-4-1 mark in Winston-Salem. Wake Forest took two of three in Louisville last season, with the Cardinals claiming the finale. Louisville's last trip to Wake Forest saw the series split 1-1-1 with a 5-5 tie in the finale.

TEAM NOTES

UofL has won 53 of its 83 ACC series (53-28-2 - one series ended 1-1, one ended 1-1-1) since joining the league and is 58-22-1 in its series finales during that span, including a 21-11-1 record in rubber games.
The Louisville offense currently ranks top 15 nationally in batting average, doubles, hits, on-base percentage, runs, runs per game, sacrifice flies, slugging percentage, stolen bases and triples.
The Cardinals have been hit by a pitch in all but three games this season and currently rank second in the ACC with 34 on the season.
Louisville hit just one home run over the first six games, but homered at least once in each of the next 14 contests. The 14 straight games with a home run was the longest streak for the Cardinals since homering in 15 in a row from April 25-May 18, 2017.
Dan McDonnell has shuffled his lineup through the first 21 games with 14 different position players drawing at least seven starts. Gavin Kilen is the only player to start all 21 games.

PLAYER NOTES

Gavin Kilen made 38 starts as a freshman in 2023, hitting .265 with 10 extra-base hits. The sophomore has moved into the starting shortstop position and taken his offensive game to another level. Through 21 games, Kilen is hitting .361 with 18 extra-base hits. Kilen did not hit a home run in his first 57 collegiate games before tallying his first against Morehead State and homering five times in a eight-game stretch. He hit for the cycle in the series opener against Virginia Tech, becoming the first Cardinal to do so since Alex Binelas in 2019. Kilen is first in the ACC in triples, second in doubles, 10th in total bases, 11th in hits, 17th in slugging and 22nd in RBIs. He also ranks as the second toughest hitter in the ACC to strikeout, going down once every 20.8 at-bats.
Lucas Moore drew the Opening Day start in left field against Indiana State, becoming the first Louisville true freshman to start on Opening Day since Tyler Fitzgerald in 2017. The freshman is tied with JT Benson for the ACC lead in stolen bases and is second in on-base percentage, sixth in hit by pitch and ninth in batting average.
Luke Napleton led all of Division II in home runs (29) and RBIs (87) in 2023 at Quincy University. His offensive production has come with him to Louisville through his first 14 games, as he's hitting .375 with 17 RBIs, four doubles and six home runs. Napleton launched three homers in the series opener against Virginia Tech, the first Cardinal to do so since Alex Binelas against Clemson in the 2021 ACC Tournament.

CARDINALS RUNNING PAST ACC ON BASES
Louisville has been the top base-stealing team in the ACC since joining the league for the 2015 season. The Cardinals have stolen 950 bases during their time in the ACC, more than any other conference team has attempted.

That has continued in 2024, as the Cardinals have swiped 51 bases through their first 21 games. Louisville currently leads the ACC and is eighth nationally. JT Benson and Lucas Moore are tied atop the ACC leaderboard with 14 apiece and have combined for more stolen bases than eight ACC teams.

Louisville has stolen at least 100 bases in eight of the past 10 full seasons.

LOUISVILLE FRESHMEN MAKING IMMEDIATE IMPACT
The Louisville roster features 11 seniors and seven juniors, but members of the freshmen class have been contributing on both sides of the diamond.

Alex Alicea, Lucas Moore and Zion Rose have combined to start 38 games so far this season. The freshmen trio is hitting .362 (50-for-138) with 10 doubles, two triples, two home runs, 46 runs scored, 32 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. They have 21 walks and nine HBPs while striking out just 17 times.

On the mound, Ty Starke and Colton Hartman have been strong as well. The two southpaws have combined to allow just three earned runs in 16.2 innings of work, striking out 19 with just 11 hits surrendered.

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Players Mentioned

Alex Alicea

JT Benson

Colton Hartman

Gavin Kilen

Lucas Moore

Luke Napleton

Zion Rose

Ty Starke

University of Louisville Athletics