Cardinals Head West to Take On Cal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville baseball team heads to the West Coast for three games at Cal beginning on Friday night at 9 p.m. ET. All three games will be televised on ACC Network Extra. Radio coverage will be available all weekend on 970 WGTK with the Saturday at Sunday games also on 93.9 The Ville.

CARDS TOP WESTERN KENTUCKY
Louisville scored seven runs in the first three innings and made them stand up in a 7-3 victory over Western Kentucky on Tuesday. Jake Bean tossed five innings of one-run ball, while Drew Freeman hit his first career homer.

CARDS IN CALIFORNIA
Louisville is making just its third trip to the Golden State under Dan McDonnell. The Cardinals played in the Super Regional at Cal State Fullerton in 2009. Louisville swept a three-game series at Pepperdine in 2011 before losing consecutive midweek games at USC on the same trip.

CAL SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Cal had met just one time prior to last year's weekend series at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cards defeated Cal in Dan McDonnell's first season and took two-of-three from the Bears last spring.

TEAM NOTES

UofL is 62-43-2 in its 107 all-time ACC series (one series ended 1-1, one ended 1-1-1) since joining the league and is 69-35-1 in its series finales during that span, including a 25-21-1 record in rubber games.
The Cardinals have picked up the pace on the basepaths in the last two weeks, swiping at least three bases in six of the last seven games and 30 overall during that span.

PLAYER NOTES

Tague Davis set the Louisville freshman home run record with 18 long balls in his first season. The first baseman tied for the ACC regular season lead in home runs and was the first Louisville freshman to hit double-digit homers since Alex Binelas in 2019. Davis homered in five consecutive games from March 6-11, joining Mark Jurich in 2004 as the only Cards to homer in five straight since 2000. Davis heads into the weekend as the national leader in RBIs at 66. The sophomore is also third nationally in total bases and fourth in homers, leading the ACC in both categories. He's also fifth in the country in slugging percentage.
Zion Rose led the Cardinals last season with 67 RBIs and ranked fourth in the ACC in stolen bases, fifth in RBIs, fifth in triples, seventh in runs, 11th in hits and 12th in total bases. The Chicago native was one of just three players in 2025 to have 10 homers, 15 doubles, 30 stolen bases and 60 RBIs. However, Rose has missed games in two different stints this season due to injury. When he's been in the lineup though, Rose has shown how dynamic he can be. In 15 starts this season, Rose is hitting .431 with nine extra-base hits, 21 RBIs, 22 runs scored, and is 13-for-13 in stolen bases.
Bayram Hot split time at second base in 2025 in his first season with the Cardinals after transferring from Marist, hitting .326 with three doubles and three homers in 92 at-bats. The senior has started every game this spring at third base and has been excellent at the plate. Hot leads the team with a .391 average and currently ranks top 10 in the ACC in batting average, hits, on-base percentage and hit by pitch.
Ethan Eberle worked his way from middle innings reliever to a high leverage bullpen spot, to ultimately starting on the weekends for the Cards as a freshman. The southpaw finished with a 6-2 overall record in 20 appearances, making 10 starts. Eberle struck out 15 batters in his start at Duke, becoming just the third Louisville starter since 2000 to strike out at least 15 in a game. Reid Detmers struck out 16 against Georgia Tech in 2019 and 15 versus Wake Forest in 2020, while Brendan McKay punched out 15 versus Pitt in 2017.

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Players Mentioned

Jake Bean

Tague Davis

Ethan Eberle

Drew Freeman

Bayram Hot

Zion Rose

University of Louisville Athletics