ACC Tourney

[PushupMan]

Starts tomorrow with 4 days of pool play games: 3 games each day.

The 1 seed Cards are in Pool A with 12 seed Boston College and 8 seed Clemson. BC and Clemson play at 11 AM on Tuesday, UofL plays BC at 11AM Wednesday, and Clemson at 11AM Thursday. UofL advances to the semifinals on Saturday if they win both games in pool play, or if all 3 teams go 1-1.

The winner of Pool A will play the winner of Pool D (4 Miami, 5 North Carolina, #9 Virginia) in the semis at 1pm Saturday. The conference finals are set for Sunday at noon.

2 seed Georgia Tech and 3 seed NC State are the top seeds in the other half of the bracket.

Go Cards!
Let’s get this!

 

[earsky]

What do you see as the pitching strategy?Perkins for sure on Wednesday? After that,the weekend rotation or might we see a surprise on Day 2?

I guess we could see a surprise if the Cards win game 1 or maybe even Bennett next up with Detmers and Miller for the weekend.Interesting....

 

[PushupMan]

Very good question. You’ve got to believe that a win in this tournament locks down a top 8 seed, so the Cards certainly have something to play for in this tournament.

From a strategy standpoint, Coach McDonnell will know who to start after the Clemson-BC game tomorrow. If Clemson wins, Perkins starts against BC and Detmers goes against Clemson. If BC wins, Detmers goes against BC and Perkins goes against Clemson.

Remember that UofL only has to beat the winner of the BC-Clemson game to advance. The other game in pool play will not matter because the top seed advances in case of a 3-way tie.

 

[nccardfan]

Even though the tournament is a different animal, it’s still important that the pitchers stay or be very close to normal rotation. So I would say yes to Perkins on Wednesday and Detmers on Thursday.

 

[earsky]

Yeah and Detmers pitched last Thursday so he will pitch on 6 days rest.

 

[PushupMan]

BC currently leads Clemson 2-1 in the bottom of the 3rd. Clemson is the home team in the game.

 

[PushupMan]

BC now leads 3-1 in the top of the 5th. Clemson, at 33-23 overall and 15-15 in the ACC, is very much a bubble team and needs a good showing in this tournament.

 

[nccardfan]

I think Clemson will make the field. They just won’t host a regional as they have in the past.

 

[PushupMan]

BC beats Clemson 7-5. That eliminates Clemson from advancing out of the pool, and means that the winner of UofL-BC game tomorrow will be the Pool A winner.

We will now get to find out how Coach McDonnell will play it. Does he start Perkins or Detmers in the must win game against BC?

 

[earsky]

We will now get to find out how Coach McDonnell will play it. Does he start Perkins or Detmers in the must win game against BC?

Hadn't thought of that scenario. I mean,is the goal to win the tournament or just get to Saturday? If we lose tomorrow,do we slip in the national ranking?

I'm at the least,a little bit intrigued.

 

[PushupMan]

Hadn't thought of that scenario. I mean,is the goal to win the tournament or just get to Saturday? If we lose tomorrow,do we slip in the national ranking?

I'm at the least,a little bit intrigued.

Survive and advance ... I’d say the first goal is to win the pool, which means win tomorrow. Once you’ve done that, you play to win on Saturday to make it to the finals. And then to win on Sunday to win the ACC tourney title.

 

[PushupMan]

10 seed Wake Forest knocks out 6 seed FSU 7-4 in Pool C! With FSU out, either Wake Forest or 3 seed NC State will advance from that Pool.

11 seeded Notre Dame and 7 seeded Duke are playing a Pool B game right now in the last game of the night.

Pools B and C are in the other half of the bracket from us.

 

[PHCARD]

It’s been a crazy ACC tourney so far. I hope our guys are up for the challenge. Go Cards!

 

[nccardfan]

It’s not a must win imho. Cards are pitching Bennett. If you can’t win a game with any of our 4 starters, you have no business going to the CWS. You can’t pitch Detmers against everyone. You need to find out what Bennett can give you.

 

[PushupMan]

It’s not a must win imho. Cards are pitching Bennett. If you can’t win a game with any of our 4 starters, you have no business going to the CWS. You can’t pitch Detmers against everyone. You need to find out what Bennett can give you.

Agreed that it’s not a must win. But it is a fact that we must win tomorrow if we want to win the ACC tournament.

Bennett did pitch well when we beat BC on March 9th. He started and pitched 5 scoreless innings in our 11-4 win.

We’re probably looking at a planned rotation of Bennett, Perkins, Miller and Detmers (for the expected showdown with Georgia Tech).

 

[PushupMan]

7 seed Duke knocked out 11 seed Notre Dame last night, 10-6.

Games today are:
BC-UofL at 11AM. Winner takes Pool A.
Notre Dame-Georgia Tech at 3PM. Notre Dame is already eliminated. An exhibition game for Tech, which must beat Duke to advance.
Virginia-North Carolina at 7PM. Winner stays alive in Pool D, along with Miami, which is the top seed in that pool.

 

[fredburgcard]

It’s not a must win imho. Cards are pitching Bennett. If you can’t win a game with any of our 4 starters, you have no business going to the CWS. You can’t pitch Detmers against everyone. You need to find out what Bennett can give you.

Cards probably need a win today to wrap up a national seed and home field through the super regional. With that being said if they can’t beat the 12 seed starting Bennett do they really deserve a top 8 seed in the NCAA tournament?

 

[PushupMan]

BC is a deceptively good team ... beat FSU 2 out of 3. Played a 3 game series against 7 of the top 8 seeds in the ACC (UofL, Georgia Tech, NC State, FSU, North Carolina, Duke and Clemson - the only one they missed was #4 Miami). Won at least one game against everybody except North Carolina, to whom they lost two games by 1 run in extra innings both times. And of course they knocked off Clemson yesterday.

And now they are leading us 2-0 through 4 1/3rd innings.

 

[Bardman]

Well, Bennett could not get it done for the second straight outing. Not a good sign unfortunately. Hoeing comes in and can’t find the strike zone. Snider, as usual, can’t get a base runner in. Plenty of game left but our guys don’t look locked in vs BC’s #1 pitcher.

 

[nccardfan]

Well, Bennett could not get it done for the second straight outing. Not a good sign unfortunately. Hoeing comes in and can’t find the strike zone. Snider, as usual, can’t get a base runner in. Plenty of game left but our guys don’t look locked in vs BC’s #1 pitcher.

No Bennett did his job, Hoeing is having issues. This team needs to hit and score runs.

 

[Bardman]

Seemed like Bennet struggled throwing strikes. Not saying he was horrible but not the guy we are used to seeing. Cards always seem to struggle with short lefties, especially those who throw junk. Also agree - they need to hit the ball. 2 hits at the moment - are you kidding me?

 

[Bardman]

Unless some other teams lose I think UofL May have coughed up a top 8 national seed. Still will host a regional but may very well have to travel for a super.

 

[Deeva]

Need to get this last out bottom of the 7th. The way this game has been played, it may be a stretch for me to hope we can rally with 2 innings left.

 

[Bardman]

Nope. BC making the Cards look sick. Just not acceptable to lose like this when a national seed is play. Very disappointing. Bad loss (barring a total miracle).

 

[nccardfan]

Nope. BC making the Cards look sick. Just not acceptable to lose like this when a national seed is play. Very disappointing. Bad loss (barring a total miracle).

I think Dan may need to rethink how he approaches post season tournaments.

 

[FireCard9]

BC pitcher was top of his game today and after the game he said...We are a hungry team. Pretty much sums it up.

 

[CardX]

I think Dan may need to rethink how he approaches post season tournaments.

You think he would have learned a thing or two by now. I'm not sure they approached ACC tournament play with any kind of desire to win it. Dan didn't sound too upset post game.

 

[Jason Puckett]

Not sure why there is so much consternation regarding a national seed as we're still a stone-cold lock for one.

RAS

 

[Bardman]

Not sure why there is so much consternation regarding a national seed as we're still a stone-cold lock for one.

RAS

Not so sure. They have been limping along the last couple of weeks. Lose your first game in the tourney to a scrub 12 seed. I’m sorry but that doesn’t sound like a national seed. 9-16 yes, but not 1-8. I hope they do squeak in somehow but I’m not holding my breath ether.

 

[CardX]

Not so sure. They have been limping along the last couple of weeks. Lose your first game in the tourney to a scrub 12 seed. I’m sorry but that doesn’t sound like a national seed. 9-16 yes, but not 1-8. I hope they do squeak in somehow but I’m not holding my breath ether.

The Cards are currently 7th in the RPI. They took a bad loss today. At worst that could bump them to 8th, depending, also, what the teams around them do. If they lose to Clemson tomorrow, then it's hope and pray time. D1Baseball has their recently updated projections and Louisville is the 6th #1 national seed. That was yesterday, however.

 

[earsky]

Yep,might depend on how the teams 8-12 or so do the rest of the week. Definitely need to win tomorrow and Detmers gets the start. I can't see how we're a lock for a top 8 seed. Might need some help.

 

[CardAlum07]

I think Dan may need to rethink how he approaches post season tournaments.

Post-season baseball continues to be underwhelming for UoL. Dan's a top notch coach but he just can't get it done when it counts.



Our win total is as good as anybody (if you see the follow up tweet answer our numbers are still tops even in the ACC) and we recruit as well as anyone but always find a way to mess it up. Now granted not everyone on the top of this list has won it all either but several have or have gotten to the CWS finals at least. it's well past a nagging issue and quickly becoming a legacy defining problem.

Let's hope they get it going! Go Cards!

 

[earsky]

Here's the other part. The top 8 seeds may not all move on from their regions. Might not all advance.
This group,for whatever reason,seems to like having their backs against the wall.Our captains have to captain.

 

[nccardfan]

I think if ECU and Georgia Tech stumble and don’t win their conference tournaments and we beat Clemson, we might still have a chance for top 8 seed. Also don’t want Oregon St to finish with wins over Stanford.

 

[CardX]

I would like to add the perceived failure in the postseason is a misnomer. 7 regional championships, 4 CWS appearances the last 12 years, programs would kill for that. Conference tournament champs, nice, but not the ultimate goal. We are, as a fan base, still relatively new to being good at baseball. It’s a process. It’s hard. I mean, it took the Cubs 107 years to win a World Series. Keep it in perspective. We’ll get there.

 

[Thecycle27]

Good pitching can shut down any offense. That is exactly what happened yesterday, their pitcher was better than Louisville hitters. Regionals tend to test the entire depth of each teams pitching staff. That is why Louisville has been successful in regionals and even the supers. That probably will play out in this year's regional.

The concern for this team is errors are turning into runs which was a big problem last year. The error in the Vandy game and the error yesterday cost them the opportunity to win the game. The margin for error in these tournament games is very small.

 

[nccardfan]

I would like to add the perceived failure in the postseason is a misnomer. 7 regional championships, 4 CWS appearances the last 12 years, programs would kill for that. Conference tournament champs, nice, but not the ultimate goal. We are, as a fan base, still relatively new to being good at baseball. It’s a process. It’s hard. I mean, it took the Cubs 107 years to win a World Series. Keep it in perspective. We’ll get there.

I don’t dispute that but take a closer look at what we have done when we have made it to Omaha. Regular season championships are awesome but tournaments or World Series is what you hang your cap on. We still have a chance to change things this year! Go Cards!

 

[Jason Puckett]

I would like to add the perceived failure in the postseason is a misnomer. 7 regional championships, 4 CWS appearances the last 12 years, programs would kill for that. Conference tournament champs, nice, but not the ultimate goal. We are, as a fan base, still relatively new to being good at baseball. It’s a process. It’s hard. I mean, it took the Cubs 107 years to win a World Series. Keep it in perspective. We’ll get there.

THIS times a million.

JP

 

[CardX]

I don’t dispute that but take a closer look at what we have done when we have made it to Omaha. Regular season championships are awesome but tournaments or World Series is what you hang your cap on. We still have a chance to change things this year! Go Cards!

Yes, our CWS record (2-8) is not great. But, there are two things about that. Getting there is a monumental accomplishment in and of itself, and the level of competition once there is, obviously, really good. I also think post season frustrations are compounded by some gut wrenching Super Regional losses. The walk off, pinch hit grand slam in the bottom of the 9th to UCSB in 2016, and the BS home run in the 11th to CSF in 2015- both of these games on our home field. I'm getting mad just thinking about it. So, yeah, it's understandable to want more. Really, the next thing to accomplish is winning the CWS. That's not easy.

 

[teamcanada]

The bats have disappeared.