Cards vs Bearcats

[PHCARD]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The fifth-ranked University of Louisville baseball team hits the road again on Tuesday to take on Cincinnati. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET and the game can be seen on ESPN+. Radio coverage of Tuesday's game will be available on 93.9 The Ville.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals split two games over the weekend at Notre Dame before the finale was called off due to weather conditions. Louisville held onto the top spot in the ACC Atlantic Division with the split, staying percentage points ahead of the Irish.

Tuesday night will mark the seventh road contest in the last eight games for the Cardinals. Louisville is currently 5-2 during that stretch, including a 4-1 mark against ACC opponents. Following Tuesday's game, the Cardinals will return home for seven straight to start the month of April.

SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Cincinnati will meet for the 183rd time on Tuesday. The Cardinals lead the all-time series 101-81 and have won 14 of the last 15 between the two. Under Dan McDonnell, Louisville has a 24-5 record against the Bearcats. Cameron Masterman hit his first career home run in Louisville's last trip to Cincinnati during the 2019 season.

TEAM NOTES

• Louisville has an .853 winning percentage (110-19) in regular season non-conference games since the start of 2016, including a 88-8 (.917) mark in regular season non-conference home games.
• Louisville's offense ranks among the best in the ACC this season. The Cardinals currently lead the ACC in runs, stolen bases, and triples, while ranking second in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, and third in total bases, walks and hits.
• UofL is 74-1 when leading after eight innings over the past three seasons, including a 16-0 mark this season. Since the start of 2012, the Cardinals are 379-8 when taking a lead into the ninth inning.
• The Cardinals have been the one of the best in the country on the basepaths this season with 59 stolen bases, 31 more than anyone in the ACC. Levi Usher leads the ACC and country with 18, while Henry Davis and Luke Brown are third in the ACC with eight, and Cooper Bowman is fifth with seven.

PLAYER NOTES

• Henry Davishas been the most consistent hitter for the Cardinals this season. Davis saw his 23-game hitting streak come to an end in the second game at Notre Dame, the first game he didn't record a hit this season. The sophomore ranks fourth in the ACC in RBIs and on-base percentage, sxith in batting average and hits, and seventh in total bases. Davis also has eight stolen bases after having just one through his first two seasons at Louisville.
  • Longest Hitting Streaks in Louisville History
    • 25 - Tommy Barnes (3/5-4/22/1992)
    • 23 - Henry Davis (3/8/2020-3/22/2021)
    • 21 - Dave Williams Jr. (4/1-5/4/2003)
    • 20 - Nick Haley (3/7-4/9/2004)
    • 20 - Nick Solak (3/27-4/28/2015)
    • 19 - Boomer Whiting (3/7-4/6/2007)
• Alex Binelas has seen his bat start to heat up over the last two weeks. The sophomore has caught fire over the last four games going 9-for-14 (.643) with two triples, three home runs, seven runs scored and 12 RBIs. Binelas recorded two triples against Western Kentucky, becoming the first Louisville player with two triples in a game since Ty Young did so against Notre Dame on March 28, 2013.
• Cooper Bowman slid into the leadoff spot for the three-game series at Georgia Tech and made an immediate impact. In 14 games in the leadoff spot, Bowman is 19-for-56 (.339) with six home runs, 10 RBIs and 17 runs scored. Bowman hit a leadoff homer on March 7 at Georgia Tech was the first for the Cardinals since Corey Ray at Miami on March 18, 2016. One game later, he became the first Cardinal since Alex Binelas in 2019 to homer twice in a single game.
• Christian Knapczyk has started the last 14 games at shortstop for the Cardinals and has been a sparkplug at the bottom of the UofL lineup. The freshman is 18-for-48 (.375) in his 14 starts, tallying five doubles, a triple, 10 RBIs and scoring 13 times. Knapczyk has a hit in 14 of the 16 games he's played in this season.
• Levi Usher set a Louisville school record (since 2000) with five stolen bases in the win over Murray State. Usher is the national leader in stolen bases with 18, seven more than anyone else in the ACC. Since joining the Cardinals, Usher is 29-of-32 (18-for-20 this year) on the basepaths in 38 career games.
• Michael Kirian has smoothly made the transition from closer to weekend starter this season. The southpaw improved to 4-0 on the season after taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning on Friday at NC State and tallying a career-high 13 strikeouts. Since the start of the 2019 season, Kirian has a 1.49 ERA in 66.1 innings with 82 strikeouts and just 22 walks.
• Adam Elliott opened the season in the starting rotation, starting the second game in two of the first three weekend series. The senior has since moved back into his familiar role in the bullpen and has been lights out. As a reliever this season, Elliott has gone 2-0 with a save, holding a 0.59 ERA with just one earned run allowed in 15.1 innings.
• Kaleb Corbett has made a massive impact in his first season with the Cardinals. The right-hander has made 10 relief appearances, tossing 16 scoreless innings with just six hits allowed and 21 strikeouts. Corbett earned the win against Eastern Kentucky and then went the final 3.1 innings in the finale versus Western Illinois for his first career save.

 

[Bardman]

Have to say I am losing faith with the ACCN. Not only do we not see out top 10 ranked team on ACC I don’t get why I can’t watch them tonight. I understand the game is at UC but that should not matter.

 

[PHCARD]

Have to say I am losing faith with the ACCN. Not only do we not see out top 10 ranked team on ACC I don’t get why I can’t watch them tonight. I understand the game is at UC but that should not matter.

ESPN+ wants your money. I’m going to sign up for it for year discount, but not until FB starts. This is the last game on ESPN+.

 

[Cardinal Cash]

I’m gonna come out and say it. Luke Smith has been garbage this year.

 

[PHCARD]

Just what we need when our pitching is suspect. The BATS! Cards up 4-2.

 

[Bardman]

True. Luke needs to buckle down and get back to form.

 

[Bardman]

This recurring theme is getting old. Bring in a relief pitcher and they cannot throw strikes.

 

[TheRealVille]

What is this the little leagues? Does McDonnell have to give everyone playing time? He continues to leave pitchers in after they walk the first batters they face. He's just letting Cincinnati back in the game. It drives me bonkers.

 

[PHCARD]

Who’s next?

 

[TheRealVille]

I cannot understand how a pitcher cannot throw strikes. It's like a basketball player not being able to dribble. You're a pitcher. Yes, you might get hit but you have to be able to throw strikes.

 

[nccardfan]

Bullpen implodes. Tie game 8-8.

 

[Bardman]

Not sure why Smith was pulled so early. Seemed like he was pitching well.

 

[2330859]

It is the single most frustrating part of college baseball; relief pitchers inability to throw in the strike zone. These mid-week pitchers know they are likely to have a limited number of innings; yet so often they struggle with control.

 

[TheRealVille]

Unreal how bad the bullpen is. And I have to say I don't think McDonnell respects Cincinnati with the decisions he has made in this game. It's been like this mostly in the midweek games.

 

[Bardman]

I hate to say this and even worse to think it...but, Houston we have a problem. The bullpen just is not at the level it should be and it is costing us games.

 

[mattsefcovic]

We have been able to mask the problem of the bullpen by our weekend performances as of late, but the midweek games have been hard to watch. There is no reason we should be in games with Morehead, EKU, Cincy, etc on a regular basis.

 

[Ty Spalding]

We have been able to mask the problem of the bullpen by our weekend performances as of late, but the midweek games have been hard to watch. There is no reason we should be in games with Morehead, EKU, Cincy, etc on a regular basis.

The offense seems to be there. But my goodness, giving up double-digit runs this often is bad.

 

[PHCARD]

Anybody else for Kaleb being our opener, relief and closer? 😎 I’ll get used to the hat flip.

 

[Jgrimes1320]

I don’t know if I saw it right but it didn’t look like Dunn touched the home plate when he slid, but I could be wrong. Curious if anyone else noticed that.

 

[Jhectus18]

This pen performance is abysmal.

 

[gocds]

We do have Bullpen issues, but I’m quite sure CDM understands and is aware of this. 😎. The repair of this problem will take time and I’m thinking that we will be living with this throughout this season.

GO CARDS!!!

 

[jpa2825]

The bullpen hasn't consistently performed. Corbett and Elliott even struggled last night. If we assume that was an isolated instance for them, we need answers on the following based on the current roster posted:

Perkins - location; maybe give him a midweek start and let him work through it
Poland - injury update?
Silkwood - is he available? He was dressed last night.
Amburgey - ?
Seed - presumably SUN starter (if Albanese is healthy) until Luke Smith works out his issues
Webster - location; was effective early in 2021
Barrett - location; assume such a short outing last night b/c he didn't want their 2B to bat LH again (after he took the 2nd pitch of the game 2/3 way up the wall at 5/3 Arena)
Kuehner - has been serviceable for the most part
Schmeltz - location
Phillips - ?
Prosecky - injury update? I don't think we saw him at ND or last night
Wiegman - ?
Robinson - ?
Lohman - ?
Galvan - ?
Wright - expected back from injury when?
Hall - ?
Langworthy - ?

The message is, we have scholarship guys who are not getting it done. We have other scholarship guys that apparently don't look good enough in practice / intrasquad to warrant innings but at this point, what do we have to lose? Being forced to use Elliott and Corbett (and Smith to work through his issues) in midweek games to try to win them takes away innings from guys who need work to show what they can do in game settings.

Goal is 1-8 seed. Minimum acceptable with this squad should be 9-16 seed. Both are still achievable. ACC play will have much more impact on that than midweek so focus needs to be there but the midweek performance is going to ding RPI. Need to get going this weekend v. Wake.

 

[PHCARD]

2024 Baseball Cumulative Statistics

The official 2024 Baseball cumulative statistics for the University of Louisville Cardinals

gocards.com

jpa, when you look at these stats, it is as bad as it seems.

 

[2330859]

I am as disappointed as most on this site, but if you look around the rest of the country, others are experiencing much of the same inconsistency. if we win the ACC Championship, we will be one of the 8 hosting schools regardless of these mid-week losses.

 

[earsky]

Kuehner - has been serviceable for the most part
Schmeltz - location
Phillips - ?
Prosecky - injury update? I don't think we saw him at ND or last night
Wiegman - ?
Robinson - ?
Lohman - ?
Galvan - ?
Wright - expected back from injury when?
Hall - ?
Langworthy - ?

 

[earsky]

I mean yeah, Prosecky, Robinson,Lohman.All guys that are being counted on.
Without going back and looking at when they last pitched, I can't remember.
Add to that, Poland,Wright, control issues with Perkins. I'd say we're doing it with smoke and mirrors,but we're not.
However,if I may, the past 10 seasons+, this program has really had its way with these midweek games. Maybe some adversity early changes the results late,even if there might not be a top 8 seed involved.

 

[gocds]

If we consider CDM’s SOP in seasons past I believe we’ll start seeing some gradual improvements (barring injuries) in our pitching both starting rotation guys and relievers. We have to take into consideration that quite a few of the relievers are very young. Just saying.

GO CARDS!!!

 

[nccardfan]

It’s still early in the conference but I am beginning to feel less confident about this team getting to Omaha than in a long time. I’m sure Mac will get it figured out and prove m

If we consider CDM’s SOP in seasons past I believe we’ll start seeing some gradual improvements (barring injuries) in our pitching both starting rotation guys and relievers. We have to take into consideration that quite a few of the relievers are very young. Just saying.

GO CARDS!!!

we figured going in that we probably needed to find 1 or 2 mid week starters and a definite closer. What we didn’t expect was that our 1 of our weekend guys would struggled and that it takes 3 pitchers to fill in another weekend start.

 

[gocds]

It’s still early in the conference but I am beginning to feel less confident about this team getting to Omaha than in a long time. I’m sure Mac will get it figured out and prove m

we figured going in that we probably needed to find 1 or 2 mid week starters and a definite closer. What we didn’t expect was that our 1 of our weekend guys would struggled and that it takes 3 pitchers to fill in another weekend start.

I’m not sure what is going on with Luke Smith. I must admit that I like him but it appears that he’s not the pitcher he was two years ago. Maybe Covid had an effect on him in a different way.

GO CARDS!!!

 

[PHCARD]

I’m not sure what is going on with Luke Smith. I must admit that I like him but it appears that he’s not the pitcher he was two years ago. Maybe Covid had an effect on him in a different way.

GO CARDS!!!

Majority of all adults, teens and children have been effected by this da#n nightmare in so many ways. We still don’t realize the long term consequences because the nightmare is still in process.

 

[earsky]

It’s still early in the conference but I am beginning to feel less confident about this team getting to Omaha than in a long time. I’m sure Mac will get it figured out and prove m

we figured going in that we probably needed to find 1 or 2 mid week starters and a definite closer. What we didn’t expect was that our 1 of our weekend guys would struggled and that it takes 3 pitchers to fill in another weekend start.

I agree with a lot of your sentiments here. I remember coming in, thinking the bullpen would be the gem of the pitching staff.
But mostly it's your first sentence about it still being early. I'm reminded that we just started April, with about 7 full weeks till ACC tourney,and I sense it's too early to say for sure.
Hopefully,things shake out in April and we become a Championship caliber squad in May.