PLAY BALL! GO CARDS
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals earned a split in the Battle of the Bluegrass series with a 12-5 victory over Kentucky last Tuesday night in Lexington. Dalton Rushing and Alex Binelas picked up three hits apiece and combined to drive in seven runs, with Rushing homering for his third consecutive game.
It will have been 10 days since the Cardinals last took the field when they step on the diamond on Friday night. Louisville had its weekend series canceled due to COVID protocols within the Pitt baseball program and did not have a midweek game on the schedule. The 10-day gap between games is the longest since the Cardinals went 20 days between games from Feb. 4 at FIU to Feb. 24 against Army during the 1990 season.
SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Clemson have 24 previous meetings in a series that dates back to 1970. The Tigers won all six meetings from 1970-72, but Louisville is 10-8 against Clemson since joining the ACC. Clemson holds a 9-6 edge in the series on its home field, including taking two of three from the Cardinals in 2019. UofL won a 7-4 thriller in 11 innings in the series finale in 2019, with Alex Binelas hitting a solo homer to break a 4-all tie in the 11th.
TEAM NOTES
PLAYER NOTES
CORBETT NAMED TO STOPPER OF THE YEAR MIDSEASON WATCH LIST
Freshman reliever Kaleb Corbett was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year midseason watch list.
One of 65 players on the midseason watch list, the right-hander had a dominant start to his collegiate career, tossing 17.1 scoreless innings before allowing his first run.
Corbett holds a 1-1 record with four saves on the season to go along with a 1.04 ERA. The Louisville native has 23 strikeouts to just five walks in 17.1 innings with opponents hitting just .167 against him.
No. 4 Cardinals Return to Action at Clemson
The series begins on Friday night at 6 p.m. ET.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The fourth-ranked University of Louisville baseball team goes back on the road this weekend for three games at Clemson beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Saturday's game is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET and the series concludes Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. The first two games of the series will be televised on ACC Network Extra and can be heard on 1450 WXVW, while Sunday's finale will be on ESPNU and 93.9 The Ville.ABOUT THE CARDINALS
The Cardinals earned a split in the Battle of the Bluegrass series with a 12-5 victory over Kentucky last Tuesday night in Lexington. Dalton Rushing and Alex Binelas picked up three hits apiece and combined to drive in seven runs, with Rushing homering for his third consecutive game.
It will have been 10 days since the Cardinals last took the field when they step on the diamond on Friday night. Louisville had its weekend series canceled due to COVID protocols within the Pitt baseball program and did not have a midweek game on the schedule. The 10-day gap between games is the longest since the Cardinals went 20 days between games from Feb. 4 at FIU to Feb. 24 against Army during the 1990 season.
SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Clemson have 24 previous meetings in a series that dates back to 1970. The Tigers won all six meetings from 1970-72, but Louisville is 10-8 against Clemson since joining the ACC. Clemson holds a 9-6 edge in the series on its home field, including taking two of three from the Cardinals in 2019. UofL won a 7-4 thriller in 11 innings in the series finale in 2019, with Alex Binelas hitting a solo homer to break a 4-all tie in the 11th.
TEAM NOTES
- Louisville owns 125 conference wins since joining the ACC in 2015, the most conference wins during that time of any Power Five school.
- UofL has won 44 of its 58 ACC series (two series ended 1-1) since joining the league and is 46-10 in its series finales during that span, including a 16-6 record in rubber games.
- The Cardinals pounded out six home runs during the opening series against Bellarmine and again at Virginia. It is the most home runs they've hit in a series since also hitting six in three games at Clemson from May 12-14, 2017. The six home runs against Bellarmine were the most for the Cardinals in a single series at Jim Patterson Stadium since April 30-May 1, 2010 when they launched nine against Rutgers (three by Phil Wunderlich and Andrew Clark, two by Stewart Ijames and one from Ryan Wright).
- Cameron Masterman (vs. Bellarmine) and Alex Binelas (at Virginia) have each had a weekend this season in which they homered in all three games of the series. Prior to this season, the Cardinals had not had a player accomplish the feat since Stewart Ijames did so at Rutgers in 2011.
- Louisville's offense ranks among the best in the ACC this season. The Cardinals currently lead the ACC in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, triples, stolen bases, hits per game and runs per game.
- The Cardinals' offense has registered double digit hits in 20 games this season (nine or more in 25 games), and tallied at least one home run in 27 of 34 games.
- The Cardinals have been the one of the best in the country on the basepaths this season with 89 stolen bases, 40 more than anyone in the ACC. Levi Usher leads the ACC and is sixth in the country with 23, while Cooper Bowman is second in the ACC with 14, Luke Brown fourth with 13, and Henry Davis is seventh with 10.
PLAYER NOTES
- Alex Binelas got off to a slow start but has returned to being a major run producer in the middle of the Louisville order. Over his last 18 games, Binelas is hitting .356 (26-for-73) with three doubles, two triples, nine home runs and 33 RBIs. His offensive output has been off the charts over the last eight games hitting .389 (14-for-36) with three doubles, six homers and 20 RBIs. He registered his third career multi-homer game against Florida State, including his first career grand slam, and later homered in all three games of the series at Virginia. Binelas also 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.
- Trey Leonard is having the best season of his Louisville career in 2021. The junior currently ranks third in the ACC with a .394 batting average. Leonard had a career night at Cincinnati going 4-for-6 with three RBIs against and hitting a go-ahead home run in the sixth, a game-tying double in the eighth and adding another double in the 10th. Over the last 12 games, Leonard is hitting .420 (21-for-50) with five doubles, a triple, three homers and 15 RBIs.
- Henry Davis has 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 only game he hasn't recorded a hit this season, and currently has a 12-game hit streak. The sophomore leads the ACC in on-base percentage and ranks second in batting average. He also ranks top 10 in hits, stolen bases, walks, runs, RBIs, total bases and slugging percentage. Davis has 10 stolen bases after having just one through his first two seasons at Louisville. Over his last 12 games, Davis is hitting .452 (19-for-42) with three doubles, three home runs, nine RBIs, 14 walks and a .617 on-base percentage.
- Dalton Rushing made just two starts between March 7 and April 10. He returned to the starting lineup on April 11 against Florida State and tallied a pair of hits, including a game-tying double. Rushing then started the first two games at Virginia and proceeded to homer in each contest, and then put together a three-hit night with another home run at Kentucky. In his last four starts, Rushing is 8-for-16 (.500) with two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBIs.
- Adam Elliott opened the season in the starting rotation but has returned to his usual role in the Louisville bullpen. In 11 relief appearances this season, Elliott is 4-1 with two saves and a 2.10 ERA, striking out 32 in 30 innings with an opponents' batting average of .126.
CORBETT NAMED TO STOPPER OF THE YEAR MIDSEASON WATCH LIST
Freshman reliever Kaleb Corbett was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year midseason watch list.
One of 65 players on the midseason watch list, the right-hander had a dominant start to his collegiate career, tossing 17.1 scoreless innings before allowing his first run.
Corbett holds a 1-1 record with four saves on the season to go along with a 1.04 ERA. The Louisville native has 23 strikeouts to just five walks in 17.1 innings with opponents hitting just .167 against him.
