It has been a busy week for the Louisville baseball program, which continues its work on the field while also preparing for next week’s highly anticipated trip to the Dominican Republic.

The Cardinals will conclude their third week of fall workouts with open scrimmages on Friday and Saturday at Jim Patterson Stadium.Friday is Scout Day for Louisville with activities starting at 1:30 p.m., while first pitch is set for 3 p.m.

Saturday’s scrimmage is slated to begin at 1 p.m., and will add to an exciting day of sports as the Louisville football team hosts Samford at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium at 6 p.m. Gates at Patterson Stadium will open at 11:30 a.m., on Saturday, while batting practice is slated to begin at noon.

SCHEDULE NEARLY COMPLETE FOR DOMINICAN REPUBLIC TRIP

Louisville will depart for its fall break trip to the Dominican Republic next Friday and the final details on the team’s game schedule and community service activities are nearly complete. The Cardinals are tentatively slated to play games Saturday, Sunday and Monday with two of those contests scheduled against Dominican Republic Professional Baseball League teams. Members of the Louisville travel party will also participate in multiple community service opportunities. The complete schedule of activities is expected to be announced early next week.

 

WEEK TWO SCRIMMAGE HIGHLIGHTS

The Cardinals concluded week two of fall ball with a pair of scrimmages last Friday and Saturday at Patterson Stadium. On Friday, senior infielder Danny Rosenbaum led the offense going 3-for-4 with a home run, double, two RBI and three runs scored. Junior outfielder Logan Taylor was 4-for-4 with a double, while redshirt freshman Riley Jackson was 3-for-5 with two RBI. On the mound, junior lefty Drew Harrington had three strikeouts and allowed just one hit in 3.1 shutout innings, while junior righty Zack Burdi worked two innings of no-hit baseball.

On Saturday, redshirt freshman infielder Drew Ellis was 2-for-3 with a home run, double and two RBI, while Michael Bollmer homered to finish 2-for-4 with two RBI. Junior outfielder Corey Ray had his second straight two-hit day and drove in a run and Taylor continued his hot hitting with a pair of hits. Sophomore righty Sean Leland led the pitching staff by striking out three in two innings of no-hit, shutout work on the mound.

LOUISVILLE RANKED AS SIXTH BEST PROGRAM BY D1BASEBALL

D1Baseball.com recently completed its countdown of the Top 100 programs of the current era and Louisville received an impressive place in that order landing at No. 6 overall. The Cardinals, which also have the sixth most wins in the nation over the last nine seasons (406 wins) under head coach Dan McDonnell, were the second highest ranked ACC school and among 10 conference teams overall in the top 100, including five in the top 13. The comments from D1Baseball on Louisville were highlighted by this note on the growth of the program under McDonnell: “He’s created a monster program that consistently competes for CWS appearances.” Click here to read more about Louisville and the Top 10 or click here to see the full Top 100 countdown.

CARDINALS ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH NATIONAL TITLE

The offseason college baseball coverage by D1Baseball continued on Wednesday with a Top 100 Roundtable featuring the website’s staff. Among the most notable items was the question “Which program without a national title is the most likely to win one in the next five years?” Four of the eight D1Baseball staff members selected Louisville as the most likely choice, which brings to mind the famous Howard Schnellenberger description of the Cardinals football program. Upon being hired as Louisville’s head coach in 1985, Schnellenberger announced during his introductory news conference that the program “is on a collision course with the national championship. The only variable is time.” Read more of the D1Baseball Top 100 Roundtable here.

 

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@UofLSheriff50. Louisville native, University of Louisville Business School Grad c/o 2004. Co-Founder of TheCrunchZone.com

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