Louisville Baseball Hosts Kentucky TONIGHT at 6:00

Mark BlankenbakerApril 17, 2018

The No. 20 Louisville baseball team opens an eight-game homestand with round two of this year’s Battle of the Bluegrass as No. 6 Kentucky visits Jim Patterson Stadium Tuesday at 6 p.m., ET. Freshman lefthander Reid Detmers will start on the mound for the Cardinals while freshman righty Daniel Harper gets the nod for the Wildcats. The game will be televised on ACC Network Extra, while 93.9 The Ville will have radio coverage.

GAME DAY INFORMATION
#20 Louisville (24-11) vs. #6 Kentucky (25-11)
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Venue: Jim Patterson Stadium (4,000)
Twitter Updates: @UofLBaseball
Game Notes: Louisville | Kentucky | Media Center
Links: Buy Tickets | Patterson Stadium Guide/FAQ | Promotions

Tuesday, April 17 | 6 p.m. ET | Live Stats
TV: ACC Network Extra | Radio: 93.9 The Ville
LOU: Fr. LHP Reid Detmers (1-0, 5.48 ERA)
UK: Fr. RHP Daniel Harper (2-1, 6.46 ERA)

Kentucky enters the week at 25-11 overall and 7-8 in the SEC after winning two of three games last weekend at Georgia. Led by head coach Nick Mingione, the Wildcats have a .312 team batting average and a 4.97 team ERA. Last season, UK was 43-23 overall and second in the SEC East with a 19-11 record. The Wildcats advanced to their first ever NCAA Super Regional before ending the season with back-to-back losses at Louisville.

SERIES HISTORY
Louisville trails 43-63-1 in the all-time series with Kentucky, which dates back to 1925. The Cardinals have won eight of their last 10 against the Wildcats, including three of four contests last year. After splitting the two regular season games in 2017, Louisville won both NCAA Super Regional games at Jim Patterson Stadium to clinch the program’s fourth College World Series berth. UofL dropped an 8-5 decision at Kentucky earlier this season.

TEAM NOTES AND TRENDS
• Louisville is ranked No. 37 in this week’s official NCAA RPI released on April 16. The Cardinals are among seven ACC teams in the top 48 of this week’s RPI.
• From March 9 through April 8, the Cardinals played 15 of 19 games against ranked opponents, including 12 against top 10 foes. UofL has a 6-9 record against ranked teams this season.
• Louisville has started 16 different defensive lineups and submitted 31 different batting orders through the first 35 games of the 2018 season.
• Seven Louisville pitchers have made weekend series starts this season but the Cardinals have used the same trio each of the last two weeks — Adam Wolf, Nick Bennett and Bobby Miller.
• The Cardinals had a 50-0 record last season when leading after eight innings and are 21-2 this season when entering the ninth inning with a lead.
• On the mound, UofL is 6th in the nation in strikeouts per 9 IP (10.4) and 6th in hits allowed per 9 IP (7.09). Offensively, they are 16th in the NCAA in walks and 17th in sacrifice flies.
• Louisville is ranked 6th in the nation in stolen bases in 2018 with 73 in 83 attempts after ranking 17th in 2017 (98-of-123). The Cardinals were 12th in the NCAA in 2016 with 101 stolen bases, fourth nationally with 127 stolen bases in 2015, second in the nation in 2014 with 133 and second in 2013 with 150.
• UofL has won 28 of its 36 ACC series since joining the league and is 31-4 in its series finales during that span, including an 11-3 record in rubber games.
• The Cardinals have won 15 of their 18 ACC series at home since debuting in the conference.
• From March 16 through April 8, UofL suffered four straight series losses for the first time since 2004 when they had seven straight series losses.
• While at Louisville, coach Dan McDonnell has guided the Cardinals to four College World Series berths, seven NCAA Super Regional appearances, 10 NCAA Regional bids, eight regular season conference championships and two conference tournament titles with 34 All-Americans.

PLAYER NOTES AND TRENDS
• Logan Wyatt is 6th in the nation in doubles, 6th in walks and 19th in on-base percentage.
• Wyatt leads the team in batting average, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and multi-hit performances (13).
• Josh Stowers ranks 5th in the nation with his 22 stolen bases in 24 attempts. Overall, Stowers has 46 career stolen bases in 56 total attempts.
• In the 7 games since moving to the 5th spot in the Cardinals lineup, Stowers has a .381 average, 11 runs scored, 6 walks and is 9-for-9 on stolen bases.
• During his current 9-game hitting streak (career long), Danny Oriente has a .500 batting average (16-for-32) with 13 RBIs.
• Devin Mann is Louisville’s active career leader in games played (138), doubles (27), home runs (10), RBIs (90) and walks (96).
• In his 8 games as the leadoff hitter in the lineup, Tyler Fitzgerald has a .306 batting average.
• Adam Wolf has started all 9 series-openers this season and the junior has allowed two or fewer earned runs in seven of those outings.
• In his 4 weekend starts this season, Nick Bennett has a 3-0 record, 1.03 ERA (3 earned runs) with 28 strikeouts in 26.0 innings.
• Sam Bordner ranks 9th in the nation with his 10 saves in 2018.
• Bordner had his scoreless streak halted at 23.1 innings at WKU on March 21. His career long scoreless streak is 31.2 innings spanning the end of 2016 and much of 2017.

LOUISVILLE IN NATIONAL POLLS EVERY WEEK SINCE START OF 2012
Louisville, which surpassed its previous high national ranking of No. 2 (in 2016) with the No. 1 ranking on March 13 and March 20 during the 2017 season, has enjoyed a historic run by remaining ranked in at least one major national poll every week since the release of the 2012 preseason rankings — the longest such span in school history. Ranked in the top 25 in all six major preseason polls for 2018, the Cardinals have earned a preseason national ranking in 11 straight seasons (2008-2018) overall. Louisville is ranked in one national poll this week landing at No. 20 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll.

FEELING AT HOME INSIDE JIM PATTERSON STADIUM
Since opening the gates at Jim Patterson Stadium in 2005, the Cardinals have won more than 77 percent of their games in the ballpark posting a 361-103 record (.778 winning percentage), including an impressive 33-4 mark during the 2017 season at the corner of Third and Central. Louisville set a school record for home wins with 36 in 2016 and the Cardinals have registered 30 or more wins at home in four of the last five seasons.