Louisville Baseball Hosts Xavier on Tuesday

Mark BlankenbakerFebruary 26, 2019

Winners of four straight, the eighth-ranked Louisville baseball team will play host Xavier in a midweek nonconference contest at Jim Patterson Stadium on Tuesday at 3:00 p.m., ET. The game can be seen on ACC Network Extra and radio coverage will be available on 1450 WXVW. Live scoring is available at GoCards.com.

ABOUT THE LOUISVILLE CARDINALS

The Cardinals opened up the home portion of their schedule with four victories last week. Louisville defeated Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday, before a weekend sweep of Brown.

Pitching was a strong suit for the Cardinals last week, highlighted by seven hitless innings from Reid Detmers in Friday’s opening game against Brown. Detmers’ performance followed up a midweek effort from Luke Smith in which he gave up just two hits in six innings against EKU. Louisville allowed just five earned runs over 37 innings last week, piling up 47 strikeouts in the process.

Louisville is in the midst of a 14-game homestand after three games in Florida to start the season. The Cardinals will not hit the road again until a three-game set at Duke beginning on March 15.

The Cardinals began head coach Dan McDonnell’s 13th season ranked as high as fourth in the national polls. UofL is coming off a 45-19 record in 2018, its seventh straight 40-win season and the 11th in 12 seasons under McDonnell. The Cardinals advanced to the championship round of an NCAA Regional for the seventh straight season.

ABOUT XAVIER

Xavier enters Tuesday’s contest at 1-5 overall after dropping two of three at Samford over the weekend. The Musketeers were swept by North Carolina in Chapel Hill on the weekend weekend. Xavier scored at least seven runs in all three games at Samford, but the XU pitching staff has given up eight runs or more in five of six games this season.

SERIES HISTORY

Tuesday will mark the 60th all-time meeting between Louisville and Xavier, with the Cardinals leading the series 39-20. UofL has won six straight and 11 of the last 12 over the Musketeers, and are 17-4 in the series under Dan McDonnell.

TEAM NOTES AND TRENDS

· Louisville has had at least one baserunner in 51 of 61 offensive innings this season.

· Cardinal starting pitchers allowed just four earned runs over 23 innings in last week’s four victories. During that stretch, the Louisville bullpen allowed just one run in 14 innings of work spread across 10 different pitchers.

· In five of Louisville’s first seven games, the starting pitcher has pitched five innings or more with one earned run or fewer allowed.

· Eleven different Cardinals have made their Louisville debuts this season (Binelas, Davis, Leonard, Lohman, Masterman, Metzinger, Perkins, Poland, Schmeltz, Smith and Wright). It was the collegiate debut for 10 of the 11.

· Louisville has 24 games on its schedule against teams ranked inside the top 25 in at least one of the six major preseason polls (Clemson, Connecticut, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Mississippi, NC State, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest).

· Seven pitchers made weekend series starts in 2018 but the Cardinals used the same trio in the final seven weeks of the regular season — Adam Wolf, Nick Bennett and Bobby Miller.

· Five different Louisville pitchers earned saves last season, including three in the series sweep at Pittsburgh (Shay Smiddy, Michael McAvene and Adam Elliott) on May 11-13.

· The Cardinals were 39-4 in 2018 when entering the ninth inning with a lead. From 2012-17, Louisville accumulated a six-year record of 266-3 when entering the ninth with a lead, including a 50-0 mark in 2017.

· On the mound, Louisville was 5th in the nation in 2018 in hits allowed per 9 IP (7.40), 19th in strikeouts per 9 IP (9.5) and 27th in ERA (3.53). UofL led the ACC in ERA and hits allowed per 9 IP.

· Louisville was ranked 5th in the nation and No. 1 in the ACC in stolen bases in 2018 with 125 in 149 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.

· Offensively in 2018, the Cardinals were 8th in the NCAA in sacrifice flies (36) 10th in walks (333), 11th in on-base percentage (.400) and 12th in doubles (131). Louisville led the ACC in doubles.

· UofL has won 31 of its 40 ACC series since joining the league and is 33-6 in its series finales during that span, including an 11-4 record in rubber games.

· The Cardinals have won 16 of their 20 ACC series at home since debuting in the conference.

· While at Louisville, coach Dan McDonnell has guided the Cardinals to four College World Series berths, seven NCAA Super Regional appearances, 11 NCAA Regional bids, eight regular season conference championships and two conference tournament titles with 37 All-Americans.

DETMERS NAMED ACC PITCHER OF THE WEEK

Sophomore lefthander Reid Detmers was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week following a dominant showing in the opening game of Friday’s doubleheader against Brown.

Detmers tossed seven no-hit innings with a career-best 11 strikeouts. The southpaw retired the first 16 batters he faced before issuing a walk with one out in the sixth inning. Detmers then retired the next five hitters to finish off his outing. The sophomore struck out the side in order in the second and fourth innings during a stretch of eight strikeouts in nine hitters.

Through two starts, Detmers has allowed just one run over 12 innings with 14 strikeouts and an opponents’ batting average of .103.

LOUISVILLE TABBED AS PRESEASON ACC FAVORITE

The Louisville baseball team was voted as the 2019 ACC preseason favorite by the league’s 14 head coaches. The Cardinals were selected as the favorite in both the Atlantic Division and the conference.

Louisville received seven first place votes in the Atlantic Division and tallied 90 points to narrowly edge out Florida State, which picked up six votes for the top spot and 86 points. Clemson was third with 71 points followed by NC State (53), Wake Forest (49), Notre Dame (24) and Boston College (19).

North Carolina was a near unanimous selection to win the Coastal Division, as 13 coaches voted the Tar Heels in the top spot. Virginia received the other first place tally and is tied with Duke for the second position with 64 points. Miami (61), Georgia Tech (59), Pitt (24) and Virginia Tech (23) round out the rest of the division.

BENNETT AND WYATT RECEIVE 2019 PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA RECOGNITION

A pair of Louisville players were named preseason All-Americans in 2019 by various organizations. Junior first baseman Logan Wyatt garnered preseason All-America honors from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, D1Baseball, NCBWA and Perfect Game. Additionally, junior lefthanded pitcher Nick Bennett was a preseason All-America selection by the NCBWA and Perfect Game.

A Louisville native, Wyatt earned Third Team All-America recognition from Collegiate Baseball newspaper and was an All-ACC First Team honoree as a sophomore last season after hitting .339 with six home runs, 69 RBIs, 22 doubles, 63 walks, 51 runs scored, .559 slugging percentage and .490 on-base percentage. He closed 2018 ranked third in the NCAA in walks, 15th in on-base percentage, 17th in RBIs and 18th in doubles. Wyatt was also named to the 2018 NCAA All-Lubbock Regional Team after finishing 6-for-16 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in four NCAA Regional games.

Bennett, a junior from Cincinnati, Ohio, closed his sophomore season with an 8-2 record, 2.84 ERA and 72 strikeouts in 73.0 innings pitched, including 11 starts. He was an All-ACC Second Team honoree and was an All-ACC Academic Team selection in 2018. During his first collegiate season in 2017, Bennett earned Freshman All-America honors and was an All-ACC Third Team selection while accumulating a 5-1 record, 3.18 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 65.0 innings pitched and 15 total appearances, including 13 starts.

WYATT NAMED TO USA BASEBALL GOLDEN SPIKES AWARD WATCH LIST

Junior first baseman Logan Wyatt was named to the preseason watch list for the 2019 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award. The list features 55 of the nation’s top amateur players across high school and college baseball.

Wyatt is the 11th Cardinal to appear on the preseason watch list since 2009, including Brendan McKay who won the Golden Spikes Award in 2017.

An All-American in 2018, Wyatt has garnered preseason All-America honors in 2019 from Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, D1Baseball, NCBWA and Perfect Game. The Louisville native was an All-ACC First Team honoree as a sophomore last season after hitting .339 with six home runs, 69 RBIs, 22 doubles, 63 walks, 51 runs scored, .559 slugging percentage and .490 on-base percentage. Wyatt was also named to the 2018 NCAA All-Lubbock Regional Team after finishing 6-for-16 with two home runs and 10 RBIs in four NCAA Regional games.

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 2019, the Cardinals have earned a preseason national ranking in 11 straight seasons (2008-2018) overall. Louisville entered the 2019 season ranked fourth in the D1Baseball rankings, eighth in the Perfect Game and USA Today polls, ninth in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and NCBWA rankings and 11th by Baseball America.

LOUISVILLE LEADS COUNTRY IN WINS SINCE 2007

Dan McDonnell took the reins of the Louisville baseball program in 2007. Louisville entered 2019 with the most wins of any Division I program from 2007-18 with 554.

Most Wins Since 2007

1. Louisville 559

Florida State 559

3. LSU 558

4. North Carolina 556

5. Vanderbilt 542

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 375-107 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 six seasons.