PRESS RELEASE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT:
College World Series Starts Sunday for Louisville Baseball
The Cardinals will take on Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT Sunday at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The No. 7 national seed Louisville baseball team begins its fifth NCAA College World Series appearance on Sunday afternoon, as the Cardinals take on No. 2 Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. CT at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Louisville and Vanderbilt are joined on one side of the bracket by No. 6 Mississippi State and Auburn, while No. 5 Arkansas, Florida State, No. 8 Texas Tech and Michigan round out the field. Every game of the College World Series will be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2. Radio coverage for all of Louisville’s NCAA Championship games will be available on 93.9 The Ville and live scoring is available at GoCards.com.
ABOUT THE LOUISVILLE CARDINALS
Louisville enters the College World Series at 49-16 overall and riding a five-game winning streak. The Cardinals captured their fourth ACC Atlantic Division Championship in five seasons and earned a national seed for the fifth time in program history and fourth in the last five years.
Two-time All-ACC selection and second round draft pick Logan Wyatt helps lead a Louisville offense that features 11 regulars with a batting average of .283 or higher, while ACC Pitcher of the Year Reid Detmers is tied for the national lead in wins and second in the country in strikeouts on a pitching staff that allowed just one run in the Super Regionals.
Louisville arrives in Omaha as one of the most balanced teams in the country. Of the eight teams still remaining, the Cardinals are the lone program to rank in the top 30 nationally in runs per game (13th), earned run average (18th) and fielding percentage (29th).
LOUISVILLE’S ROAD TO OMAHA
Louisville secured its place in Omaha with a dominant showing against No. 10 East Carolina at the Louisville Super Regional. The Cardinals broke out the bats in the middle innings of the opening game on their way to a 14-1 rout and followed it up with another complete performance in a series-clinching 12-0 victory. Reid Detmers allowed just one run across seven innings in game one, while Bobby Miller carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning of the second game before seeing it come to an end with nobody out in the final frame.
UofL had to battle its way back in the Louisville Regional, winning three consecutive games after falling into the loser’s bracket. The Cardinals defeated Indiana and Illinois State to force a decisive final game with ISU, and freshman Alex Binelas sent Louisville to the Super Regionals with a walk-off single in the ninth inning.
The Cardinals are 6-1 in seven NCAA Championship games this season, hitting .320 as a team and averaging 8.1 runs per game. Meanwhile, the pitching staff has compiled a 2.32 ERA and held opponents to a .155 batting average.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES
- Louisville has advanced to the College World Series five times in its 13 NCAA Championship berths. The Cardinals are 32-13 in NCAA Regional games, 11-7 in NCAA Super Regional games and 2-8 in College World Series games.
- Making their eighth straight NCAA Championship appearance and the 12th in the last 13 seasons under head coach Dan McDonnell, the Cardinals are 45-28 overall in NCAA postseason games during that span.
- UofL is a national seed for the fifth time in program history, and is one of just two programs to be a national seed four times in the last five seasons.
- The Cardinals were among eight ACC teams in the 2019 NCAA Championship — Clemson, Duke, Florida, State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina and North Carolina State, four of which reached the super regionals and three in the College World Series.
- Louisville is playing in the NCAA College World Series for the fourth time in seven seasons. The only other programs to make four appearances since 2013 are Florida, TCU and Texas Tech.
- Louisville competed against 11 of the other 63 teams in this year’s NCAA Championship field during the regular season going 17-10 against those teams.
- Of the other seven teams at the 2019 College World Series, Louisville played against two this season (Florida State, Vanderbilt). The Cardinals were 2-2 in those four games.
- During his previous 14 seasons as a collegiate coach entering 2019, including his final two seasons as an assistant at Ole Miss in 2005 and 2006, McDonnell advanced to 13 NCAA Regionals and nine NCAA Super Regionals to go along with five College World Series berths.
- Junior Danny Oriente is 16-for-35 (.457) with four doubles, a homer and 14 RBIs in 11 career NCAA Championship games, and was on the All-Lubbock and All-Louisville Regional teams in 2018 & 2019.
- Junior Jake Snider is 28-for-60 (.467) in 16 career NCAA Championship contests, tallying three of his four career home runs, 15 runs scored and 17 RBIs. Snider was the Louisville Regional Most Outstanding Player and on the All-Lubbock Regional Team in 2018.
- Junior Luke Smith tossed 8.1 innings in the victory over Illinois State in the NCAA Regional, marking the longest pitching outing by a Louisville player in NCAA Championship history.
- Six different Cardinals played in the 2017 College World Series. Tyler Fitzgerald, Justin Lavey and Jake Snider each started a game, while Pat Rumoro served as a defensive replacement. Nick Bennett and Adam Elliott each made an appearance on the mound.
