It’s mid-February, and thus it is officially opening week for the Louisville baseball team.
The Cardinals are opening their 2025 season this weekend in Arlington, TX, playing in the Shriner Children’s College Showdown. Louisville will be playing a trio of ranked teams, going against #19 Texas, #17 Oklahoma State, and #21 Arizona.’
In Case You Missed It:
Louisville enters 2025 with a need to return to form after missing the NCAA Tournament again last season. Counting the 2021 and 2023 seasons, that’s three seasons in the last four where the Cardinals have not made the tournament.
Their schedule, as usual, is a pretty tough one entering the season. The Cardinals start the season with three ranked opponents in the Shriner Children’s College Showdown, and they also have the usual out-of-conference matchups with Indiana, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt. All three teams were ranked in the preseason Top 25 by Baseball America.
Their ACC schedule is also extremely loaded. Louisville will be hosting North Carolina and Florida State, and going on the road to play Clemson; three teams that should be favorites to win the ACC and even make it to the College World Series this season. They will also play against Wake Forest and N.C. State, two more ranked teams that could push for an ACC title this season.
Roster Outlook
Louisville has already announced its starting rotation for opening weekend, with Patrick Forbes, Parker Detmers, and Peter Michael set for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Forbes is projected by many to be the Friday starter for the season.
Opponent Outlook: Texas
Very few fan bases in all of college athletics have expectations as sky high as the Texas Longhorns do. Their baseball program holds the record for most College World Series appearances (38), and their six national titles is third all-time behind USC (12) and LSU (7).
Those expectations are only going to be higher this season and onward, as the Longhorns begin their first season under new head coach Jim Schlossnagle. Schlossnagle has had a storied career as a head coach in college baseball, making seven College World Series appearances (five with TCU, two with Texas A&M) and winning ten regular season conference titles & tournaments each, spanning from Conference USA to the Big 12. His move to Austin was also a controversial one, as he was named head coach of the Longhorns one day after his Texas A&M squad fell short to Tennessee in the College World Series finals.
As Schlossnagle begins his era in Austin, the Longhorns were projected to finish eighth in the SEC this season (in case you’re wondering, his former team, Texas A&M, was named preseason favorites and is the consensus #1 ranked team in all five major publications.)
However, Schlossnagle will have a lot of talent to work with. Max Belyeu (.329 batting, 15 doubles, 18 HR, 53 RBIs) is coming off a 2024 season where he earned All-American honors and was named Big 12 Player of the Year. He’s also a projected first round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. Rylan Galvan (.287 batting, 14 doubles, 37 RBIs) and Jalin Flores (.340 batting, 22 doubles, 18 HRs, 56 RBIs) also return for the Longhorns, with Galvan earning Preseason All-SEC Second Team honors. Both Flores and Belyeu were also named to the Golden Spikes Award watch list.
On the mound, Texas will be leaning on a lot of experience to help them get back to the College World Series. Ruben Riojas (10-3, 3.76 ERA, 75 Ks, 18 BBs) earned Second Team All-AAC honors at UTSA last year, and Jared Spencer (6-0, 4.08 ERA, nine career saves) was a First Team All-Missouri Valley Conference pitcher at Indiana State. Ace Whitehead (8-2, 4.21 career ERA) and Max Grubbs (7-4, 4.26 career ERA) both return as veterans on the Longhorns roster. Both could be starters for the start of the season.
Texas also signed another top-10 recruiting class last season, ranked seventh in Perfect Game’s rankings. The Longhorns could see its pitching rotation lean more on their younger players, including Drew Rerick (#58 nationally in Perfect Game’s rankings) and Dylan Volantis (#147 nationally in Perfect Game’s rankings).
Opponent Outlook: Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State enters 2025 as the preseason favorites to win the Big 12 Conference, led by 13th-year head coach Josh Holliday. Last season, the Cowboys won their sixth Big 12 championship (35th conference title overall), and hosted a regional in the NCAA Tournament, but fell short in the Regional Final to Florida.
Nolan Schubart returns for Oklahoma State after earning All-American honors in his first two seasons at Stillwater. Schubart is one of college baseball’s premier hitters, averaging .352 batting with 40 home runs, 30 doubles, and 142 RBIs in his collegiate career. He was also named to the Golden Spikes award watch list and selected as the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year.
Schubart leads an Oklahoma State roster that had a conference-high four players named to the Preseason All Big-12 team, including first baseman Colin Brueggemann (.251 batting, 13 doubles, 14 HRs, 50 RBIs in 2024) and Aiden Meola (.329 batting, 12 doubles, ten HRs, 47 RBIs). All three guys return from an Oklahoma State squad that led the Big 12 last season in home runs (118) and BBs (377). Gabe Davis (2-4, 4.17 ERA, three saves) was the other Preseason All Big 12 selection for the Cowboys.
Opponent Outlook: Arizona
Arizona joins the Big 12 Conference this season after winning the Pac-12 conference tournament in its final season there. Like Oklahoma State, the Wildcats also hosted a regional in last year’s NCAA Tournament, but finished 0-2 in the regional round. The Wildcats are projected to finish second in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma State, who Louisville will also play this weekend.
Mason White and Brendan Summerhill both return from last year’s squad, with White being named as a Preseason All-American by both Perfect Game and NCBWA. White was a two-time All-Pac 12 Conference player and earned All Pac-12 Tournament MVP honors last season, and has a career .309 batting average with 29 home runs (19 last season), 28 doubles, and 100 RBIs. Summerhill had a breakout 2024 season, batting .324 with 18 doubles, eight home runs, and 59 RBIs while also being named as an All-Pac 12 player. Summerhill has also been named to the Golden Spikes Award watch list, is a Preseason All-American selection from NCBWA and Baseball America, and is a projected first round pick in next summer’s MLB Draft.
Arizona also has returning vets such as Garen Caufield (.310 batting, 19 doubles, 42 RBIs) and Adonys Guzman (.265 batting, 17 RBIs), but their pitching lineup will have a lot of turnover with ten newcomers. Jack Berg joins the Wildcats after two seasons at Tacoma Community College, posting a 0.79 ERA in 12 appearances. They also added players from the transfer portal such as Collin McKinney (3-6, 6.70 ERA last year w/Baylor) and Julian Tonghini (2-2, 6.25, two SV last year w/Indiana) who may have increased roles on the team.
How to Watch & Listen:
Louisville opens their season against Texas at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, with their following game against Oklahoma State on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET, and Arizona on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET. All three games will be aired on 93.9 The Ville, but FloSports will also stream a live broadcast of the game (FloSports will require a subscription to watch it, though).
