It was a sweep for Louisville in their first weekend at home this season, as they took all three games in last weekend’s series against Western Michigan.
Louisville continues its home stand this week with a couple of battles against Big East teams, taking on Butler and St. John’s in Jim Patterson Stadium.
Weekend Cliff Notes
Louisville made quick work of Western Michigan in game one of their series. The Cardinals marched to an early 5-0 lead after two innings, then added seven more runs in the fourth inning, en route to a 14-3 win in seven innings.
Game two of the series was another cruising win for Louisville. Louisville had a 2-0 lead after the second inning, then added a run in the fifth inning, and four more in the seventh to roll to a 7-2 win.
Louisville closed the series out with a 10-4 win in game three. The Cardinals had a 5-3 lead after three innings, then added five more throughout to give themselves a series sweep over the Broncos. Louisville enters this week on a four-game win streak.
Statistics of Note
The Louisville offense had another strong week in their sweep of Western Michigan, outscoring the Broncos 31-9 in the three game series.
Matt Klein had an outstanding week at the plate, batting 7-for-12 with five RBIs, one double, one triple, and a home run. He now enters the week with a team high .522 batting average and a 1.419 OPS. Alex Alicea had a hit in every game of the series to go with two RBIs and three stolen bases, he’s now up to .364 batting through two weeks.
Jake Munroe also had a stellar outing, batting 6-for-10 in the series. He’s now up to .435 with a 1.022 OPS, one of three qualifying Louisville players with a batting average over .400 (Klein & Zion Rose also have over .400).
Louisville had their first home runs of the season in the series, starting with a three-RBI homer on Friday from Tague Davis. Davis also went 4-for-4 in the contest with five RBIs. Matt Klein, along with Nate Earley and Zion Rose, also had home runs in the series. Rose currently leads the team in RBIs (eight) and is second in batting with a .440 average.
On the mound, Patrick Forbes had an efficient second start. Forbes struck out nine batters in five shutout innings of work in game one of the series, notching his first win of the season in the process. Forbes now has a 1.80 ERA and 20 strikeouts with one walk in his first two starts this season.
Parker Detmers also earned his first win of the season in game two of the series. Detmers allowed no earned runs in six innings of work (one run scored on a passed ball in the third), also tossing nine strikeouts.
Casen Murphy (1.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R), Jack Brown (1.2 IP, 2 K, 0 R), Brennyn Cutts (3.2 IP, 1 H, 2 K), and Wyatt Danilowicz (1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K) all had shutout appearances from the bullpen in the Western Michigan series. All four guys currently have a 0.00 ERA and sub-2.00 WHIP through the first two weeks.
Opponent Outlook: Butler Bulldogs
Butler enters Wednesday’s game with a 3-3 record, coming off a two-game sweep of Norfolk State on the road. The Bulldogs scored 10+ runs in both games against Norfolk State last weekend, and also are riding a three-game win streak coming into Louisville.
Jack Moroknek has had a tremendous start to the season, averaging .481 through the first two weeks of the season. Moroknek has hit a home run and had multi-hit outings in five of Butler’s six games to start the season, and leads the team in doubles (four) and home runs (five), he is also coming off a 7-for-11 outing last weekend against Norfolk State. David Ayers (.471), Jack Bello (.450), and Tommy Townsend (.435) are all batting over .400 so far with a >1.000 OPS, with Townsend getting a hit in all six games this season.
Butler hasn’t had great pitching so far though, allowing at least seven runs in all but one game so far (including a 31-5 loss to Tarleton State in their opening weekend).
Opponent Outlook: St. John’s Red Storm
St. John’s will be looking to get in the win column this weekend against Louisville, as they head into the weekend with an 0-6 record. The Red Storm have been swept by Liberty and Wake Forest, both on the road, to start the season.
Part of that is an inability to manufacture runs; St. John’s has been shut off in three of their six contests so far, including a 20-inning drought between their series’ finales against both Liberty and Wake Forest. As a team, they are hitting .185 (281st out of 298 D-1 teams), with one home run.
Jared Beebe will have momentum coming in, having recorded a hit in every game of their last series against Wake Forest. Beebe is averaging .320 through two weeks with three RBIs and a double.
Their pitching has not fared better, either; their ERA (8.81) is 253rd in Division 1, and they’re coming off a series where Wake Forest had eight home runs against them.
How to Watch / Listen:
The midweek game against Butler is on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET. Louisville’s weekend series against St. John’s also starts at 3 p.m. on Friday, with Saturday and Sunday’s games both held at 1 p.m. ET. All four games are available on ACC Network Extra and 970 AM.
