Around the Bases: Marching into April

After a 17-3 start to the season that saw Louisville return as a consensus Top 25 team, the Cardinals dropped their first weekend series of the season. Louisville dropped two out of three to Virginia Tech on the road, but are still in the Top 25 in four of the five major polls this week.

Louisville (18-5) will look to rebound this week, with a midweek game at Cincinnati and a weekend series against California.

Last (Two) Weeks in Cliff Notes

Two weeks ago, Louisville swept both of its midweek games against Lipscomb (13-0) and Oakland (13-5), then took two out of three against North Carolina on scores of 8-7, 4-6, and 5-0. You can view a gallery from Louisville’s series against North Carolina here.

Louisville then won its midweek game against Northern Kentucky last week, taking an 11-1 victory in seven innings. But they lost their first weekend series of the season, dropping two out of three on the road against Virginia Tech (4-5, 12-8, 4-11).

Virginia Tech jumped out to quick leads in games one and three, while also holding Louisville’s offense at bay until late. The Hokies jumped out to a 5-0 lead after six innings in Friday’s game, led by two home runs from Sam Tackett against Patrick Forbes. Though Louisville did manage to close the gap to 5-4 with the bases loaded in the ninth and one out, Virginia Tech retired the final two batters to close it out.

After Louisville took a 12-8 victory in game two on Saturday, Virginia Tech secured the rubber match on Sunday in convincing fashion. The Hokies marched to a 10-0 lead after five innings, including 6-0 in the first two innings, en route to an 11-4 victory over Louisville.

Notable Statistics

As mentioned, Louisville is ranked in four of the five major polls entering this week. The Cardinals are as high as 18th in this week’s Top 25 from D1baseball.com. They are also 19th on USA Today, 20th on Baseball America, and 22nd on NCBWA.

Through the first month of the season, it appears Louisville’s offense is once again the strength of the team. The Cardinals are currently third in the ACC in batting (.327) entering this week, and true to any team in the Dan McDonnell era, they lead the conference in stolen bases (56).

Louisville’s conference lead in stolen bases can be attributed to Lucas Moore (T-1st with 17 stolen bases), Alex Alicea (T-4th, 13), and Zion Rose (T-8th, ten) all being top ten individually in the category. All three guys are also batting over .300 (Rose .347, Moore .330, Alicea .325), with Alicea coming off a 5-for-14 showing in all four games last week.

Jake Munroe has continued to be really consistent at the plate, still remaining as the only qualifying player on Louisville’s roster batting over .400. Munroe’s .432 batting average currently ranks fifth in the ACC (T-28th nationally), and headlines a Louisville team that also ranks ninth nationally in batting average.

On the mound, things have been okay for Louisville so far. They currently rank seventh in the ACC in ERA (4.66) and ninth in batting average (.250), but also currently have the highest fielding rate in the conference (.979).

Peter Michael had a career outing against North Carolina on March 16th, allowing only one hit and no runs in 6.1 innings of work. He currently sits at 3-1 on the season with a 3.86 ERA.

Jake Gregor has pitched a shutout inning in each of his last three appearances, all coming since March 12th against Oakland. Wyatt Danilowicz still hasn’t allowed an earned run this season in nine appearances, and is holding opponents to just .097 at the plate. Ethan Eberle hasn’t allowed a run since March 2nd, including a three-inning shutout appearance against North Carolina on March 14th; he is also 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and allowing .148 at the plate. Casen Murphy has been one of Louisville’s top relievers as well, holding a 1.50 ERA in six appearances so far. Tucker Biven has a 3.00 ERA in his last five appearances, lowering his season ERA from 13.50 on March 1st to 6.23 entering this week.

Opponent Outlook: Cincinnati

Cincinnati (12-11) will be looking to regain momentum after losing five of their last six games, including being swept in 3 games by Arizona. However, the Bearcats also hold an opening weekend victory over Duke in Durham.

Cincinnati’s .280 batting average currently ranks 12th out of 14 teams in the Big 12, but Kerrington Cross has been a bright spot in the Bearcats lineup. Cross is batting .413, which leads the team and is sixth overall in the Big 12, with three doubles and home runs each and 11 RBIs. Landyn Vidourek (.306 batting) leads the team in home runs (six) and RBIs (20), and is tied for first in the Big 12 with 16 stolen bases.

Expect names such as Michael Conte (2.35 ERA in seven appearances) or Hudson Johnson (3-1, 3.93 ERA in seven appearances) to potentially make appearances in a bullpen night.

Opponent Outlook: California

California enters this weekend with a 14-10 record, and are coming off a weekend sweep of Stanford. Their only other series win came at the start of the regular season, where Cal took three out of four games against Nevada.

Cal’s numbers hover around the middle of the ACC, their pitching slightly ahead of their batting. Cal enters this week seventh in the conference in ERA (4.30) and fifth in opponent batting average (.226).

Austin Turkington (4-2, 3.48 ERA) will be the name to watch for Cal on the mound. After a rocky start to the season, Turkington has had quality starts in each of his last three appearances against Duke, Virginia, and Stanford, including ten strikeouts and one earned run in seven innings against the Blue Devils on March 7th. Gavin Eddy (2-1) has been electric this season, holding a 2.08 ERA and batters to just .148 at the plate. Eddy is also coming off a solid performance against Stanford, pitching 6.2 innings with three earned runs and a season-high eight strikeouts against the Cardinal. Cole Tremain (3-1, 0.68 ERA in seven appearances) and Logan Piper (2.51 ERA, 1.19 WHIP in eight appearances) have been among Cal’s notable relievers this season.

Cal’s offense is primarily led by Cade Campbell and Jacob French. Campbell leads the team in RBIs (26), tied for the team lead in home runs (seven), and is batting .394 entering this week. French (.377 batting, 15 RBIs) had a spectacular weekend against Stanford last week, batting 10-for-13 (.769) with two doubles, three triples, and four RBIs. Jarren Advincula is batting .360 with nine doubles and 16 RBIs, he also leads the team in stolen bases (four).

How to Watch / Listen:

Tuesday’s game at Cincinnati is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET, only available on 93.9 The Ville or 970 AM.

The series against California starts on Friday at 6:00 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday’s games at 2:00 p.m. and noon ET. All three games are available on 93.9 The Ville / 970 AM and on ACC Network Extra (Fri/Sat) and ACC Network (Sun).