Around the Bases: Begin the Gauntlet

Louisville (24-7, 8-4 ACC) went a perfect 4-0 last week, getting a crucial road win against Indiana and then sweeping Boston College in the weekend series.

Now, the 11th-ranked Cardinals begin a difficult gauntlet to close out the regular season. In Louisville’s final 24 games, 22 of them will be against teams currently ranked top 55 in the RPI. That includes every single remaining ACC weekend series, and all but two non-conference games. Included in that stretch is: Clemson (second), Vanderbilt (eighth), Georgia Tech (tenth), Wake Forest (18th), Florida State (23rd), Notre Dame (28th), Kentucky (44th), Western Kentucky (49th), and NC State (54th).

And before we break down Louisville’s stats, I should mention Louisville’s results given that RPI was brought up. Louisville does hold wins over Texas (fourth in RPI), Arizona (12th), North Carolina (22nd), California (56th), St. John’s (67th), and Indiana (89th) within the RPI Top 100 (as of April 7th). A lot of things can change between now and then as far as tournament prospects go. But Louisville does have a solid base for their tournament resume, especially their early season wins against Texas, Arizona, and UNC.

First up, Louisville will play Kentucky on Tuesday in the next chapter of the Battle of the Bluegrass rivalry. The Cardinals then travel to Raleigh to face NC State.

Last Two Weeks in Cliff Notes

After dropping the Virginia Tech series, Louisville had a rocky week against both Cincinnati and Cal. The Cardinals dropped a 12-2 loss at Cincinnati, and although they won the weekend series against Cal (11-10, 10-14, 13-6), they gave up double digits in three of four games that week. Louisville, however, was able to score double digits in all three games against the Bears.

They continued that momentum the following week, winning all four games last week. Louisville rallied from a 4-1 deficit to beat Indiana 6-4, then swept Boston College during the weekend (12-8, 17-5, 12-1). Louisville put an emphatic end to their series against Boston College, closing the final two games via run rule in seven innings.

Notable Statistics

After a 4-0 week, Louisville climbed in every poll. The Cardinals rose to 11th in this week’s Baseball America Top 25 poll, which is their highest ranking in the major college baseball polls. They are also 14th in D1Baseball’s poll, 16th with USA Today, and 17th with NCBWA.

We begin our breakdown of this Louisville team by highlighting Eddie King Jr., who has been on a tear the last couple weeks. King carries a ten-game hit streak into this week; in that stretch, he is batting 15-for-33 (.455), 14 RBIs, four doubles, and three home runs. This includes a 3-for-4 outing in game one of Friday’s doubleheader against Boston College, where King had two doubles and six RBIs.

Freshman Tague Davis has still been a strong force at the plate. He had a two home run game against Cal, and another one in the series finale against Boston College. Davis now has 12 home runs on the season (best among the team), to go with a .316 batting average and 32 RBIs.

Both King and Davis are part of a Louisville offense that has continued to be among the best in the ACC. The Cardinals currently rank second in the conference in batting average (.325), third in total runs (281), third in on-base percentage (.428), and lead the ACC with 73 stolen bases.

As highlighted in the last ATB, Louisville’s conference lead in stolen bases can be attributed to Lucas Moore, Alex Alicea, and Zion Rose, all of whom now rank in the top six in the conference in that category. Moore carries a 16-game hit streak (and reached base in 29 consecutive games), leads the entire ACC with 24 stolen bases, and is batting .378 with a .500 on-base percentage and 24 RBIs. Rose leads the team with 36 RBIs (11 in his last seven games) and is batting .341 with 14 stolen bases.

After batting 3-for-20 in the Cal series and against Indiana, Jake Munroe rebounded to go 5-for-15 with five RBIs in the Boston College series. Munroe still leads the team in batting (.390) and OPS (1.092) to go with six doubles, five home runs, and 33 RBIs.

Peter Michael had a couple rough outings against Virginia Tech (1.0 IP, 6 ER) and Cal (4.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER), but rebounded against Boston College with one earned run in six innings. Wyatt Danilowicz still has not allowed an earned run in 12 appearances this season, and recorded his second save of the season against Indiana last week.

TJ Schlageter has emerged as a reliable arm from the bullpen, holding a 2.03 ERA and .90 WHIP with a .186 opponent batting average in eight appearances. He’s also made two starts in midweek games, both shutout appearances against Northern Kentucky (2.0 IP, 0 ER, K), and Indiana (2.2 IP, 0 ER, BB, K).

Opponent Outlook: Kentucky Wildcats

A year removed from their first College World Series appearance in program history, Kentucky enters Tuesday with an 18-11 record (5-7 in SEC play), and lost two-out-of-three against Ole Miss last weekend. Louisville is 21-13 against Kentucky in the Dan McDonnell era, and 9-4 against UK head coach Nick Mingione. However, UK won the last game in the series at Louisville last year, a 17-13 offensive slugfest in favor of the Wildcats.

Kentucky is batting .279 entering this week (13th out of 16 SEC teams), and they’re led by Cole Hage and Tyler Bell. Hage currently leads the team in batting (.350), OPS (1.176), home runs (nine), walks (19), on-base percentage (.496), and stolen bases (11). Hage headlines a Wildcats club that also has 68 stolen bases so far, currently second among SEC teams.

Bell (.333 batting) leads the team in doubles (12) and RBIs (31). He earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors on March 31st with a fantastic series against Texas A&M, batting .615 with seven RBIs, three doubles, and a home run against the Aggies.

Kentucky’s pitching has been respectable so far, holding a 4.21 ERA (ninth in SEC) and allowing .224 at the plate. In a likely bullpen night, expect guys like Evan Byers (2-1, 6.00 ERA in 14 appearances) and Scott Rouse (3-0, 4.13 ERA) to potentially go on the mound.

Opponent Outlook: NC State Wolfpack

Like Louisville, NC State will be facing a bitter rival in their midweek game, as the Wolfpack play East Carolina before taking on the Cardinals. NC State enters this week with a 21-11 record, and are 16-5 at home this season. NC State is coming off a series win against Virginia last week, and also have a series win over Virginia Tech last month.

NC State has a solid weekend rotation with Dominic Fritton (4-3, 2.85 ERA), Heath Andrews (3-1, 3.95 ERA), and Ryan Marohn (3-2, 4.57 ERA) heading the lineup. Fritton has had three starts with 10 or more strikeouts this season, but has allowed 4+ ER in each of his last two starts against Duke and Virginia. Marohn has two complete games this season; he pitched seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts against Canisius on March 2nd, then had a nine-inning shutout with 14 strikeouts against Wright State the following week.

Jacob Dudan (2-1, 4.85 ERA) earned Freshman All-American honors last season and has been excellent in relief. He’s had shutout appearances in seven of his last eight outings, including two separate ones in the Pittsburgh series last month. Andrew Shaffner (3-1, 2.70 ERA) already has four saves in 12 appearances and is coming off a strong showing against UVA on April 5th (3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K).

Chris McHugh leads the Wolfpack in batting (.348), OPS (.995), and RBIs (36), and he’s coming off a really strong performance last week. McHugh batted 7-for-16 against UNC-Greensboro and Virginia, adding two RBIs and a home run to his total. Josh Hogue (.310 batting) is 11-for-28 in his last six games with six RBIs, six doubles, and two home runs in that stretch; this includes a walk-off home run on Sunday to clinch the series for NC State against Virginia.

How to Watch / Listen:

Tonight’s Battle of the Bluegrass starts at 7 p.m. ET, and will be available on both ACC Network and 93.9 The Ville (also available on 970 AM).

The series at NC State starts on Friday at 6 p.m. ET, with Saturday and Sunday’s games starting at 3 and 1 p.m. ET, respectively. All three games will air on ACC Network Extra, as well as 93.9 The Ville / 970 AM.