Louisville (38-21) continues their season this weekend with a Super Regional best-of-three series against Miami (FL), at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Cardinals make their tenth Super Regional appearance in program history, all coming under head coach Dan McDonnell in his 19 seasons at Louisville. They will be looking to make their sixth College World Series appearance in program history, and their first since 2019.
Last Weekend in Cliff Notes
Louisville went a perfect 3-0 in the Nashville Regional, beating ETSU (8-3) on Friday, Vanderbilt (3-2) on Saturday, and Wright State (6-0) on Sunday to advance. This marked the first time since 2007 that Louisville advanced to the Super Regionals by winning a regional without being a national top 16 seed (Louisville won the Columbia Regional that year as the #3 seed).
Read more: Around the Bases: The Super Regionals v. Miami (FL)Notable Statistics
Louisville’s pitching lineup, which had a lot of struggles from late March to the start of the NCAA Tournament, came up huge for the Cardinals last weekend. They held opponents to a .108 batting average (10-for-93), threw 43 strikeouts, and allowed just four earned runs on the weekend.
Chief among that was Friday’s performance that saw Patrick Forbes and Brennyn Cutts combine to set a new Louisville single-game postseason record with 18 strikeouts (Forbes 13, Cutts 5). Forbes had his longest outing since March 28th against Cal and matched his career-high in strikeouts against ETSU.
Justin West (2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 Ks), Wyatt Danilowicz (1.0 IP, K), and Jake Schweitzer (1.0 IP, H, 2 Ks) combined to pitch 4.1 shutout innings from the bullpen and close out Louisville’s win over #1 Vanderbilt. Danilowicz also had 2.2 perfect innings of work in Louisville’s win over Wright State in the Regional Final, finishing with 3.2 shutout innings on the weekend. Ethan Eberle also had a standout performance in the Regional Final, pitching 6.1 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts.
Eddie King Jr. earned Nashville Regional MVP honors, with Eberle, Alex Alicea, and Lucas Moore all joining King on the Nashville Regional All-Tournament team. King batted 6-for-12 (.500) with four RBIs, two doubles, and a home run. Alicea also batted .500 (5-for-10), including a perfect 3-for-3 night with two RBIs against Wright State. Moore batted 3-for-13 with two RBIs, four runs scored, two stolen bases, and a walk.
Matt Klein made his return to the starting lineup and had a stellar weekend, logging a hit in all three games and batting 4-for-12 (.333) with two home runs, a double, and four RBIs.
Louisville’s Super Regional by the Numbers
As mentioned, this weekend marks the tenth Super Regional appearance by Louisville in program history, all coming under head coach Dan McDonnell. This will also be the seventh time that Louisville is hosting the Super Regional round, with the Cardinals advancing to the College World Series four of the previous six times they’ve done so (2007, 2014, 2017, 2019).
Louisville is 11-9 all-time in the Super Regional round, and 9-5 at home. The Cardinals will be looking to make its sixth College World Series appearance in program history, which would be their first since 2019. It would be the first time since 2007 that Louisville made the College World Series without being a national top 16 seed in the tournament.
This series also marks the third time that Louisville and Miami (FL) meet each other in the NCAA Tournament, with the Cardinals being 3-0 in the postseason against the Hurricanes. Louisville won two games against Miami (FL) in the 2007 Columbia Regional, and won another as host in the 2013 Louisville Regional.
It is also the first time that Louisville is hosting a Super Regional against a conference foe. Louisville joins Miami (FL), #5 North Carolina, #9 Florida State, and Duke as one of five ACC teams remaining, the most of any conference with representation in the Super Regionals (ACC 5; SEC 4; Big 12 2; American, Big Ten, Missouri Valley, and Sun Belt all with one, as well as D-1 baseball Independent Oregon State).
On the other side, Miami (FL) will be looking to make its 26th College World Series appearance, but it would be their first since 2016. The Hurricanes have also won four national championships (1982, 1985, 1999, and 2001).
Opponent Outlook: Miami (FL) Hurricanes
Like Louisville, Miami (34-25) had an up-and-down season. The Hurricanes, at one point, were 15-15 after an early April loss to FIU. Since then, Miami has went 19-10, with series wins over Duke, Georgia Tech, NC State, and Boston College.
They entered the NCAA Tournament losing six of its last seven games prior to, being swept by Virginia, losing two out of three to Notre Dame, and losing to Cal in the first round of the ACC Tournament. But they rebounded to win the Hattiesburg Regional, beating Alabama, Columbia, and #16 Southern Miss to advance.
Daniel Cuvet earned All-ACC First Team honors at third base, leading the team in batting (.379), doubles (19), home runs (17), and RBIs (81). Cuvet was named MVP of the Hattiesburg Regional, and named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to college baseball’s best player. Jake Ogden (.345 batting, 13 doubles, eight HRs, 33 RBIs) and Max Galvin (.301 batting, 15 doubles, seven HRs, 35 RBIs) are also batting over .300 among qualified Miami hitters, with Dorian Gonzalez, Jr. (.261 batting, 11 doubles, 11 HRs, 56 RBIs) providing power to the lineup.
Miami also has two All-ACC nominated pitchers in Griffin Hugus and AJ Ciscar. Hugus (6-7, 3.90 ERA, 94 Ks) was a Second Team All-ACC selection, with Ciscar (6-1, 3.78 ERA, 64 Ks) being named as an All-ACC Freshman Team player. Hugus is coming off a complete game performance against Columbia, pitching all nine innings with one earned run on eight hits, and nine strikeouts in 123 pitches. Those two will likely start games one and two, game three would likely be between Tate DeRias (2-3, 5.77 ERA in 18 appearances with seven starts) or Reese Lumpkin (4-2, 5.33 ERA in 14 appearances with 11 starts). DeRias is coming off a start against Southern Miss where he didn’t even get out of the first inning, pitching 0.2 innings and giving up nine earned runs.
Notable names for Miami’s bullpen include Jake Dorn (1.64 ERA in ten appearances), Will Smith (2-0, 4.56 ERA, two saves in 24 appearances), and Brian Walters (2-3, 4.96 ERA in 20 appearances with seven starts). Walters leads the team with ten saves. Rob Evans (5.14 ERA in 15 appearances) made two appearances in the Hattiesburg Regional last weekend, and Jackson Cleveland (4.91 ERA in 17 appearances) is allowing just .179 at the plate.
How to Watch / Listen:
- Game 1: Friday, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN2 / 93.9 The Ville
- Game 2: Saturday, 11 a.m. ET, ESPN / 93.9 The Ville
- Game 3: Sunday, TBD, TBD
