Louisville (17-11) had another rough week, dropping three out of four games last week. The Cardinals have now lost five out of their last seven games heading into this week.
Louisville will look to rebound this week, starting with a Tuesday contest versus Eastern Kentucky in Lexington, then head to Durham for a weekend series vs. Duke.
Last Week in Cliff Notes
Louisville dropped a 10-5 loss on the road to Western Kentucky, making it their second loss to intrastate foes this season. The Hilltoppers rushed to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning, all coming before the first out. Louisville managed to claw back and tie the game at 5-5 in the fifth inning, with Tague Davis hitting his 14th home run of the season to knot it up. WKU retook the lead in the following inning off a fielding error from Louisville, then added four more runs to ice the game. WKU took advantage of four Louisville errors and had ten runs on 16 hits in the game.
The Cards’ woes continued on Friday with a 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh. Starter Wyatt Danilowicz had another quality start, with seven shutout innings of work and allowed just two hits, while Kade Elam drove in Louisville’s only runs in that stretch (an RBI groundout in the second inning, and RBI flyout in the fourth). But Pitt tied the game in the eighth after a costly throwing error to third led to a runner reaching home, and the Panthers eventually took the lead with an RBI double. Kyle Campbell’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth tied the game at 3-3 for the Cardinals, but Pitt’s AJ Nessler offered a sac fly in the top of the ninth to give the Panthers a 4-3 lead. Louisville had the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth, but Bayram Hot was caught stealing at second to end the game.
Read more: Around the Bases (2026): Week EightLouisville rebounded with an 8-5 win over Pittsburgh in game two of the series, with the Cardinals taking advantage of a Pitt error and passed ball to take an early 3-0 lead in the second. Pitt tied it in the third inning with a three-run homer by Sebastian Pisacreta, but Louisville’s Tague Davis hit a solo home run in the bottom part of the inning to retake the lead for the Cardinals. Caden Dulin’s RBI double in the fourth tied it at 4-4, but Louisville got three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 7-4 lead and push the game out of reach. Bayram Hot led the Cards with a 3-for-5 day at the plate, as Colton Hartman advanced his record to 3-1 and Jake Bean notched his first save of the season.
Game three, however, was a 13-7 win by Pittsburgh to take the series. The series win is Pitt’s first against Louisville since the Cardinals joined the ACC in 2014. Caden Dulin led Pitt with a 4-for-6 afternoon with two home runs, both coming in the first five innings, and five RBI as the Panthers rushed to an early 8-0 lead. The Panthers had 14 hits, 13 walks, 11 runs, and two HBPs in Sunday’s rubber match.
Notable Numbers
Tague Davis had three more home runs last week, bringing his total to 16 on the season. He also has 55 RBI heading into this week, to go with a .391 batting average and 1.362 OPS.
Bayram Hot had a strong weekend versus Pittsburgh, batting 6-for-11 with four RBI, one double, and one home run. He still leads the team in batting average (.410) alongside Griffin Crain (.410 batting, seven doubles, 30 RBI).
Once again, though, the story for Louisville’s 2026 season continues to be their struggles on the mound. The Cardinals once again gave up 10+ runs in multiple outings last week, with a 10-5 loss at Western Kentucky and a 13-7 loss to Pittsburgh. Eight of Louisville’s 11 losses this season have seen the Cardinals give up eight or more runs, and their 6.67 team ERA is now 15th out of 16 ACC schools (only ahead of Virginia Tech’s 7.24). Additionally, Louisville had six errors across all four games last week (including four in the loss to Western Kentucky).
Wyatt Danilowicz is riding two back-to-back quality starts in as many weeks. Danilowicz has had back-to-back quality starts in the last two weeks, pitching seven shutout innings in each of his last two starts. He’s thrown 18 strikeouts (including 11 at North Carolina) and allowed just four hits and five walks in that stretch. Colton Hartman made his second weekend start on Saturday and advanced his record to 3-1 on the season, pitching five innings and threw seven strikeouts with four earned runs allowed.
This Week’s Schedule
- vs. Eastern Kentucky (in Lexington, Ky.)
- Tue. March 31 at 1 p.m. ET (970 AM)
- at Duke
- Thurs. April 2 at 8 p.m. ET (93.9 The Ville / 970 AM; ACC Network)
- Fri. April 3 at 6 p.m. ET (93.9 The Ville / 970 AM; ACC Network)
- Sat. April 4 at noon ET (93.9 The Ville / 970 AM; ACCNX via ESPN+)
Opponent Primer: Eastern Kentucky
Since Louisville’s 6-5 victory over Eastern Kentucky on February 25th, things haven’t been much better for the Colonels. EKU currently sits at 8-20 heading into Tuesday’s matchup, having lost seven of their last eight games (including a series loss to Lipscomb last week, and swept at North Alabama the weekend prior).
Dylan Littlefield and Jay Douglas led EKU last month against the Cardinals with multi-hit games; Littlefield is batting .261 with a team-high eight home runs and 27 RBI, third-best on the team behind David Alvarez (.309, five doubles, 17 RBI) and Pedro Moreno (.296, ten doubles, 25 RBI). Douglas, however, has not played since March 17th at Tennessee. EKU is currently batting .257 as a team, which is eighth among 12 Atlantic Sun Conference teams.
EKU used nine pitchers in last month’s loss, expect a significant number of arms to be used on Tuesday as well. Caleb Freeman (1-0, 3.24 ERA in ten appearances) pitched a shutout inning in relief last month and is EKU’s top reliever in terms of ERA and opponent batting average (.172). Griffin Howell (1-2, 3.78 in 12 appearances) and Cade Schneider (4.00, 1.11 WHIP in 11 appearances) both have ERAs of 4.00 or lower heading into Tuesday’s game.
Opponent Primer: Duke
After Chris Pollard left Duke to take the head coaching job at Virginia, the Blue Devils hired Corey Muscara to lead the program. Muscara was an assistant at Wake Forest prior to taking the job at Duke, where he helped the Demon Deacons form one of the best pitching lineups in the country during their 2023 College World Series run.
So far, his first year in Durham has had mixed results. Duke is 18-12 heading into the weekend series versus Louisville, and have only won one conference series to this point (taking two out of three versus Miami (FL)).
Duke is hitting .277 as a team (14th out of 16 ACC schools), but they have been very aggressive on the basepaths. The Blue Devils have 105 stolen bases, which leads the ACC (and 40 more than second-place Boston College!) and is second nationally (VMI leads Division I with 119). Coltin Quagliano (.309 batting, five doubles, four RBI) and RJ Hamilton (.305, three doubles, four triples, 23 RBI) are Duke’s only qualifying players averaging over .300 at the plate; Hamilton is one to watch with a 6-for-16 stretch last week, adding seven RBI to his week.
Additionally, Hamilton is one of four Duke players with ten or more stolen bases. Tyler Albright (.270, six doubles, 20 RBI) leads the team with 18 stolen bases, with Hamilton’s 17, Jake Lambdin (.257, 13 doubles, 14 RBI) with 16, and Brooks Perez (.275, ten RBI) with 11. Perez had a strong showing last week at Florida State, batting 6-for-10 with five RBI in the series. Michael DeMartini (.220, 14 RBI) and Cider Canon (.452, six home runs, 21 RBI in 14 games played) also have nine stolen bases apiece.
Expect Aidan Weaver (4-3, 3.89 ERA in seven starts) and Andy Leon (2-1, 4.34 ERA in seven starts) as two of the starters for Duke this weekend. Both guys are coming off season-highs in strikeouts against #10 Florida State (Weaver had 11 on Friday in 5.2 innings, Leon with nine in 5.1 innings of work). Aidan O’Connell (0-1, 6.91 ERA) has four saves in 11 appearances so far, but has given up six earned runs in his last three appearances (2.2 innings across that stretch). Roman DiGiacomo (0-1, 2.55 ERA in 12 appearances), Peter Lemke (0-2, 3.38 ERA in ten appearances), and Marcello Mastroianni (2-0, 3.66 ERA in 13 appearances) have been frequent contributors from the bullpen.
