Louisville’s woes continued on the diamond last week, dropping three out of four games. The Cardinals lost to Kentucky in Lexington, and dropped the weekend series against Stanford, losing two out of three games to the Cardinal. Louisville enters this week having lost ten of their last 16 games, dating back to March 18th.
This week, Louisville hosts Western Kentucky on Tuesday, looking to avenge their loss to the Hilltoppers on March 24th. The Cardinals then travel to Berkeley for a road series versus California.
Last Week in Cliff Notes
Louisville took a 4-2 loss to Kentucky in Lexington, tallying just two hits against the Wildcats. Bayram Hot got Louisville an early 1-0 lead with an RBI groundout in the first inning, but UK tied it in the fourth with an RBI sac fly from Tyler Cerny. The Wildcats then scored three runs in the sixth inning to take the lead, and held off Louisville in the later portions of the game, despite facing runners in scoring position in the final three innings.
The offensive struggles continued in game one of the Stanford series, as Louisville lost 12-2 to the Cardinal. Though the Cardinals took an early 2-0 lead after the first inning, Stanford took the lead with a five-run burst in the third inning. JJ Moran hit a two-RBI single to tie the game at 2-2, then Brady Reynolds pushed Stanford ahead with a three-run homer to right field amidst rainy conditions. Stanford then added three more runs in the fifth, with Rintaro Sasaki hitting a grand slam in the top of the ninth. Louisville had only four hits, with Stanford managing to retire 13 consecutive batters from the fourth to the eighth innings.
Game two saw Louisville respond in emphatic fashion, taking a 10-0 victory in seven innings. Ethan Eberle had his first shutout start of the season, completing six innings with seven strikeouts. Kade Elam (1-for-3) had a three-run homer in the third inning, part of Louisville’s 10-0 run after four innings. Jake Schweitzer closed the game on Saturday with a shutout in the seventh inning, despite facing a bases-loaded jam. Schweitzer also had three shutout innings versus Kentucky on Tuesday; he has three straight shutout appearances heading into this week, as well as four of the last five.
In game three, Louisville was down to one strike from closing the series with a win, but Stanford’s JJ Moran hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth to push the Cardinal ahead, and give Stanford a 6-4 win. Louisville’s offensive struggles continued again towards the end of the game, with their final 12 batters retired consecutively.
Louisville’s week was highlighted with struggles at the plate. In their three losses last week, the Cardinals batted 11-for-88 (.125), with 25 runners left on base and 23 strikeouts.
This Week’s Schedule
- vs. Western Kentucky
- Tues. April 14 at 6 p.m. ET (ACCNX via ESPN+ / 93.9 The Ville)
- at California
- Fri. April 17 at 9 p.m. ET (ACCNX via ESPN+ / 970 AM)
- Sat. April 18 at 5 p.m. ET (ACCNX via ESPN+ / 93.9 The Ville / 970 AM)
- Sun. April 19 at 4 p.m. ET (ACCNX via ESPN+ / 93.9 The Ville / 970 AM)
Opponent Primer: Western Kentucky
WKU (19-17) is 5-6 in their last 11 games since they beat Louisville on March 24th, but have some momentum coming in with a series win over New Mexico State last weekend.
Lane Arroyos leads the team in batting (.354) and RBI (38), and leads Conference USA with 16 doubles. Austin Haller (.322, 15 RBI) is batting 11-for-24 (.458) with six RBI in his last six games.
Mick Uebelhor (2-1, 1.42 ERA in ten appearances), Kaine Samuels (1-0, 4.76 ERA in four appearances), and Conner Wolf (3.60 ERA in nine appearances) all had two shutout innings in the Hilltoppers win over Louisville last month, expect at least two of those three to make an appearance on Tuesday. Jacob O’Day (2-0, 4.42 ERA) and Zach Lyles (1-0, 4.50 ERA) are among WKU’s most frequent bullpen contributors with 13 appearances each.
Opponent Primer: California
The Golden Bears host San Jose State before having their weekend series versus Louisville, with California holding an 18-16 entering this week. Cal is riding a four-game win streak entering this week, fresh off a weekend sweep of Pittsburgh.
Cal is hitting .288 as a team, but that number drops to .267 against ACC opponents (12th-best in the conference). Hideki Prather leads the team with .364 batting, and also has 13 doubles, eight home runs, and 29 RBI. Prather is coming off a 5-for-14 series versus Pitt last week, including a 3-for-4 day with a double, home run, and six RBI on April 12th. Jacob French (.363, nine doubles, 20 RBI) also had a strong weekend with a 7-for-13 stretch versus the Panthers, with Cade Campbell (.295 batting, six doubles, 13 RBI) having a multi-hit game in all three games last weekend. Jett Kanady (.346 batting, 12 doubles, 20 RBI) and Daniel Murillo (.310 batting, seven doubles, team-high 31 RBI) are the other qualifying Cal players averaging over .300 at the plate.
One number to keep an eye on in the series is walks; Louisville’s pitching staff has given up the most walks (203) in the ACC entering this week, while Cal has drawn the fewest walks at the plate (103).
The Bears pitching lineup has been underrated amidst a rough season; their 4.22 ERA is fifth-best in the ACC, but that number goes up to 5.57 against ACC competition. Expect Gavin Eddy (5-2, 3.26 ERA), Oliver de la Torre (2-4, 3.42 ERA), and Ethan Foley (2-3, 4.93 ERA) to lead the starting rotation this weekend. Otto Espinoza (2-1, 2.84 ERA, two saves in 11 appearances) has been superb as a hybrid starter-bullpen option; his last appearance saw him close the final four innings of a 13-2 win over Pitt on April 12th, and had ten strikeouts in seven innings in a win over San Diego on March 7th. Cole Clark (2-2, 3.60 ERA, two saves) has already made 15 appearances this season, with Cade Colombara (0-1, 3.37 ERA in nine appearances) and Jett Wright (1-0, 1.80 ERA in eight appearances) also among their top bullpen arms.
