Louisville Announces Starting Rotation for Season Opening Series

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With the start of their 2026 season one day away, we now know the Louisville baseball program's starting rotation for their three-game home series against Michigan State to open the season.

Ethan Eberle will deliver the first pitch of the season, as he has been designated as the Friday night starter for the series, the program announced Thursday. Jake Bean will take the ball to start on Saturday, as will Wyatt Danilowicz on Sunday.

As a true freshman last season, Eberle began the year in the bullpen and made the transition to weekend starter by April. While there was a little bit of an adjustment period over his first few starts, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound left-hander got much more comfortable as the season went on. In 20 games and 10 starts, he posted a 4.65 ERA and struck out 59 while walking 25 over 62.0 innings pitched.

Bean transferred in from Kent State this offseason, where he was a First-Team All-MAC selection last season. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound right-hander made 15 starts, posting a 4.20 ERA and 6-2 record in the process. In 75.0 inning pitched, he struck out 72 batters while walking just 22, with his 3.27 strikeout-to-walk ratio ranking second in the MAC.

Danilowicz was the go-to reliever last season, but is getting his chance to start after posting the second-best ERA out of all of Louisville's returning pitchers. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior southpaw made a team-best 28 relief appearances last year, finishing with a 2.70 ERA and a 52-to-25 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 33.1 innings of work.

After previously missing out on the NCAA Tournament three times in a four-year span, Louisville was able to bounce back in spectacular fashion last year. The Cardinals finished their 2025 campaign with a mark of 42-25, culminating in their sixth appearance in the College World Series

There is reason to believe that head coach Dan McDonnell, who is entering his 20th year with the program and sports an overall record of 793-358-1, can guide UofL to a seventh trip to Omaha in 2026. Louisville has one of the best returning corps of position players, headlined by preseason All-Americans Zion Rose, Lucas Moore and Tague Davis. Additionally, of the 561.0 innings pitched by Louisville players last year, 351.2 of them - or 62.7 percent - are back for the 2026 season.

First pitch of game one between No. 8 Louisville and Michigan State is set for Friday, Feb. 13 at 2:00 p.m. EST.

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