7th Inning Stretch: Bouncing Back (Week 7)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville baseball program's first true road trip of the 2025 season didn't exactly go as they hoped.

While the Cardinals (18-5, 3-3 ACC) were able to earn a run-rule midweek win over Northern Kentucky to cap off their 18-game home stand, they immediately turned around and put up a series loss at Virginia Tech.

In their opener against the Hokies, the bats for Louisville could hardly do anything until it was too little, too late. Their hitting bounced back in game two, but nearly lost that game due to early inning pitching. In the rubber match, they put together one of the most non-competitive efforts they have had in quite some time.

Sure, it's just one series loss, and they already have a series win over a good North Carolina team. But this was not the same type of VT team that made a Super Regional a couple years ago. Not to mention that life in the ACC is a difficult one considering how good the top end of the league is.

Fortunately for Louisville, they have the chance to post a bounce-back week. They'll travel to rival Cincinnati before returning home to host ACC newcomer Cal, and both teams are barely hovering over the .500 mark on the year.

One weekend is not going to make-or-break Louisville's season. Especially considering they're still a top-25 squad. But it does have the potential to snowball into something greater if they don't put this past weekend's struggled behind them.

News & Notes

Louisville ranks as high as No. 18 in the five major collegiate baseball polls (D1Baseball).
Catcher Matt Klein is set to miss "a month or two" after getting hit by a pitch in the Virginia Tech series, per head coach Dan McDonnell.
Right-hander Patrick Forbes ranks 12th nationally in strikeouts with 52.
Outfielder Lucas Moore ranks 15th nationally in the NCAA's "Toughest to Strike Out" metric, 16th in stolen bases at 17, and 17th in runs at 34.
Infielder Alex Alicea ranks 15th nationally in triples with three.
Infielder Jake Munroe ranks 28th nationally in batting average at .432

The Week Ahead

Away (UC Baseball Stadium - Cincinnati, Oh.)

Tuesday, Mar. 25 at 6:00 p.m. EST vs. Cincinnati (No TV/93.9 The Ville)

Home (Jim Patterson Stadium - Louisville, Ky.)

Friday, Mar. 28 at 6:00 p.m. EST vs Cal (ACCNX/93.9 The Ville)
Saturday, Mar. 29 at 2:00 p.m. EST vs Cal (ACCNX/93.9 The Ville)
Sunday, Mar. 30 at 12:00 p.m. EST vs Cal (ACCN/93.9 The Ville)

Know The Foe

Cincinnati Bearcats

Head Coach (school record): Jordan Bischel (44-36)
2025 Record (conference record): 12-11 (1-5)
All-Time Series Record: Louisville Leads 104-84

Top Performers (Hitters):

INF Kerrington Cross (20 GP, 19 GS): .413/.516/.600, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 3 2B, 1 3B, 14 BB, 5 SB
OF Landyn Vidourek (22 GP, 21 GS): .306/.441/.639, 6 HR, 20 RBI, 6 2B, 18 BB, 16 SB
UTIL Cal Sefcik (21 GP, 19 GS): .310/.420/.521, 4 HR, 16 RBI, 1 2B, 1 3B, 14 BB, 3 SB

Top Performers (Pitchers):

RHP Nathan Taylor (5 APP, 5 GS): 2.35 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 30.2 IP, 42 K, 11 BB, .222 B/AVG
RHP Joel Pineiro (8 APP, 3 GS): 3.86 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 21.0 IP, 17 K, 5 BB, .241 B/AVG
LHP Hudson Johnson (7 APP, 0 GS): 3.93 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 18.1 IP, 17 K, 5 BB, .247 B/AVG

Cal Golden Bears

Head Coach (school record): Mike Neu (198-162)
2025 Record (conference record): 13-10 (5-4)
All-Time Series Record: Louisville Leads 1-0

Top Performers (Hitters):

INF Cade Campbell (23 GP, 23 GS): .394/.402/.580, 7 HR, 26 RBI, 8 2B, 1 3B, 2 BB, 1 SB
UTIL Jacob French (21 GP, 19 GS): .377/.429/.580, 1 HR, 15 RBI, 5 2B, 3 3B, 4 BB
C Alex Birge (19 GP, 18 GS): .250/.432/.679, 7 HR, 11 RBI, 3 2B, 17 BB

Top Performers (Pitchers):

RHP Gavin Eddy (6 APP, 6 GS): 2.08 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 30.1 IP, 23 K, 16 BB, .148 B/AVG
RHP Austin Turkington (6 APP, 6 GS): 3.48 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 31.0 IP, 35 K, 11 BB, .214 B/AVG
RHP Cole Tremain (7 APP, 0 GS): 0.68 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 13.1 IP, 12 K, 2 BB, .180 B/AVG

Statistical Breakdown

Rankings and Records:

	UC	Cal	UofL
D1Baseball Ranking	NR	NR	18th
RPI	103rd	69th	44th
SOS	125th	46th	123rd
Home Record	7-2	7-7	15-2
Away Record	5-9	6-3	1-2
Neutral Record	0-0	0-0	2-1

Hitting:

	UC	Cal	UofL
Base on Balls	76th (121)	249th (83)	142nd (107)
Batting Avg.	137th (.280)	116th (.286)	9th (.327)
Home Runs	118th (24)	48th (32)	87th (27)
OBP	135th (.391)	230th (.362)	31st (.426)
Runs/Game	176th (6.4)	108th (7.3)	43rd (8.9)
SLG	135th (.440)	60th (.489)	30th (.515)

Pitching:

	UC	Cal	UofL
ERA	80th (4.92)	48th (4.30)	69th (4.66)
Hits/9 Innings	62nd (8.47)	29th (7.66)	57th (8.41)
K/9 Innings	63rd (9.6)	155th (8.4)	38th (10.1)
K/BB Ratio	38th (2.63)	111th (1.95)	86th (2.12)
WHIP	45th (1.35)	43rd (1.33)	82nd (1.46)
BB/9 Innings	36th (3.64)	91st (4.30)	151st (4.75)

(Photo of Alex Alicea: Jared Anderson - Louisville Cardinals On SI)

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