Louisville OF Zion Rose to Miss Season Opening Series

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - As it turns out, the Louisville baseball program will not have one of their best players at their disposal to start the season.

Preseason All-American outfielder Zion Rose is set to miss the Cardinals' season-opening series vs. Michigan State this weekend due to an ankle injury, head coach Dan McDonnell said in a radio interview with 93.9 The Ville on Thursday.

While McDonnell did not want to describe Rose's injury as "day-to-day," he did say that if the postseason was this weekend, Rose would play.

"He tweaked his ankle during the winter months, and at one point it looked like it was good, and he was ready to go (for the start of the 2026 season)," he said. "Then it was like, 'it's still not 100 percent,' so we just felt like the smart thing to do is - if there was a time to be conservative, now is the time to be conservative.

"If the regionals were next weekend, he'd be playing in the regionals. But since it's Opening Day and we've got 14 weeks in the regular season, the smart thing to do is let him heal 100 percent. I don't know if "day-to-day" is the right term, but he'll be out of the lineup this weekend."

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound left fielder is coming off of a great sophomore season for the Cardinals. Starting all 66 games in 2025, he hit .310/.396/.552 with a career-best 13 homers and a team-best 67 RBI. He also finished with 16 doubles, three triples, 31 walks and 31 stolen bases.

Rose played a key role in helping Louisville go 42-24 overall, culminating in the program's sixth College World Series appearance. Not only did he earned First-Team All-ACC honors last season, he was tabbed as a Second-Team Preseason All-American and named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List ahead of the current season.

The Chicago native burst onto the scene as a true freshman in 2024. In 166 at-bats across 44 games and 43 starts, Rose posted a team-best .380 batting average, while also collecting five home runs and 32 RBI. He also tallied nine doubles, a whopping five triples, 19 walks and 10 stolen bases.

He also excelled during conference play that season. In 28 ACC games, he hit .396 - the second-most of any player in the league - along with a pair of homers and 17 RBI. Rose led Louisville in conference play in average, hits, runs, triples and on-base percentage.

Picked in the preseason to finish fourth in the ACC and ranked as high as No. 8, Louisville will start year 20 under head coach Dan McDonnell this weekend against the Spartans. First pitch of game one is set for Friday, Feb. 13 at 3:00 p.m. EST.

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