7th Inning Stretch: The Revenge Tour Begins (Week 1)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Following another long offseason, college baseball has finally returned to the Ville! The Louisville baseball program begins their 2022 season this weekend down in Tampa, Fla., and will make their return to Jim Patterson Stadium next week.

The Cardinals are coming off a season where they missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years, and lost a lot of production from that squad. Six regular starters in the field have moved on, and they lost three of their top five pitchers in terms of innings pitched.

As a result, Louisville is entering this season with a very little amount of hype, and a heightened sense of motivation. In fact, head coach Dan McDonnell went as far to say the team is "pissed off" due to their performance last year, with Cam Masterman calling 2022 "the revenge tour."

All that being said, it's time to dive into another season of college baseball, and take a look at Louisville's first week of the 2022 college baseball season:

News & Notes

Louisville is not ranked in the preseason top 25 in any of the six major collegiate baseball polls. They rank 26th in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's top 50.
No Cardinals have been named preseason All-Americans or preseason All-ACC selections.
Louisville was picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic Division, behind conference-favorite Florida State, NC State and Notre Dame. They received two first place votes.
Senior infielder Ben Bianco, junior left-handed pitcher Carter Lohman and junior infielder Ben Metzinger were selected by the players and coaches to be the captains for the 2022 season.
Head coach Dan McDonnell enters his 16th season with the program, compiling a 646-266 record during his tenure as the Louisville skipper - the second-most wins of any team in the country since his hiring in 2007. His .708 winning percentage is the highest among all coaches with at least five years as a Division I coach.
Jim Patterson Stadium is back to full capacity for all 35 of Louisville's home games. The 15 ACC contests, as well as the games against Kentucky and Indiana, will be ticketed, with every other matchup being free admission.

The Week Ahead

Away (Tampa, Fla.)

Friday, Feb. 18 at 2:00pm vs. Charlotte
- No Television Designation
- 93.9 The Ville

Saturday, Feb. 19 at 4:00pm at South Florida

ESPN+
93.9 The Ville
Sunday, Feb 21 at 3:30pm vs. UConn

No Television Designation
93.9 The Ville

Know The Foe

Weekend

School: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Nickname: 49ers
Location: Charlotte, N.C.
Total Enrollment: 24,175
Head Coach (school record): Robert Woodard (49-29)
2021 Record (conference record): 40-21 (24-8)
All-Time Series Record: Charlotte leads 22-19
Team Leaders (2021):

Avg: LuJames Groover III (.351)
RBI: Austin Knight (63)
HR: Austin Knight (11)
ERA: Christian Lothes (3.10)
Strikeouts: Bryce McGowan (99)
Wins: Bryce McGowan (7-5)

School: University of South Florida
Nickname: Bulls
Location: Tampa, Fla.
Total Enrollment: 38,579
Head Coach (school record): Billy Mohl (98-87-1)
2021 Record (conference record): 30-27 (14-14)
All-Time Series Record: First Meeting
Team Leaders (2021):

Avg: Carmine Lane (.306)
RBI: Carmine Lane (43)
HR: Riley Hogan, Roberto Pena (12)
ERA: Dawson Barr (1.50)
Strikeouts: Jack Jasiak (93)
Wins: Jack Jasiak (6-7)

School: University of Connecticut
Nickname: Huskies
Location: Storrs, Conn.
Total Enrollment: 18,917
Head Coach (school record): Jim Penders (606-416-5)
2021 Record (conference record): 34-19 (13-4)
All-Time Series Record: UofL leads 19-12
Team Leaders (2021):

Avg: Kyler Fedko (.398)
RBI: Reggie Crawford (62)
HR: Reggie Crawford (13)
ERA: Garrett Coe (0.82)
Strikeouts: Ben Casparius (127)
Wins: Ben Casparius (8-5)

Opponent Breakdown

Rankings:

Charlotte	USF	UConn	Louisville
Highest Poll Ranking	NR	NR	39th	26th
RPI	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
SOS	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Home Record	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0
Away Record	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0
Neutral Record	0-0	0-0	0-0	0-0

Hitting (2021):

Charlotte	USF	UConn	Louisville
Base on Balls	94th (218)	71st (231)	111th (211)	120th (208)
Batting Average	25th (.297)	179th (.262)	29th (.296)	67th (.283)
Hits	13th (594)	48th (535)	38th (548)	88th (488)
Home Runs	42nd (66)	71st (57)	38th (67)	36th (68th)
On Base Percentage	84th (.375)	181st (.355)	54th (.384)	81st (.376)
Runs	22nd (417)	93rd (322)	34th (384)	82nd (333)
Slugging Percentage	29th (.471)	168th (.399)	20th (.478)	41st (.463)

Pitching (2021):

Charlotte	USF	UConn	Louisville
Earned Run Average	156th (5.37)	47th (4.16)	56th (4.30)	126th (5.00)
Hits Allowed/9 Innings	74th (8.56)	53rd (8.36)	18th (7.75)	83rd (8.74)
Strikeouts Per 9 Innings	33rd (9.9)	66th (9.2)	10th (10.9)	65th (9.3)
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio	143rd (1.99)	61st (2.53)	40th (2.74)	154th (1.92)
WHIP	138th (1.51)	49th (1.34)	33rd (1.30)	137th (1.51)
Walks Allowed/9 Innings	220th (4.99)	70th (3.66)	110th (3.99)	196th (4.81)

Charlotte 49ers

Louisville and Charlotte actually have a bit of a history. The Cards and 49ers have faced off 41 total times, playing every year between 1992 and 2005 as Conference USA members. Since being named the head coach in the summer of 2019, Robert Woodard has things rolling for Charlotte, as they reached a 40-win season last year with an NCAA Tournament berth.

Offense was the named of the game for Charlotte last season, sporting a top 25 offense in terms of batting average, runs and hits. They retain two of their top three hitters from last season, including Austin Knight. The junior infielder has racked up numerous preseason accolades, including being named C-USA Preseason Player of the Year. He hit .342 with 11 home runs and 63 RBI in 2021.

Over on the pitching mound, the 49ers struggled a bit. Their starting rotation of Andrew Lindsey, Bryce McGowan and Matt Brooks compiled just 231 strikeouts, with each of them having an ERA above 4.80. Their best arm is southpaw closer Christian Lothers and his eight saves over 21 appearances, but he was Charlotte's only pitcher with an ERA under 4 (3.10).

South Florida Bulls

Not only did South Florida make a surprise bid for the NCAA Tournament, they were a Cinderella story. They were picked to finish last in the American Athletic Conference, only to win the conference tournament. The Bulls took down Florida, Miami and South Alabama to become only the seventh regional No. 4 seed to ever advance to the Super Regional.

But it was called a Cinderella run for a reason. USF had one of the worst hitting platoons out of the NCAA Tournament field, sporting a batting average of just .262. Carmine Lane and Riley Hogan combined to hit 23 homers and 83 RBI last year, but that's really it from an impact standpoint.

Pitching is a little better for the Bulls, as they had a team ERA of 4.16. Staff ace Jack Jasiak is back, sporting an ERA of 2.93 and strikeout-to-walk ratio of 93-23. Collin Sullivan and Dylan Burns aren't half bad either, with respective ERAs of 4.07 and 4.32, and 174 combined K's. Go-to reliever Logan Lyle is gone, but Orion Kerkering and his 2.88 ERA and 62 strikeouts over 50.0 IP is back.

UConn Huskies

While UConn might not have cracked the 40-win plateau, the Huskies still had a successful 2021 campaign, winning the Big East Tournament to earn a berth the the NCAA Tournament. Led by Jim Penders, UConn has one of the longest tenured coaching staffs in all of Division I baseball.

As far as losing talent to the draft goes, UConn fared well when it comes to position players, as only Kyler Fedko and Pat Winkel departed. In total, the Huskies return six regular starters who bat .290 or better last season, including Erik Stock who hit .364 for six homers and 34 RBI. Power threat Reggie Crawford, who lead the team with 13 home runs and 62 RBI, is also back.

UConn did lose some key pieces on the pitching staff, namely staff ace Ben Casparius and closer Caleb Wurster to the draft and go-to middle reliever Randy Polonia to graduation. There are solid pieces remaining, such as starter Austin Peterson and his 2.58 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 14 starts, but the Huskies did lose a sizable amount of pitching talent.

(Photo of Louisville Players: William Caudill via University of Louisville Athletics)

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