7th Inning Stretch: Playin' in the Pool (Week 15)

(Photo of Lucas Dunn: William Caudill via University of Louisville Athletics)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After a rollercoaster of a regular season, the postseason is finally here. Conference championship week has arrived, and Louisville is heading down to Charlotte, N.C. for the 2021 ACC Baseball Championship.

Unfortunately, the Cardinals are not exactly heading down there with much momentum. Since the cancellation of their home series vs. Pitt in late April, Louisville has gone just 4-10, including getting swept three times in four weeks, and failing to finish above .500 in conference play for the first time under head coach Dan McDonnell.

They currently sit at 27-21 on the season and 16-16 in the ACC, and the prospect of reaching the NCAA Tournament is far from guaranteed. With an RPI of just 67th, a barely winning record against Q1 opponents (13-12) and a handful of bad losses, Louisville could easily not hear their name called on Selection Monday.

In order to feel a lot more comfortable, they need to advance past pool play in the ACC Baseball Championship. It won't come easy, as they are paired with Clemson and Georgia Tech in Pool B-two teams in which they went a combined 1-5 in the regular season.

Unfortunately, the kicker is that Louisville must defeat both teams to advance. If all three teams split 1-1 in pool play, Georgia Tech will advance to the semifinals by default because they have a higher seed in the tournament. Considering a berth in the Big Dance is not locked down, all games at this point can pretty much be considered do or die.

Last Week's Recaps:

Game 45: Louisville Rebounds With Victory Over USC Upstate
Game 46: Louisville Falls to Miami in Series Opener
Game 47: Louisville Shutout in Game Two, Clinch Series Loss vs. Miami
Game 48: Louisville Falls to Miami in Regular Season Finale

News & Notes

Louisville is not ranked in any of the six major collegiate baseball polls this week.
Louisville received a No. 7 seed for the ACC Baseball Championship, and will face No. 2 Georgia Tech and No. 11 Clemson in Pool B.
Louisville is sixth in the nation in both stolen bases (106) and stolen bases per game (2.21).
Outfielder Levi Usher is 11th in the nation in stolen bases with 26.
Infielder Alex Binelas is 17th in the nation in RBI with 56, and 24th in home runs with 15.

The Week Ahead

Tuesday, May 25 at 11:00pm vs. Clemson

RSN/ACC Network Extra
93.9 The Ville

Thursday, May 27 at 3:00pm vs. Georgia Tech

RSN/ACC Network Extra
93.9 The Ville

*Saturday, May 29 at 5:00pm vs. Pool C Winner (Semifinal)

ACC Network
93.9 The Ville

*Sunday, May 30 at 12:00pm vs. Pool A/D Winner (Championship)

ESPN2
93.9 The Ville

*If Necessary

Complete ACC Baseball Championship Schedule

Tuesday, May 25

No. 7 Louisville vs. No. 11 Clemson, 11 a.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 8 Virginia vs. No. 12 Virginia Tech, 3 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 6 North Carolina vs. No. 10 Pitt, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

Wednesday, May 26

No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 9 Duke, 11 a.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Virginia Tech, 3 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 2 Georgia Tech vs. No. 11 Clemson, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

Thursday, May 27

No. 4 Miami vs. No. 9 Duke, 11 a.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 2 Georgia Tech vs. No. 7 Louisville, 3 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 3 NC State vs. No. 10 Pitt, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

Friday, May 28

No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 Virginia, 11 a.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 4 Miami vs. No. 5 Florida State, 3 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 3 NC State vs. No. 6 North Carolina, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

Saturday, May 29

Pool A Winner vs. Pool D Winner, 1 p.m. (ACCN/ACCN Extra)
Pool B Winner vs. Pool C Winner, 5 p.m. (ACCN/ACCN Extra)

Sunday, May 30

ACC Championship, Noon (ESPN2/ACCN Extra)

Know The Foe

Game 1

School: Clemson University
Nickname: Tigers
Location: Clemson, S.C.
Total Enrollment: 25,822
Head Coach (school record): Monte Lee (206-112)
2021 Record (conference record): 24-26 (16-20)
All-Time Series Record: Clemson leads 17-10
Team Leaders:

Avg: James Parker (.317)
RBI: Caden Grice (49)
HR: Caden Grice (13)
ERA: Geoffrey Gilbert (2.16)
Strikeouts: Mack Anglin (71)
Wins: Nick Clayton (6)

Game 2

School: Georgia Institute of Technology
Nickname: Yellow Jackets
Location: Atlanta, Ga.
Total Enrollment: 36,127
Head Coach (school record): Danny Hall (1,095-577-1)
2021 Record (conference record): 28-21 (21-15)
All-Time Series Record: Louisville leads 10-5
Team Leaders:

Avg: Kevin Parada (.328)
RBI: Justyn-Henry Malloy (39)
HR: Justyn-Henry Malloy (10)
ERA: Brant Hurter (3.39)
Strikeouts: Brant Hurter (73)
Wins: Brant Hurter (5)

Opponent Breakdown

Rankings & Records:

Clemson	Georgia Tech	Louisville
Highest Poll Ranking	NR	NR	NR
RPI	62nd	42nd	67th
SOS	10th	25th	56th
Home Record	17-11	15-13	19-9
Away Record	6-14	13-8	8-12
Neutral Record	1-1	0-0	0-0

Hitting:

Clemson	Georgia Tech	Louisville
Base on Balls	86th (210)	45th (229)	136th (193)
Batting Average	206th (.255)	56th (.286)	92nd (.278)
Hits	123rd (427)	35th (496)	85th (458)
Home Runs	40th (60)	54th (56)	50th (57)
On Base Percentage	155th (.362)	73rd (.379)	106th (.371)
Runs	117th (285)	57th (330)	78th (310)
Slugging Percentage	133rd (.414)	48th (.459)	70th (.445)

Pitching:

Clemson	Georgia Tech	Louisville
Earned Run Average	110th (4.81)	179th (5.63)	127th (4.90)
Hits Allowed/9 Innings	136th (9.27)	164th (9.60)	79th (8.61)
Strikeouts Per 9 Innings	45th (9.7)	75th (9.2)	73rd (9.2)
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio	44th (2.69)	173rd (1.81)	159th (1.89)
WHIP	98th (1.43)	195th (1.63)	140th (1.50)
Walks Allowed/9 Innings	64th (3.61)	224th (5.05)	206th (4.88)

Clemson Tigers

Louisville's meeting with Clemson during the regular season was definitely one to forget. Coming off of a prolonged pause due to the cancellation of their series against Pitt, the Cardinals ventured to South Carolina and were swept for the first time this season. Head coach Dan McDonnell later admitted that the pause played a role in the outcome of the series.

It was a bad loss at the time, and it looks even worse now. Since that series, the Tigers went 4-7 to end the regular season two games under .500. While they might be a double digit seed, their NCAA Tournament lives depend on winning the ACC title, so they will not be short on motivation.

Like in the previous matchups, Clemson as a whole does not hit very well (.255 team BA), but they have a top-heavy lineup. Caden Grice, who torched Louisville all series long, finished the regular season as the Tigers' best hitter, batting .316 with 13 homers and 49 RBI. James Parker and Bryar Hawkins also hit over .300 at .317 and .315 respectively, but outside that trio, Clemson hit just .230 on the season.

As for the pitching, Clemson will likely send out Mack Anglin again, who went seven innings deep with nine strikeouts and just one earned run in his last start against Louisivlle. For the year, he finished as statistically one of their best pitchers, posting a 3.31 ERA with 71 strikeouts and 32 walks over 54.1 innings. Geoffrey Gilbert is still a lights out reliever, only surrendering runs in seven of his 27 appearances for a team-best ERA of 2.16. Beyond him, the Tigers don't have as many relievers to really be concerned about.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

While Louisville did perform better against Georgia Tech than Clemson, it wasn't by much. In their conference opening series, the Cardinals lost to the Yellow Jackets two games to one in a barnburner of a series.

Despite winning the Coastal Division for the second consecutive season, the Ramblin' Wreck has an NCAA Tournament resume similar to Louisville's. They're one game away from .500 against Quadrant 1 opponents (14-13), and have bad losses to EKU, Georgia State and Kennesaw State twice.

Like the last matchup, the hitting for the Jackets is surging while the pitching is struggling. Tech finished with the second-best batting average (.286) in the ACC, thanks in part to their three-headed monster of Kevin Parada, Luke Waddell and Justyn-Henry Malloy. The trio combined for 22 home runs, 101 RBI, 46 doubles and 301 total bases.

When it comes to who Louisville will face on the mound, they better hope Georgia Tech opts to use Brant Hurter against Clemson. He finished as their best all-around pitcher, with an ERA of 3.39 and 73 strikeouts-both of which were team-bests. Sam Crawford has a low strikeout rate, Andy Archer has a high walk rate, and both have ERAs over five. Considering the team as a whole had one of the worst ERAs in the ACC, there really aren't any reliever which should scare Louisville.

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