Louisville Ranked No. 5 in D1Baseball 2021 Preseason Poll
(Photo of Luke Smith and Louisville Players: Steven Branscombe/USA TODAY Sports)
LOUISVILLE, Ky - With the start of the 2021 college baseball season roughly a month away, the Louisville baseball program has continued their tradition of earning a plethora of preseason accolades under head coach Dan McDonnell.
In D1Baseball.com's 2021 Preseason Top 25 Rankings, the Cardinals were tabbed as the No. 5 team in the country. It is their second top-five ranking this preseason, earning the No. 2 spot from Perfect Game earlier this month. Louisville also earned the No. 11 ranking from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper last month.
Louisville is one of seven ACC teams in the poll, topping all other teams in the conference. Top-ranked Florida, UCLA, Texas Tech, and Vanderbilt make up the rest of the top five.
Up to this point, five Cardinals have also been named 2021 Preseason All-Americans. Third baseman Alex Binelas, left-handed reliever Michael Kirian, catcher Henry Davis and outfielder Levi Usher have been honored by both Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Perfect Game, with Jared Poland also being named a utility selection by the latter.
The Cardinals finished the 2020 season with a 13-4 record, and were ranked as high as the No. 2 team in the country (D1Baseball, Perfect Game) at the time of the season's cancellation due to COVID-19. They had previously been tabbed as the preseason No. 1 team in the nation and were also voted by league coaches as the favorite to win the ACC.
McDonnell enters his 15th season with the program, compiling a 618-244 record during his tenure as the Cards' skipper - the most wins of any team in the country since his hiring in 2007.
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