Lucas Dunn Slowly Getting Back To Form
When the Louisville Cardinals emerged from their long offseason and took the diamond down in Oxford, MS against Ole Miss back on Feb. 14 to start the 2020 collegiate baseball season, they were forced to do so without one of their key offensive pieces. Leadoff man CF/2B Lucas Dunn, who bat .309 with 25 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 2019, was sidelined due to a broken hamate bone in his hand.
Originally scheduled to be out for close to a month, the junior from Panama City Beach, FL had to find other ways to contribute to the team that was not on the diamond. He resorted to giving tips and advice to a lot of the younger guys on the team whenever they would head up to bat, particularly the sophomores like Andrew Benefield, Tim Borden II, Ben Metzinger, and Jared Poland.
"It was a unique role that I had," Dunn said.
As his prognosis is reaching its end, head coach Dan McDonnell has started to ease him back into the swing of things. In game two vs. Western Michigan this past Saturday, Dunn was an eighth inning defensive substitution for Borden for his first in-game action of the season. The next day for the series finale, he pinch hit for Justin Lavey for his first at-bat of the season, drawing a four pitch walk. Then yesterday in the midweek affair vs. Morehead State, he collected his first base hit of the season with a single up the middle in the seventh.
"It feels really good [to be back]," he said following UofL's 16-3 win over Morehead State. "It was fun getting to watch and kinda be just in the dugout just trying to be a good teammate. But to get back in the mix, and get back on the field feels really good"
Self admittedly, he is still not 100%, but is "getting there." For the time being, he is just happy to be back on the diamond and getting in-game reps so that he can be "ready to jump in whenever they need me."
His absence certainly hasn't lost him his edge, as yesterday vs. Morehead State an Andrew Benefield single up the middle following his own base hit had him darting on the base paths. He safely made it to second but decided to test the arm of the MSU center fielder by trying to get to third, where he was thrown out.
"[Coach] Vrable kinda got onto me, I probably shouldn't have done that," he joked. "But I was just trying to play hard and just trying to get used to it."
Regardless, Dunn and Co. are surging in the right direction. After starting the season 1-3 including losing the Ole Miss series coupled with a 10-3 midweek loss to Wright State, the Cardinal Nine have now won 8 games in a row. With him being sidelined for a majority of that stretch and sophomore third baseman Alex Binelas still out with the same injury, he is proud of the way that the younger guys have stepped up in their place.
"Oh they're doing awesome," he said. Watching Metzinger, Poland, Borden, they're tearing it up right now. I'm really happy for them and proud of them."
The timing couldn't be anymore perfect for the Cards' hot streak, as they are set to kick off ACC play this weekend. They are traveling to Winston-Salem where they will compete in a three game weekend series against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Dunn believes they are more than ready, no mater who is out there.
"We feel good. The offense is finally clicking and our pitchers have been dominant all year," he said. "We're excited to get on the road and get to Wake. We got tough road schedule ahead of us but i think we're ready for that"
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