Notebook: Louisville moves into summer offseason

Louisville baseball coach Dan McDonnell shared insight and thoughts about the program June 16.

Smith and Elliott deciding

With the NCAA granting spring student-athletes an additional year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, seniors Luke Smith and Adam Elliott have the option to return to Louisville for another season.

McDonnell expects Luke Smith to make an announcement if he will return or not in the next day or so. McDonnell said Smith’s return would take pressure off of other starters in the rotation.

The right-handed pitcher went 3-0 with a 3.42 ERA in 23.2 innings in 2020 as a senior.

“He could really help that weekend rotation as young guys step up,” McDonnell said. “Luke’s first comment to me was ‘Coach, I want to be the Friday night guy.’”

McDonnell said Adam Elliott can go either way on deciding to return to Louisville or pursue a professional career.

“Adam Elliott is very intriguing,” McDonnell said. “He is liked by a lot of pro clubs, but like a lot of guys I’m sure he wanted to see a little bit more.”

Elliott had an 0.87 ERA in 10.1 innings as a reliever.

Silkwood an elderly statesman

Anthony Silkwood, a right-handed pitcher, committed to Louisville in May as a junior-college transfer from Parkland College. The 27-year-old served in the United States Marine Corps until he was 25.

McDonnell says Silkwood’s teammates can benefit from his real-world experiences.

“Somebody on the team is going to be called ‘grandpa,’ that is just the tradition,” McDonnell said. “He is a really sharp and neat young man.”

Dunn a necessity for the program

Lucas Dunn’s greatest gift is playing hard, McDonnell says.

Dunn has the versatility to play several positions, which makes him a valuable and experienced returner for Louisville next season.

“Every school has a few players that didn’t sign, didn’t settle, they didn’t lower their standards, they were very confident in coming back to school,” McDonnell said. “It’s hard to say Lucas Dunn isn’t one of the most valuable kids in the program.”

Dunn played for the USA Collegiate National Team last summer after hitting .309 with 25 RBIs in 2019.

He missed the first nine games of 2020 following hand surgery, but appeared in eight games before the season ended due to COVID-19.

Losing a Season

Louisville baseball didn’t wallow in self-pity after its season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Louisville ranked atop national preseason polls and started the year 13-4, McDonnell didn't spend time thinking what could have been with the 2020 team.

“We don’t know what would have happened,” McDonnell said. “There is no guarantee, life moves on. We are challenging our kids to prepare for the future, we aren’t going to do a whole lot of good feeling sorry for ourselves.”

Detmers & Miller selected in first round

Juniors Reid Detmers and Bobby Miller were selected in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft. The starting pitchers were planned departures for the staff, so Louisville will begin to develop pitchers to fill those roles.

“We expected to lose those two guys,” McDonnell said. “In our preparation, we felt like those two were going to get drafted high.”