Go Cards!
No. 23 Cardinals Host No. 27 USF to Decide BIG EAST Regular Season Champion
Cards and Bulls will meet on Thursday at 6 p.m., Friday at 6 p.m., and Saturday at 1 p.m., at Jim Patterson Stadium
 

May 13, 2009

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - With the BIG EAST regular season championship hanging in the balance, the 23rd-ranked Louisville baseball team will close the regular season at home this weekend with a three-game series against conference leader and No. 27 South Florida.

The Cardinals and Bulls will open their series on Thursday at 6 p.m., ET at Jim Patterson Stadium, with game two set for Friday at 6 p.m., and Saturday's finale scheduled for 1 p.m. Admission is free for the entire series. Louisville will also honor its 2009 senior class prior to Saturday's game.

Louisville enters the weekend in second place in the BIG EAST standings with a 16-7 conference record and a 37-14 mark overall following Tuesday night's impressive 10-2 win at Western Kentucky. The Cardinals, who have won eight of their last nine games overall, will need to sweep the three-game series with USF (32-20, 18-6) to win their first ever regular-season conference title.

Along with the program's first regular season championship, a three-game sweep of USF would also clinch Louisville's first ever 40-win regular-season and surpass the 2002 team's 39 regular season wins as the best in school history. The 2002 Louisville team was coached by current USF head coach Lelo Prado.

Leading the way for the Cardinals into the final weekend will be junior third baseman Chris Dominguez, sophomore outfielder Phil Wunderlich and junior left-handed starter Justin Marks. Dominguez leads the Cardinals in home runs with 19, RBI with 71 and stolen bases with 17 on 21 attempts, and he ranks second in hitting at .367.

Wunderlich leads Louisville in hitting at .369 and ranks second in home runs with 14 and RBI with 60. Marks, the Cards' career leader in wins (26), ERA (2.95) and strikeouts (270), is 8-2 this season with a 3.81 ERA with 94 strikeouts in 78 innings.

 

 

With Tuesday's 10-2 win over WKU, Dan McDonnell earned win No. 125 as the Louisville head coach in just his third season on the job. At 125-59, McDonnell has a winning percentage of nearly 68 percent and is just three wins away from his third straight 40-win season in Louisville.

Shop Now at the Official Online Store