• ROSTER
• |
• SCHEDULE
• |
• STATS
• |
• NEWS
• |
• ARCHIVES
• |
• PHOTOS

Dec. 22, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. - The University of Louisville baseball team earned its highest preseason ranking ever and the second highest ranking in school history on Monday as the Cards debuted at No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper 2009 Preseason Poll.

The Cardinals earned 476 total points in the poll, while LSU led the way at No. 1 with 495 points. The No. 8 ranking is second only to the Cards' final 2007 national ranking of No. 6 (Collegiate Baseball, ESPN/USA Today) following their College World Series appearance that season, and is 14 spots better than last year's previous school record best preseason ranking of No. 22 by Rivals.com. It's also the second 2009 preseason poll to feature Louisville as Ping!Baseball ranked the Cards No. 20 in its preseason rankings released last week.

Louisville, the highest ranked BIG EAST team in the preseason poll, returns eight of nine position starters for 2009, including All-American third baseman Chris Dominguez. Third-year head coach Dan McDonnell's squad also returns a deep stable of talented pitchers, led by All-American lefty starter Justin Marks.

Last season, Louisville earned its second straight NCAA Championship bid after winning the program's first ever BIG EAST Tournament title. The Cards finished 41-21 overall in 2008 after being eliminated from the Athens Regional by eventual College World Series runner-up Georgia.

Dominguez (Miami, Fla.), who elected to return to Louisville for his junior season despite being drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies, was named to five All-America teams in 2008 and earned BIG EAST Co-Player of the Year honors after hitting .365 with a team-leading 21 home runs and 75 RBI. Marks (Owensboro, Ky.) was named to a pair of All-America teams and earned All-BIG EAST First Team honors last season with a 9-2 record, a 2.37 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 91 innings of work.

Also representing the BIG EAST Conference in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason Poll is Notre Dame at No. 27, while season-opening foe Florida is ranked No. 25 overall. The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll dating back to the 1957 season.

Louisville will open the 2009 season with a three-game series against the Gators on Feb. 20-22 in Gainesville, while the Cards' 2009 home-opener is set for Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. ET, against Eastern Kentucky.