The three-game series begins Friday at 4 p.m. ET in Atlanta.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – March 4, 2021
The top-ranked team University of Louisville baseball team opens up conference play this weekend with a three game series at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The games Friday and Saturday can be seen on ACC Network Extra, while Sunday’s game will be on the ACC Network. Radio coverage will be on 1450 WXVM Friday and 93.9 The Ville for the final two games.
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville stumbled in its final tuneup before conference play on Tuesday, losing 5-2 against Morehead State. The Cardinals led 2-0 after seven innings, but gave up five in the eighth and were unable to rally. Louisville had no trouble getting baserunners, but left 19 on in the loss.
The Cardinals have been running wild on the basepaths, swiping 26 bags through the first eight games. Louisville leads the country in that category, five more than any other team nationally and 10 more than the next-closest ACC team. UofL stole 12 bases in the three-game series against Western Illinois.
SERIES HISTORY
Louisville and Georgia Tech have 12 previous meetings, with the Cardinals leading the series 9-3. The two teams have met every other season since Louisville joined the ACC in 2015. The Cardinals swept the Yellow Jackets in their only trip to Atlanta back in 2017. Georgia Tech took two of three from UofL in Louisville in 2019, but Trey Leonard’s two-run single gave the Cardinals a 5-4 walk-off victory in the series finale.
TEAM NOTES
· Louisville owns 111 conference wins since joining the ACC in 2015, the most conference wins during that time of any Power Five school.
· UofL has won 39 of its 51 ACC series since joining the league and is 42-8 in its series finales during that span, including a 14-5 record in rubber games.
· Louisville is 6-0 all-time in ACC openers, including a 4-1 victory over Wake Forest last season, and has won the opening conference series in each of its six seasons in the ACC. This is the second straight season the Cardinals have opened up ACC play away from home.
· The Louisville pitching staff holds a team ERA of just 2.38 through seven games. The Cardinals have four pitchers who have made multiple appearances that have yet to yield an earned run this season.
· The Cardinals have been among the best in the country in strikeouts per nine innings, ranking sixth in 2019 and seventh in 2020. UofL pitchers have struck out 95 batters through eight games and have at least eight strikeouts in each game.
PLAYER NOTES
· Cameron Masterman had his second straight strong weekend to open the 2021 season, reaching base nine times in three games against Western Illinois. The junior currently ranks near the top of the ACC in home runs (2nd), on-base percentage (2nd), walks (4th), slugging (4th), batting average (4th) and total bases (7th).
· Henry Davis has been the most consistent hitter for the Cardinals through eight games, picking up at least one hit in every game so far. Davis is currently hitting .407 and ranks third in the ACC with 10 RBIs. The catcher also ranks second in the conference with five stolen bases after having just one through his first two seasons at Louisville.
· Michael Kirian took the ball as a starter against Western Illinois for the first time since the 2018 season. The southpaw tossed four scoreless innings, extending his scoreless streak to 12 innings. Kirian’s last run allowed was a solo homer in the ninth inning against Auburn in the College World Series on June 18, 2019. Since the start of the 2019 season, Kirian has a 1.25 ERA in 43.1 innings with 57 strikeouts and just 12 walks.
· Adam Elliott made 67 relief appearances across his first four seasons at Louisville before taking the ball to start the second game of the series against Bellarmine. Elliott has yet to allow an earned run in eight innings this season. He now sits atop Louisville’s career ERA leaderboard (minimum of 50 innings since records are available in 2000) at 1.72 over his 94 career innings.
· Luke Smith has won each of his first two starts this season, allowing just one run in each of those starts. Smith is now 11-1 for his Louisville career, including a 5-0 mark and 3.03 ERA in his six starts over the last two seasons.
· Kaleb Corbett has made a massive impact in his first season with the Cardinals. The right-hander has made three relief appearances, tossing 6.1 scoreless innings with just two hits allowed and 11 strikeouts. Corbett earned the win against Eastern Kentucky and then went the final 3.1 innings in the finale versus Western Illinois for his first career save.
