7th Inning Stretch: Keg of Nails, Baseball Style (Week 7)

After a .500 week, the Cardinals stay on the road in an attempt to bounce back against both the Bearcats and Wolfpack.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Compared to the week before, last week was a disappointing one for the Louisville baseball program.

Things started off on the right note with a 15-8 demolition of Western Kentucky in the midweek, but that was then followed up with a series loss at Notre Dame in their first true road games of the season. It marked the first series loss to the Fighting Irish since 2009.

All of a sudden, a team that had just fired off an 11-game win streak to improve to 16-1 has now split their last six games. It's not hard to spot why the Cardinals has ran into a bump in the road over the past couple weeks.

Over their first 13 games of the season, Louisville was averaging 9.0 runs per game. Towards the end of that stretch, the pitching staff was starting to catch up to their offense, and the Cardinals were starting to resemble a juggernaut.

But in their last 10 contests, the offense has taken a big step back, putting up 6.2 runs per game during that stretch. Pitching still going strong for the most part, but the batters aren't capitalizing on key opportunities in key moments.

Fortunately, it's still very early in the season, so there is time to work out some of these kinks at the plate. However, Louisville needs to fix these issues sooner rather than later. In the meantime, the Cardinals have a date with both rival Cincinnati and NC State this week as they continue their road trip.

Last Week's Recaps:

• Game 20: Louisville Out-Slugs WKU in Midweek Matchup
• Game 21: Louisville Drops Series Opener at Notre Dame
• Games 22, 23: Louisville Splits Doubleheader at Notre Dame to Drop Series

News & Notes

• Out of the six major collegiate baseball polls, Louisville ranks as high as the No. 8 team in the nation, courtesy of Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
• Shortstop Christian Knapczyk ranks 11th in the nation in hit by pitches with 12, and 26th in stolen bases with 14.
• LHP Greg Farone ranks 24th in the nation in strikeouts per nine innings at 13.86.
• RHP Carson Liggett ranks 23rd in the nation in in earned run average at 1.76.

The Week Ahead

Away (UC Baseball Stadium - Cincinnati, Oh.)

• Tuesday, Mar. 28 at 6:00 p.m. at Cincinnati
• ESPN+
• 93.9 The Ville and 970 WGTK

Away (Doak Field at Dail Park - Raleigh, N.C.)

• Friday, Mar. 31 at 6:00 p.m. at NC State
• ACC Network Extra
• 93.9 The Ville and 970 WGTK
• Saturday, Apr. 1 at 4:00 p.m. at NC State
• ACC Network Extra
• 93.9 The Ville and 970 WGTK
• Sunday, Apr. 2 at 12:00 p.m. at NC State
• ESPN2
• 93.9 The Ville and 970 WGTK

Know The Foe

Midweek

School: University of Cincinnati
Nickname: Bearcats
Location: Cincinnati, Oh.
Total Enrollment: 28,910
Head Coach (school record): Scott Googins (130-138)
2023 Record (conference record): 11-14 (0-0)
All-Time Series Record: Louisville leads 102-94

Top Performers (Hitters):

• INF Ryan Nicholson (24 GP, 23 GS): .315/.388/.609, 6 HR, 17 RBI, 7 2B, 11 BB
• C Alex Jones (19 GP, 16 GS): .311/.427/.525, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 4 2B, 10 BB
• RHP/UTIL Landyn Vidourek (19 GP, 18 GS): .290/.424/.406, 2 HR 13 RBI, 2 2B, 15 BB, 4 SB

Top Performers (Pitchers):

• RHP Chase Hopewell (6 APP, 6 GS): 3.95 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 27.1 IP, 23 K, 11 BB, .265 B/AVG
• RHP Mitch White (8 APP, 0 GS): 3.60 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 10.0 IP, 11 K, 5 BB, .289 B/AVG, 2 SV
• LHP/1B Tommy O'Connor (6 APP, 0 GS): 3.86 ERA, 2.46 WHIP, 9.1 IP, 11 K, 14 BB, .243 B/AVG,

Weekend

School: North Carolina State University
Nickname: Wolfpack
Location: Raleigh, N.C.
Total Enrollment: 26,505
Head Coach (school record): Elliott Avent (979-578)
2023 Record (conference record): 17-7 (3-6)
All-Time Series Record: Louisville leads 17-5

Top Performers (Hitters):

• C Jacob Cozart (20 GP, 17 GS): .403/.500/.716, 4 HR, 21 RBI, 9 2B, 11 BB
• OF Trevor Candelaria (19 GP, 19 GS): .351/.438/.636, 4 HR, 24 RBI, 8 2B, 8 BB
• INF Payton Green (24 GP, 24 GS): .320/.395/.630, 8 HR, 30 RBI, 7 2B, 13 BB

Top Performers (Pitchers)

• LHP Dominic Fritton (6 APP, 6 GS): 1.20 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 30.0 IP, 33 K, 9 BB, .178 B/AVG
• RHP Matt Willadsen (6 APP, 6 GS): 1.73 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 36.1 IP, 36 K, 10 BB, .186 B/AVG
• RHP/INF Sam Highfill (9 APP, 0 GS): 3.05 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 20.1 IP, 21 K, 2 BB, .235 B/AVG

Statistical Breakdown

Rankings:

	Cincinnati	NC State	Louisville
D1Baseball Ranking	NR	NR	11th
RPI	176th	12th	41st
SOS	177th	13th	118th
Home Record	6-3	12-3	15-2
Away Record	5-9	5-4	1-2
Neutral Record	0-2	0-0	3-0

Hitting:

	Cincinnati	NC State	Louisville
Base on Balls	31st (132)	69th (120)	108th (111)
Batting Average	261st (.240)	24th (.314)	40th (.308)
Hits	198th (188)	14th (269)	65th (237)
Home Runs	76th (29)	18th (45)	105th (25)
On Base Percentage	155th (.374)	40th (.412)	31st (.418)
Runs Per Game	161st (6.4)	25th (8.6)	62nd (7.8)
Slugging Percentage	203rd (.399)	15th (.554)	53rd (.492)

Pitching:

	Cincinnati	NC State	Louisville
Earned Run Average	204th (6.56)	25th (3.88)	16th (3.46)
Hits Allowed/9 Innings	183rd (10.09)	44th (8.09)	12th (7.14)
Strikeouts Per 9 Innings	165th (8.6)	88th (9.4)	31st (10.6)
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio	217th (1.52)	14th (3.03)	40th (2.57)
WHIP	218th (1.75)	15th (1.24)	16th (1.25)
Walks Allowed/9 Innings	236th (5.68)	11th (3.11)	82nd (4.12)

(Photo via Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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