Competitive energy carries Luke Smith on the mound

Senior, selected a team captain, is part of Louisville's weekend starting rotation

Luke Smith pitches with his competitiveness on display, and Louisville baseball coach Dan McDonnell isn’t going to change that.

The right-handed pitcher went 6-1 with a 4.24 ERA in 68 innings last season. One of his best start of the season came against Vanderbilt in the College World Series, when Smith pitched 8.1 innings and struck out 10 hitters.

After a strikeout in the eighth inning against Vanderbilt, Smith shouted back-and-forth with a Vanderbilt hitter and its dugout. Vanderbilt rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to end Louisville’s season, making Smith more so infamous for his outburst caught on camera.

“He is an emotional kid, he uses that sometimes, the chatter from other players and other dugouts to fuel him,” McDonnell said. “He learned you can’t cross the line. That’s part of the growth process.”

Smith kept Louisville’s season alive earlier in June. He pitched 8.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits to earn a win over Illinois State in the NCAA Regional.

“For an up-and-down year with some good starts, some not so good starts, he came out in that Sunday night regional game, a must-win game, pitched a phenomenal start for us,” McDonnell said. “He carried that into Omaha.”

McDonnell doesn’t doubt Smith’s competitive effort when he hands the 6-foot-3 senior the ball. McDonnell prefers players that he has to tone down instead of bringing up.

“The guys that I have been with over the years that I have challenged them to have more emotion, more fire, more gusto, more competitiveness, more juice, more energy, it hasn’t worked as well as well as the guys that are ready to go,” McDonnell said.