Louisville Hosts Kentucky Tuesday in Battle of the Bluegrass

Tuesday, April 16

Louisville, Ky.

7:00 PM

University of Louisville

Kentucky

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Louisville huddle before the Lipscomb game.

Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

Louisville Hosts Kentucky Tuesday in Battle of the Bluegrass

April 15, 2024 | Baseball

First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at Jim Patterson Stadium.

By: Stephen Williams

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville baseball team will host Kentucky for the Battle of the Bluegrass on Tuesday at Jim Patterson Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be televised on the ACC Network. Radio coverage will be available on 93.9 The Ville.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS
Louisville lost two of three against No. 9 Virginia over the weekend, winning the middle game of the series.

Tuesday's game will make it 13 of the last 15 for Louisville against a ranked opponent.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday will be the 115th Battle of the Bluegrass contest. Kentucky leads the all-time series 64-49-1 and holds a 35-19 edge in Lexington. The in-state rivals have met in all but two seasons since 1985. The two teams did not meet in 2020 because of the cancellation of the season due to COVID and had both matchups rained out in 2002.

Louisville blanked Kentucky 7-0 in Lexington in the only meeting between the two programs in 2023. Evan Webster, Kade Grundy, Kaleb Corbett, Patrick Forbes, Kayden Campbell and Tate Kuehner combined to allow just four hits in the shutout effort.

TEAM NOTES

Louisville has an .824 winning percentage (168-36) in regular season non-conference games since the start of 2016, including a 139-18 (.885) mark in regular season non-conference home games.
The Cardinals are 96-21 (.824) under Dan McDonnell against teams from the state of Kentucky (Bellarmine, EKU, Kentucky, Morehead State, Murray State, NKU and WKU).
The Louisville offense currently ranks top 30 nationally in batting average, hits, runs, slugging percentage, stolen bases and triples.
The Cardinals have been hit by a pitch 50 times this season, the second-most in the ACC.
Louisville hit just one home run over the first six games, but homered at least once in each of the next 14 contests and 26 of 29. The 14 straight games with a home run was the longest streak for the Cardinals since homering in 15 in a row from April 25-May 18, 2017.
Dan McDonnell has shuffled his lineup through the first half of the season with 13 different position players drawing at least 17 starts. Only two Cardinals (Gavin Kilen, Ryan McCoy) have started at least 30 of the 35 games.

PLAYER NOTES

Zion Rose has been a catalyst in Louisville's lineup as a freshman, especially in ACC play. Rose is hitting .400 against conference foes, the best average on the team. He also leads the team in ACC games in hits, runs, triples and on-base percentage and is second in RBIs and stolen bases. Rose enters Tuesday with a 15-game reached base streak.
Tucker Biven has been rock solid out of the Louisville bullpen this spring, leading the team with a 1.83 ERA in 13 relief appearances. The sophomore has surrendered just four earned runs in 19.2 innings with 23 strikeouts. Biven has closed out four of Louisville's seven wins in ACC play.
JT Benson continues to lead Louisville' charge on the basepaths, leading the ACC and ranking eighth nationally with 23 stolen bases. The senior swiped a career-high four bases in the win over Virginia on April 13 and is 11-for-12 in conference play. Benson is just seven shy of becoming the 10th player in program history to swipe 30 bags in a season.
Ryan McCoy has shown off elite power in his two seasons at Louisville, having led the team with 12 home runs in 2023. His power was on full display in the weekend series against Virginia, as he launched a pair of homers in the Saturday game before adding another in the finale on Sunday. McCoy's first home run of the weekend traveled 482 feet, the longest home run measured by Trackman hit by a Louisville player since data became available in 2019. McCoy also hit a 480-foot homer at Duke in April of 2023.
Gavin Kilen has taken his offensive production to another level during his sophomore season. Through 33 games, Kilen is hitting .357 with 23 extra-base hits. Kilen did not hit a home run in his first 57 collegiate games before tallying his first against Morehead State and homering five times in a eight-game stretch. He hit for the cycle in the series opener against Virginia Tech, becoming the first Cardinal to do so since Alex Binelas in 2019. Kilen is tied for the ACC lead in doubles, third in triples, and ranks top 25 in batting average and total bases.
Eddie King Jr. has stepped up his play against ACC competition. The junior is hitting .343 in conference play as opposed to .277 in non-conference action. King ranks second on the team in batting average and RBIs (10) in ACC play.
Jared Lessman joined the Cardinals after a pair of seasons at Iowa Western CC. He allowed three runs while recording just three outs in his first two appearances in a Louisville uniform. However, he locked it down over his next nine trips to the mound, giving up just one earned run over 14.1 innings. Lessman pitched scoreless relief outings of three innings each against Virginia Tech and NC State.