The Cards Look to Bounce Back in Their Second Midweek Contest
Early-season baseball is an enigma. Some teams are pre-wired to perform early, like the wrecking balls that are UCLA, Texas and LSU. So many things can happen over the course of a season, from injuries (see: Zion Rose) to unexpected guys over or underperforming.
Since COVID took the 2020 season from us, and the rise of Name/Image/Likeness (NIL) and the Transfer Portal leveled the playing field (but in some cases increased the disparity where teams flush with donor cash can pluck whoever they want from seemingly anywhere they want (see: Gavin Kilen), College Baseball has had a bit of a different look, but so much of the heart and soul is still there. It’s amateur athletics at its peak, and the postseason format is, in my opinion, the best the NCAA has to offer.
Louisville (3-4) has, by all accounts, struggled when it comes to dipping into the bullpen. They’ve had some bright moments (the Nebraska game comes to mind), but the inability of teams in the last several years to close the door on opposing offenses directly led to missing the postseason in 2021 and then back-to-back in 2023 and 2024. The flip side to that frustrating coin was last season, where the bullpen became the bright spot in the regional, and complimented the offense en route to upsetting #1-Overall Seed Vanderbilt, and banging the door shut on Miami in the Supers. This 2026 edition of the Louisville Cardinal Nine is seeing some of those same tendencies in this young season, along with an offense that often doesn’t struggle to get ’em on or get ’em over, but getting ’em in seems to be an issue.
Complimentary baseball is an oft-used phrase when it comes to the offense picking up the pitching, and vice-versa. Starting with this week’s Midweek tilt versus Eastern Kentucky, Louisville has an opportunity to kick off 14-straight home games where they can dial in and focus on making complimentary baseball part of the everyday game plan. To play into and past a Regional, they’re going to have to figure out how to play complimentary as quickly as possible.
The brightest spot from Arlington was both the hitting of Tague Davis, blasting his second and third home runs of the season, recording his first triple, and getting the Beans for Bean Bean Counter rolling (we sit at eight).
A Chance to Rebound
Eastern Kentucky (2-5), under new head coach Jan Weisberg, comes into Jim Patterson Stadium on Wednesday after being swept by Dayton, and being outscored in the series 32-17 by the Flyers. Their wins on the season came in their Midweek contest against Northern Kentucky, and in one of their three opening-series games versus Alabama State. Both of their wins have seen the Colonels score double-digit runs, but their losses have been relatively ugly. In those five losses, they’ve given up 51 runs, an average of 10.2 runs per game to their winning opponents. Needless to say, the Cards’ offense has every shot to replicate their output that they showed against Xavier. Ideally, while limiting the offense of the Colonels and having Peter Michael and the bullpen gain a lot of confidence in the process.
EKU is led by a trio of guys batting over .300 in redshirt freshman Designated Hitter Dylan Littlefield (.414), senior Shortstop Pedro Moreno (.345), and junior Catcher Silas Shaffer (.318), but have a powerful bat in Junior Right Fielder David Alvarez (.267) as well. Littlefield has four of the team’s six home runs, with Alvarez and redshirt freshman Khaleel Pratt slugging the other two. Alvarez also has the team’s only triple.
The Colonels started freshman Cooper Pumphrey in the midweek game versus Northern Kentucky, who was chased after 0.2 innings of work. In all, EKU used 10 pitchers to get the job done against the Norse. Junior Anthony Scarpino (1-0) got the win in that one, striking out all three batters in the 1.0 innings he pitched, but also giving up two hits, an earned run, a walk, and a wild pitch. Senior Jack Bell earned the save (1).
Who takes the mound against Louisville tomorrow is a guess, but it could be another ‘Johnny Wholestaff’ day (to quote Sean Moth) of which hopefully the Cards can take advantage.
Statistical Head-to-Head
Louisville, statistically, is the better team and has every opportunity to right the ship after a disappointing weekend in Texas. The Cards have been better against better competition, despite feeling like three of their losses were ones that slipped away. Leaving guys on base, tossing pitches that leave the yard, and falling behind in counts whether on the mound or at the plate are things that can be remedied. This team could very easily be 5-2, and none of the issues I mentioned at the top of this article are rearing their heads. There is still plenty of season left, and it continues tomorrow with first pitch at 2:30pm.
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