Louisville baseball makes a statement against national powers.
The Louisville baseball team has been off to an impressive start to their 2023 season and has kept it rolling through one of the biggest non-conference weekends in school history.
The Cardinals entered the week 6-1 following taking two of three against Bowling Green last weekend. First up on the slate this week was Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium. It was a Cardinal onslaught of the Colonels.
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Cards get going
Following an injury to Justin West, Dan McDonnell and staff have seemingly turned to Kade Grundy to handle the midweek starter duties for the time being and he certainly shined on Tuesday.
Grundy followed up an impressive summer in the Cape Cod League with an equally impressive first start of the season. He would work three perfect innings and strike out two en route to his first win of the season.
The rest of the bullpen was equally as impressive as the Cardinals would blank the Colonels in dominant fashion. Evan Webster, Alex Galvan, Kaleb Corbett, Kayden Campbell, and Tate Kuehner all worked scoreless outings to carry Louisville.
Most notable of that group is Kuehner. He had missed the first seven games of the season due to a left oblique injury but made his return to the mound in the ninth on Tuesday afternoon. He appears fully ready to go with the fastball topping at 94.
It was not just the pitching that was firing on all cylinders against Eastern Kentucky, as the bats once again came to life, scoring early and often.
Patrick Forbes got the scoring started in the second inning with his first collegiate home run and then launched his second one two innings later.
Jack Payton also got in on the home run fun with a three run shot of his own and the rout was officially on.
Brandon Anderson, Haven Mangrum, Christian Knapczyk, and Matt Klein added RBI’s of their own and the Colonels never had a chance as the Cardinals rolled to an 11-0 victory over EKU.
Bring on the competition
This all led up to the weekend that every Louisville baseball fan had circled on their calendars.
The 2023 Shriners Children’s Classic in Houston, Texas has long been one of the premier early season college baseball tournaments and Louisville made the trip for the first time in school history. The three game slate for the Cardinals included; Texas A&M, TCU, and Michigan. All three of which the Cardinals saw in 2022.
Friday began with a revenge game against Texas A&M, who the Cardinals lost to in the 2022 Super Regionals. It was all Cards from beginning to end in this one.
Knapczyk and Payton led off the game with back-to-back doubles and then McCoy followed with a walk to load the bases. All three would come around to score in the first and the foot never left the gas pedal.
Knapczyk would add another run in the second with an RBI triple and two more would come around in the third. Carrying a 6-0 lead into the fifth, Louisville would blow the game wide open, plating eight runs and sending twelve men to the plate.
Ryan Hawks got his third start of the season and continued to dominate as he did in the first two.
Hawks kept A&M batters guessing all night as he struck out eight over six scoreless innings of work. He improves his record to 3-0 on the season and boasts a ridiculous 0.46 ERA to start the season.
The Aggies would avoid the run-rule loss by picking up five runs in the seventh but Evan Webster came out of the bullpen to work the final 2.1 innings and seal the deal on a 14-5 victory, the first ranked win for the Cards this season.
Horned Frogs Down
The second opportunity for a ranked victory would come less than 24 hours later as Louisville was set for a date with No. 10, TCU.
Unlike Friday night, Saturday was a game of who could out-pitch who. State of Louisville/3rd & Central’s own Greg Farone toed the rubber for the Cards, his first start at Louisville since transferring from Herkimer College, and he was phenomenal.
The southpaw from New York worked seven shutout innings, striking out nine, and giving up just two hits. Farone gave way to the bullpen following a lead-off single in the eighth inning. He exited to a standing ovation from both fan bases as well as in line for his first career Division 1 victory.
Runs would be at a premium on Saturday, despite the offense pounding out thirteen hits against the Horned Frogs pitching staff. Jack Payton got the scoring started in the third inning with a two-run blast to right field, his fourth of the season.
Matt Klein would extend the lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning with an RBI double that brought home Gavin Kilen.
Those three runs would be enough for the Cardinal pitching staff as it was up to Tate Kuehner to get the final six outs of the game. Despite allowing a two-run home run, and some traffic on the bases in the ninth, Kuehner held on to pick up his first save of the year en route to a 3-2 victory.
Sweep, Sweep, Sweep
This all set the stage for Sunday. Following two ranked wins already on the weekend, the Cards had a date with Michigan, a rematch of last year’s regional championship.
Unlike last year however, Sunday’s game was not competitive. It was all Cards early and often. After putting up ten runs through seven innings, the game was called due to the mercy rule being in effect.
Once again, the starting pitching led the way for Louisville, this time in the form of Carson Liggett. He worked seven shutout innings and allowed just one hit while striking out seven en route to the shortened complete game shutout.
Liggett put the bow on the weekend for the starters, who allowed just one run across the three games in Houston.
The offense was in full effect on Sunday as well, just as it has been all year.
The scoring got started in the third with an RBI double and then came around to score with an RBI hit from Eddie King Jr. The big blow of the inning came in the form of Logan Beard’s second home run of the year. The three-rum shot capped off a six run third for the Cardinals.
JT Benson launched his first home run of the season in the fifth inning. Benson is one of several outfielders competing for more consistent playing time and he may be emerging as the favorite to get more consistent starts in left field.
Jack Payton had an RBI single in the sixth to make it a 9-0 game, which finally set the stage for the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and needing just one run to walk-off with a mercy rule win, Noah Smith stepped into the box and lined an RBI single to left, capping off a massive weekend in Texas.
The Cardinals went 3-0 on the weekend and took home the tournament championship trophy, outsourcing opponents 27-7.
Riding high from the weekend in Texas, the Cardinal squad returned home for a midweek tilt against in-state foe, Morehead State. Once again, the Cardinals gave their opponent more than what they could handle.
The Eagles came into the game boasting a very respectable 9-3 record. It was no match for a pitching staff led by Kade Grundy and a Louisville offense that continued to fire on all cylinders.
Ryan McCoy kicked things off in the first with an RBI single to right center. Brandon Anderson tacked on an RBI in the second inning, the first of his three RBI day.
Isaac Humphrey, JT Benson, Brandon Anderson, and Christian Knapczyk all had run scoring hits in the third inning before Humphrey unloaded on a two-run blast in the fourth to quickly make it an 8-0 ballgame.
All Gas No Breaks
Haven Mangrum tripled home a pair in the sixth after coming off the bench to replace JT Benson. Anderson finished off the scoring with another RBI hit that drove in Mangrum.
On the mound, it was Kade Grundy that got the nod for his second straight midweek game. He fired off three shutout innings, holding the Eagles to just one hit while striking out five.
Kaleb Corbett, Patrick Forbes, Will Koger, Riley Phillips, and Tucker Biven all turned in scoreless innings as well. Freshman Kayden Campbell allowed the lone run of the day but flashed some very impressive stuff out of the bullpen.
The Cardinals stretch of non-conference play is winding down and the team is right where Dan McDonnell and his staff want them to be. It is all gas and no breaks for this Louisville squad heading into weekend action against Dayton.
Stat Leaders from last Week
Jack Payton
10-19, 2 HR (3,4), 7 RBI
Christian Knapczyk
7-19, 2 2B, 3B
Patrick Forbes
3-8 2 HR (1,2), 2B, 6 RBI
Carson Liggett
W (3-0), 7 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 R, 7 K
Greg Farone
W (7-0), 7 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 1 R, 9 K
Ryan Hawks
W (3-0), 6 IP, 2 H, 4 BB, 0 R, 8 K
Upcoming Schedule
Friday, March 10th-12th vs. Dayton @ Jim Patterson Stadium
Fri.- 3:00
Sat.- 1:00
Sun.-1:00
