By Ed Peak
The University of Louisville had four days to rid itself of a flat performance in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. Monday’s announcement of the Cardinals as the No. 7 national seed in the NCAA baseball tournament provided still more relief.
UofL (43-15) will play Illinois Chicago (29-21) in an opening round game Friday, 6 p.m. at Jim Patterson Stadium. Indiana (36-21) will play Illinois State (34-24) at 2 p.m.
The Cardinals must thank their lucky stars the selection committee took into account the entire season or body of work. Several factors helped the Cardinals get a national seed, including a tough non conference schedule and the fact that eight ACC teams made the field.
The Cards have non conference wins over NCAA invitees Mississippi, Indiana and Cincinnati. Duke and North Carolina State were sweeps in the ACC and two of three series wins over Miami and Florida State. A loss to Vanderbilt, the No. 2 overall in the tournament didn’t hurt their RPI.
Also helpful was Louisville’s recent success in NCAA play.
“I tried to tell them don’t get caught up in the national seed. That’s for the second round,” said coach Dan McDonnell. “You just have to focus on the first round. I think it’s one of the greatest accomplishments in college baseball to be selected to host a regional.
“I congratulated them. Now let’s play good baseball and let’s see who we’re matched up with Friday night. Anything past that your wasting energy and your wasting time. Let’s focus on what we can control and that’s who we play Friday night.”