How many times can a season end?
Well, there’s the regular season, which ended with three straight losses for the University of Louisville baseball team. Then there is the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, concluding with still another loss to Florida State.
Two weeks of losing after four weeks of winning 15 games in a row. There were times when it was tempting to wonder whether they would lose again. It would take a former UofL assistant now coaching at Indiana University to end the winning streak.
Here we go with the post season again. UofL selected as the No. 7 seed nationally, hosting its fifth consecutive regional tournament. The way this usually goes is the Cardinals rebound to win the regional only to lose in the last game of the super regional.
Not always, of course, not with Louisville having participated in the College World Series in 2007, 2013 and 2014. But often enough, with the Cardinals being eliminated the past two seasons on heartbreaking home run blasts late in the final game.
The pain of those losses is compounded by tears on Coach Dan McDonnell’s face during the post-game press conferences. A good man, a great coach, with another good team, on the cusp, four or five games away from a national championship. Only to be thwarted again.
Following a 47-10 season during which his team was ranked second nationally most of the year, McDonnell has still another shot at getting to the College World Series again, of competing for a championship.
That’s what it’s all about for McDonnell. He has once again put UofL into a position to contend. Louisville is, in fact, a perennial contender.
Dan McDonnell is way overdue. Ready for the ultimate breakthrough, and he’ll keep coming back until he makes it happen.
Link: Printable Regional Bracket
Go Cards!