The baseball weekend is off to a humongous start with an announcement from the University of Louisville that expansion of Jim Patterson Stadium will begin June 15th.

The increased seating capacity of 4,000 will make the UofL stadium the largest in the Big East, along with Tom Jurich-style terraces above the grand stand and over the home and visitor dugouts. It also will include an expanded press box and a dressing room for visiting teams.

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If U of L were in the Big 12, the expanded stadium would be tied for fifth largest, behind Texas (6,649), Baylor (5,000), TCU (4,500) Texas Tech (4,368). Oklahoma State has 4,000 seats, Oklahoma 3,000, Kansas 2,500, Kansas State 2,331, and West Virginia 1,500.

Could be relevant some day.

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Dan McDonnell’s team has experienced some major ups and downs in recent weeks. Time to settle in, make some history.

League-leading St. John’s, two games ahead of Louisville, arrives Friday at 6 p.m. for the first of three games in a suspenseful series that could pave the way for a conference championship.

Justin Amlung, 7-3, will be the starting pitcher.

Just once I would like to see a starter given the go-ahead for a compete game. It gets scary when McDonnell goes to the bull pen, which has been shaky from top to bottom lately. The hitting hasn’t inspired much confidence either.

Friday, 6 p.m. ET CardsTV Audio/Video Gametracker
Saturday, 11:30 a.m. ET CardsTV Audio Gametracker
Sunday, 1 p.m. ET CardsTV Audio/Video Gametracker

 

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.