The University of Louisville baseball team will be traveling practically incognito when it travels to West Virginia this week for a three-game series against the Mountaineers, starting Friday.

Dan McDonnell

The team usually travels to away games on the big black and red University bus, with the big L-O-U-I-S-V-I-L-L-E on the sides and team members decked out in U of L gear. On this and future trips to WV, the baseball team will be on a private coach and team logos will be held to a minimum.

Dan McDonnell says his team was subject to some questionable treatment two years ago on the way to Morgantown. One restaurant locked the front door when the proprietor saw the University of Louisville bus pull up. And while visiting a Subway franchise, they were turned away because the employees told McDonnell they had run out of bread. These and a couple of other uncouths prompted the decision.

“Let’s just say we weren’t received very warmly in a number of instances,” said the coach during a luncheon Tuesday at U of L’s University Club. “We just think it’s best to take a low profile.”

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Josh Richmond’s recovery from a hand injury has taken much longer than expected but there’s a possibility the U of L outfielder could make the trip to West Virginia, maybe even see limited action.

“Josh has been slow to heal,”  said McDonnell. “He’s having the hand X-rayed again this week,” said McDonnell. “If there is significant improvement, we will make a decision on whether he makes the trip.”

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Good thing Adam Duvall hit a home run in the ninth inning of U of L’s 9-7 win over Pittsburgh. McDonnell said Duvall was hurting from a pulled hamstring so badly there was no way he could have run the bases.

“I told him he could hit but couldn’t run,” said McDonnell. “I had a runner ready if he got on. But I also told Adam if he hit the ball over the fence, he could just jog around the bases.”

Duvall responded, “I know, coach, I know.”

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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.

9 thoughts on “Louisville Opts For Low Profile On West Virginia Trip”
  1. Guess it’s time for Papa John’s to start providing the teams on bus trips access to one of their many pizza outlets while travelling.

    They serve Papa John’s pizza in WVU’s football stadium. I wonder how many crust chomping Mountaineer fans realize they are enjoying a slice from a Louisville based company?

  2. That’s who they are, a bunch of people with no respect. I have never had respect for WV. Theyare nobodies and nobody cares about them. Remember this year how they welcomed Rick Pitino cheering Sypher’s name and hitting Pittsburgh coach in the head with a quarter,,,,so is expected from those crazy people

  3. This article is absurd. Laughable, really. They took a whole baseball team to Subway? It was going to take an hour or more to feed them all. And if they were eating at Subway, I have to assume it wasn’t a pre-game meal so was likely late in the day, so the chances that they didn’t have enough bread to make 50 5-dollar foot-longs or whatever it is seems likely. Which would also explain why the other place was closed, because it was so late. Not very many waiters are going to want to welcome in a party of 50 when it is 20 minutes before closing time.

  4. Wow. Eerily similiar to the “Jim Crow” treatment in the Deep South during the 50’s and 60’s.

    How many times have you been to Subway and they’re out of bread?

    We’ll just call the treatment the “Dan Cardinal” and shake our head in wonderment and disbelief that things like this still happen.

    Maybe in addition to going in an incognito bus, the team should wear coal miner gear and carry WVU backpacks.

    Sweep ’em Cards. Winning is the best revenge.

  5. That place is a cesspool and the fans are a disgrace. The only good thing about WVU is that their basketball team creamed yUK in the Elite Eight this year. Go CARDS!

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