The elements may be in place for a grand finish for University of Louisville baseball.
Could the glory road still be continuing at a university that won a national championship in basketball, a BCS bowl in football, and was accepted into a Big Five Conference during the past seven months?
Dan McDonnell, who just won his 300th victory in seven seasons, has his team humming right now, having won 12 consecutive games. His team is one game out of first place in the Big East Conference as the regular season enters its final week. The Cards are 42-10
Guess which team is coming to Louisville this weekend. None other than league-leading Pittsburgh, providing an opportunity for McDonnell to win his fourth conference championship. They will play at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and at Noon on Saturday. Louisville must win all three games to claim the Big East title outright.
A conference championship and success in the Big Tournament could bring another Regional to Louisville, maybe even another Super Regional. What we’ve learned in recent months is to maintain high expectations.
UofL is led in hitting by Ty Young with a .374 batting average, and has six players batting .325 or better. Chad Green and Jeff Thompson lead the pitching staff with 8-2 and 9-1 records, respectively.
Winning is nothing new to McDonnell. In his 24 seasons in NCAA baseball as a player and coach, his teams have averaged 38 wins per season and have advanced to an NCAA Regional in 15 of those seasons, including 12 of the last 15.