Where have you gone University of Louisville baseball?
A point of pride for the school for most of Coach Dan McDonnell’s 18th seasons, serving as a reliable buffer for UofL fans against the ups and downs of the athletic department, the unpredictable football seasons, the deflating basketball seasons in both the men and women’s segments.
McDonnell, the third most successful active college coach coming into the 2024 season with a .698 winning percentage. Five trips to the College World Series, nine Super Regionals, 13 Regional appearances, and 10 regular season conference championships. Having coached more than 100 Major League Baseball draft picks.
Nice while it lasted. Those days are a fading memory with the way things have gone the last couple of seasons.
The 2023 baseball Cardinals paled with their predecessors, managing only a 31-24 won-lost record, failing to even make it into NCAA post-season play for the first time in McDonnell’s tenure at Louisville. The 2024 edition of UofL baseball is not much better, currently with a 21-15 record. A brief respite from the doom and gloom, with a three-game sweep against North Carolina State a week ago. But after the Virginia siries, the Cardinals are 7-8 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, and the pitching staff giving up 63 runs in the past four games.
That, of course, included dishing up 17 runs to arch rival University of Kentucky on Tuesday in a 17-13 loss, that ended a three-year winning streak against the Wildcats.
Like their basketball buddies during the past season, the Louisville baseball fans becoming all too accustomed to the negativity. Knowing things don’t seem to be getting any better.
