Head coach Dan McDonnell and the Louisville baseball team hosted a pair of competitive scrimmages on Monday and Tuesday at Jim Patterson Stadium during their first week of practice for the 2010 season.
“It was great to get on the field and scrimmage the last two days because there are a lot of teams across the country that aren’t able to get on the field right now,” McDonnell said. “With our playing surface and our ballpark, we’re able to get a lot accomplished. It’s amazing how much you learn about your team when you put them in a scrimmage atmosphere. It’s exciting, but it’s also scary because it shows we have a lot of work to do with the season starting in less than three weeks.”
The Cardinals, ranked 12th in the nation in the Rivals.com and among the top 20 in every major preseason poll, hosted an eight-inning scrimmage on Monday and a six-inning scrimmage on Tuesday afternoon. The two scrimmages allowed the Louisville players to work on numerous game situations and provided the coaches with an early look at the team’s progress since the fall.
“We had some good innings on the mound, some good innings at the plate and some good innings in the field over the last two days,” McDonnell said. “However, we know we still have a long way to go to be able to put everything together to be the type of team we think we can be this year.”
Louisville will open the 2010 season against Bowling Green on Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. ET at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cardinals and Falcons will meet in a three-game series with game two set for Feb. 20 at 1 p.m., and game three scheduled for Feb. 21 at 1 p.m.
The Cards enter 2010 as the preseason favorite to win their second straight BIG EAST Conference title. Louisville swept the BIG EAST regular season and tournament titles in 2009 and finished the season ranked 15th overall after advancing to their second NCAA Super Regional in three seasons. Louisville returns seven position starters for 2010, including All-American third baseman Phil Wunderlich, along with most of the pitching staff from their 2009 squad, which finished with a 47-18 record overall.
Wunderlich led the Cards in hitting in 2009 with a .367 average, was second on the team with 18 home runs and 78 RBI and was third on the team with 18 doubles en route to being named Second Team All-America by the NCBWA and Second Team All-BIG EAST. Louisville also welcomes back All-BIG EAST performers Andrew Clark (senior first baseman), Adam Duvall (senior second baseman) and Thomas Royse (junior right-handed pitcher) for 2010.
In McDonnell’s three seasons in Louisville, the Cardinals have made three straight NCAA appearances overall, two NCAA Super Regional appearances and one College World Series appearance. Louisville also ranks sixth nationally with 135 wins over the last three seasons for an average of 45 victories per year.
