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Heading Into NCAA's, Louisville Aiming to Bounce Back From Bumpy Regular Season End

Originally posted on Louisville Cardinals on SI
By Matthew McGavic | Last updated May 27, 2025 11:00 AM ET

Postseason baseball for the Louisville baseball program has finally returned. After not hearing their name called during Selection Monday in 2023 and 2024, the Cardinals were selected to participate in the 2025 iteration of the Big Dance.

While Louisville is not hosting a Regional like they were in 2022 during their last trip to the NCAA's, they at least won't have to go very far. Receiving a No. 2 seed, the Cards were assigned to the Nashville Regional, which of course is hosted by rival Vanderbilt. East Tennessee State and Wright State were also placed in the regional, and UofL will open the postseason against ETSU this Friday at 2:00 p.m. EST.

"Really happy for our players," head coach Dan McDonnell said. "As I told them, they earned this. There's 307 Division I baseball team, so to be one of the 64 is put you about the 20th percentile. Very happy for the families, and our fan base that we have a short trip down to Nashville. We're looking forward to it."

That being said, Louisville is not exactly heading into the NCAA Tournament riding a massive wave of momentum. The Cardinals have lost seven of their last 10 games, including a one-and-done upset loss to Pitt in their first game of the ACC Baseball Championship. Not to mention that they went just 15-15 in regular season ACC play, and 4-6 in ACC series for the year.

Following their early exit at Durham Bulls Athletic Park and a long bus ride home, Louisville wasted little time trying to right their wrongs. Not only their 13-11 loss to the Panthers, but how they had been playing overall as of late.

"We got off the bus, we walked into this Omaha Room and we met," McDonnell said. "We had a heart-to-heart, and we wanted to get some things out on the table, or put it behind us just to get them mentally and physically prepared for a great week."

Louisville's immediate willingness to try and get in front of their issues was not some overreaction. Even before their current two-week skid, the Cardinals certainly had shown some cracks. For starters, their team ERA of 5.72 is 12th in the ACC and 122nd in Division I. While they have a prolific offense, it has been woefully inconsistent at times. For example, in their final road ACC series at Georgia Tech, Louisville put up 16 runs in game one (including 14 runs in one inning alone), only to plate one run over the next two games.

That all being said, McDonnell has been pleased from the preparation he has seen out of his squad since they got back from the ACC Baseball Championship. He also made sure to remind his squad that, just because you didn't make a deep run in your conference tournament, doesn't mean you can't make one in the NCAA Tournament.

"We came out Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and had a good weekend," McDonnell said Monday. "Today's a day to get the body right and the mind, and then we'll get back out on the field tomorrow and Wednesday before we head down to Nashville. So I really like our preparation.

"I told the guys, and there's a lot of history in college baseball. There's a lot of teams that exit early (in conference tournaments). I think our five trips to the College World Series, I don't think we ever won the conference tournament. There was a year or two where we went 0-2, and came home, and ended up making a run to Omaha. There's a lot of precedent set as to: you don't have to finish great, but there are things that it forces you to address and hopefully get better at."

On top of that, while McDonnell and Louisville would have loved to win an ACC title, the extra time to not only prepare for the NCAA's, but simply recover physically is a massive boost. Why? The Cardinals have been a team decimated by injuries.

Right-handed pitcher Patrick Forbes, plus outfielders Eddie King Jr. and Garret Pike and others having missed some time during the regular season. Catcher Matt Klein just made his return to action vs. Pitt after missing two months with a broken arm, and there have been other injuries at catcher as well. Shortstop Alex Alicea is day-to-day after re-aggravating a thumb injury. Right-handed pitcher Parker Detmers was pushing to make a postseason return, but has been shelved for the 2025 season.

Sure, injuries are bound to happen and everyone is dealing with them in some capacity. But they played a big role as to why Louisville was not more successful during the regular season, and getting the extra few days off could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

"We don't ever make a lot of excuses about the injuries, but people are aware. ... We were going on fumes, but we weren't our best the last few weeks," McDonnell said. "I do believe there's a physical opportunity to get the bodies and legs underneath you, but also the mental aspect. I mean, those games, there's a lot of stress, there's a lot of emotion, and there's highs and there's lows. Sometimes it's just real healthy to step away and take a breather."

Those extra few days to reset both physically and mentally could prove to be of utmost importance considering the competition in the Nashville Regional. Vanderbilt not only went 42-16 and won the SEC Tournament, they were declared the No. 1 overall national seed for the tournament. At 41-15, East Tennessee State won both the Southern Conference regular season title and conference championship. Wright State did the same thing in the Horizon League at 38-19 overall.

"We have familiarity with Vanderbilt, because we play them every year," McDonnell said. "We have a lot of respect for their program and the tradition, and they've earned the right to host and be a national seed. But I'll make sure these guys and their intentions are on East Tennessee State. They've had a great year, they've been consistent all the way through. Win or lose, you're playing one of the other two opponents, and Wright State is a regular in the NCAA's as well as Vanderbilt.

"It's a super talented regional. A lot of familiarity with the teams. It's very regionalized with where everybody's from, so I think that's cool for the fans, and the families, and all the friends."

But while Louisville has certainly been inconsistent this season, they have long proven that they can go toe-to-toe with top flight competition. The Cardinals are 12-14 against Quad 1 competition, which is tied for the 10th-most in Division I, and their most since 2022. They're also 6-2 against the top nine national seeds in the NCAA Tournament, and have already taken down Vanderbilt once this season - a 5-4 decision back on May 6 at Jim Patterson Stadium.

"The good news is that these are the 64 best teams, and we played our best, it seems, against the best competition," McDonnell said. "I'll remind our players of that, just to make sure that their belief is up in their confidence in their ability."

When it comes time to get their NCAA Tournament run started, Louisville's played have seemingly put their past struggles behind them. McDonnell has reiterated that everyone is 0-0 when the postseason starts, and it's a mindset that the players have adopted and embraced.

"We've kind of flushed the ACC Tournament, so now the main focus is just East Tennessee State," Forbes said. "Then we'll go from there, and we'll see what happens with who we play in the next game. But definitely the focus is just East Tennessee."