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Louisville's Pitching Shines in Nashville Regional

Originally posted on Louisville Cardinals on SI
By Matthew McGavic | Last updated Jun 2, 2025 9:48 AM ET

After back-to-back years of missing out on the NCAA Tournament in its entirety, the Louisville baseball program is now just two wins away from getting back to the College World Series.

Getting assigned the No. 2 seed in the Nashville Regional, the Cardinals were able to pull off a perfect 3-0 run down in the Music City, punching their ticket to the Super Regionals. Louisville knocked off East Tennessee State on Friday, No. 1 overall national seed and host Vanderbilt on Saturday, then completed the sweep with a win over Wright State on Sunday night.

"I'm super proud of this group, these guys sitting up here, and our team, because of what we've been through this year," head coach Dan McDonnell said after the game. "It's fun to be in this spot right now. So very happy, very excited."

Considering the level of baseball that Louisville had been playing at leading into the NCAA Tournament, it's a tremendous feat that they were able to win the Nashville Regional. They had dropped seven of their last 10 games coming into the Big Dance, which included: a five-game losing streak, a stunning home loss to Bellarmine, and a one-and-done showing in the ACC Tournament.

Even before that two week segment, Louisville had shown cracks in the armor at times. Despite earning 12 Quad 1 wins during the regular season, the Cardinals entered the NCAA Tournament with a 35-21 record.

While their prolific hitting had been streaky at times, which undoubtedly played a role in their inconsistent tendencies, the primary culprit had been a pitching staff that had struggled immensely all season long. Entering the NCAA Tournament, Louisville had a team ERA of 5.72, a WHIP of 1.65, and averaged 5.83 walks per nine innings. These marks ranked 122nd, 163rd and 250th in Division I, respectively.

Sure, staff ace Patrick Forbes had to miss some time during the season, No. 2 starter Parker Detmers got shelved just four weeks into the season, and a handful of other injuries popped up. But pitching for the Cardinals has been a sore spot since COVID started - to the point where many fans have long been clamoring for pitching coach Roger Williams to be shown the door.

But during the Nashville Regional, the perceived weak spot for the Cardinals is what nearly single-handedly earned them a spot in their first Super Regional since 2022.

"We've always said that Roger's one of the best pitching coaches in the country," McDonnell said. "It's no secret that the last couple years, it's been tough, and it's not that he's not working hard. I was so proud of him.

"We talked about transformation this summer, and when I'm talking to coaches, or I'm talking to players, lots of times I'm talking to myself. So if I'm asking them to do something, I'm asking myself to do it. It was great to see that transformation. But it's a long year, and there's there's frustrating moments. But man, to get this pitching staff to do what it did, he deserves a lot of credit. I know these guys love him, and he loves those pitchers."

In all three games, Louisville got phenomenal outings from their starters on the mound. Forbes, who is generating day one buzz for the 2025 MLB Draft next month, set a program postseason strikeout record by fanning 13 in the opener vs. ETSU. Allowing only two runs in six innings, the right-hander's start was the catalyst for an 8-3 victory over the Buccaneers.

The next day, converted reliever Tucker Biven got the nod against Vanderbilt. While he didn't put up gaudy numbers like Forbes did, the right-hander still struck out five in 4.2 innings, and gave up only one earned run. Then in the regional final vs. Wright State, true freshman lefty Ethen Eberle tossed a gem, going 6.1 innings deep and striking out 13. Going just five over the minimum, his outing helped fuel the clinching 6-0 shutout win.

"It got easier as (the season) went on." Eberle said. "First started against Boston College, I was pretty nervous kid as a freshman. But throughout the year, it just got easier and easier, and tonight was probably the easiest it's been. Haven't been in a regional before, but being able to pitch in one as a freshman was exciting. No nerves, just pounding the strike zone. That's all you got to do."

But no matter how good the starter is, it's all for naught if the bullpen can't finish the job, and Louisville's bullpen was a major weakness at times during the regular season. However, the bullpen was just as efficient as the starters were down in Nashville. Brennyn Cutts, Justin West, Wyatt Danilowicz and Jake Schweitzer combined for 10 innings of relief, and allowed just one earned run while striking out 14.

Put it all together, and Louisville pitchers struck out 43 batters, walked just nine, and allowed only 10 hits and four earned runs over 27.0 innings. Against three teams that won their conference tournaments, no less.

Not only is the pitching appearing to finally be trending in the right direction, Louisville is finally as close to maximum health with their position players since the start of the season. Catcher Matt Klein made his return to the lineup after missing two months, as did shortstop Alex Alicea and outfielder Garret Pike after being banged up the last few weeks. Add them to a lineup that already features stars like Eddie King Jr., Lucas Moore and Zion Rose, and the Cards - for the first time all season - are firing on all cylinders heading into the Supers.

"I think we're playing our best baseball," McDonnell said. "We're not 100 percent healthy, but we've got basically the lineup we started the year with. ... We're tested. We don't need the stars to line up for us to have success. We can handle the blows, we've been knocked to the mat.

"We like to use our boxing analogies when you come from the same city as Muhammad Ali, and we often talk about getting knocked down on the mat. But man, this team always got up. We got knocked down on the mat more than we wanted to this year, but give them a lot of credit: they got off the mat."

Louisville will face the winner of Monday night's matchup between Southern Miss and Miami in the Supers. Should the Eagles win, the Cardinals will travel to Hattiesburg for the best-of-three series. But if the Canes pull off another upset, they'll host them at Jim Patterson Stadium.

"I coached at Ole Miss for six years, so I can't say they were real nice to me when I was down there in Hattiesburg," McDonnell said. "But it is a fun place to play, and kind of fitting that my first game as a head coach was down there in Hattiesburg in a tournament. But I'm an ACC fan, and so I'd be lying if I said I wasn't rooting for Miami and Chris Dominguez, whether they were coming to Jim Patterson Stadium or not."