7th Inning Stretch: Trending Upward (Week 4)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the first time this season, the Louisville baseball program had a perfect week.

The Cardinals easily took down Eastern Kentucky in a midweek showdown, then followed that up with a convincing three-game sweep in a weekend series with Youngstown State. Not only did they go 4-0 on the week, they're now on a seven-game winning streak after dropping their first four games.

A staple of Louisville's current winning streak has been an incredibly explosive offense. After plating just 14 runs over their first four games, the Cardinals have scored 104 runs over their seven-game winning streak, reaching double figures in six of their games in this stretch and plating 15 or more runs in four of them. Of Louisville's 12 players who have played in eight of their 11 games played so far, nine of them are batting over .300, and four are betting .400 or more.

While their pitching staff and defense has certainly had a handful of shaky moments recently, even that has started to turn a corner after a disappointing start. In their current winning streak, the Cardinals have given up more than three runs just twice, and allowed double digit hits just three times.

Of course, a lot of this has to with the level of competition Louisville has faced to start their 18-game home stand. St. Bonaventure is just 3-7 on the season now, and Youngstown State is still searching for their first win nine games into the season.

But on the other hand, it's good to see such a 180 from the team after showing very little promise in their first week-plus of the season. If this team is going to make some noise in ACC play, this was the kind of week that they needed to have.

Plus, Louisville's two non-conference opponents coming up this week are cut from a slightly better cloth, so this week we'll start to see more of what this team is truly like. If we see more of what we saw this week, this team's ceiling will be much higher than what we thought earlier this season.

Last Week's Recaps:

• Game 8: Louisville Defeats EKU, Gets to .500
• Game 9: Louisville Throttles Youngstown State in Series Opener
• Game 10: Louisville Defeats YSU to Clinch Series
• Game 11: Louisville Completes Three-Game Sweep Over YSU

News & Notes

• Louisville remains unranked in of all of the five major collegiate baseball polls.
• Gavin Kilen ranks No. 12 nationally in the NCAA's "Toughest to Strike Out" metric, and ranks No. 9 in triples with two.
• Lucas Moore ranks No. 9 nationally in stolen bases with nine.
• J.T. Benson ranks No. 30 nationally in on base percentage at 0.591, and No. 45 in walks with 12.
• Evan Webster ranks No. 22 nationally in ERA at 0.64.

Home (Jim Patterson Stadium - Louisville, Ky.)

• Wednesday, Mar. 6 at 3:00pm vs. Morehead State
• ACC Network Extra
• 970 WGTK
• Friday, Mar. 8 at 3:00pm vs. Northwestern
• ACC Network Extra
• 93.9 or 970
• Saturday, Mar. 9 at 1:00pm vs. Northwestern
• ACC Network Extra
• 93.9 or 970
• Sunday, Mar. 3 at 12:00pm vs. Northwestern
• ACC Network Extra
• 93.9 or 970

Know The Foe

Morehead State Eagles

Head Coach (school record): Brady Ward (7-4)
2024 Record (conference record): 7-4 (0-0)
All-Time Series Record: Louisville Leads 52-36

Top Performers (Hitters):

• C Ryan Grabosh (9 GP, 8 GS): .448/.528/.621, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 2 BB, 3 SB
• OF Ryley Preece (11 GP, 11 GS): .370/.508/.870, 7 HR, 15 RBI, 2 2B, 11 BB, 7 SB
• INF Colton Becker (11 GP, 11 GS): .435/.544/.717, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 4 2B, 10 BB, 9 SB

Top Performers (Pitchers)

• RHP Luke Helton (3 APP, 3 GS): 2.95 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 18.1 IP, 19 K, 3 BB, .217 B/AVG
• RHP Grant Herron (3 APP, 3 GS): 4.91 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, 14.2 IP, 18 K, 10 BB, .241 B/AVG
• RHP Callum McGill (3 APP, 3 GS): 6.59 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 16 K, 6 BB, .286 B/AVG

Northwestern Wildcats

Head Coach (school record): Ben Greenspan (5-5)
2024 Record (conference record): 5-5 (0-0)
All-Time Series Record: Northwestern Leads 8-6

Top Performers (Hitters):

• OF Griffin Arnone (8 GP, 8 GS): .364/.548/.545, 4 RBI, 2 2B, 1 3B, 9 BB, 4 SB
• C/1B Bennett Markison (10 GP, 10 GS): .333/.364/.429, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 1 2B, 1 BB
• INF Owen McElfatrick (10 GP, 10 GS): .300/.391/.575, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 5 2B, 6 BB

Top Performers (Pitchers)

• RHP Kyle Potthoff (4 APP, 2 GS): 1.50 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 12.0 IP, 5 K, 3 BB, .238 B/AVG
• LHP Nolan Morr (3 APP, 3 GS): 2.95 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 18.1 IP, 16 K, 3 BB, .246 B/AVG
• RHP Luke Benneche (3 APP, 2 GS): 4.15 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 13.0 IP, 8 K, 7 BB, .250 B/AVG

Statistical Breakdown

Rankings and Records:

Hitting:

Pitching:

(Photo via Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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