Louisville baseball schedule: 3 things to know about Dan McDonnell's team as season starts
Before Louisville’s baseball team headed out for the summer last year, Pittsburgh-based motivational speaker Dr. Kevin Elko presented the Cardinals with two options: They could have the mindset of a lion or a greyhound.
The lion mindset, U of L coach Dan McDonnell recalled Elko describing, is that of a go-getter who doesn’t “have your hand out.” The Cardinals have adopted this as their yearly mantra and are reminded of it with pictures of lions around the baseball facility, including the dugout at Jim Patterson Stadium, the hack shack and even on the back of McDonnell’s clipboard.
“Just a simple message (to) have that focus and desire and hunger, and hopefully it's put us in a good spot,” McDonnell said.
After countless injuries in 2023 and missing a conference tournament for the first time since 1970, Louisville will use the mindset to try to rebound from an uncharacteristic season. That process started in the offseason. McDonnell said the program set out to “win the summer” with players competing in summer leagues before returning to Louisville for fall ball.
“I thought we won a lot of days, won a lot of opportunities and made progress in areas that we felt like we needed to make progress in,” McDonnell said.
U of L is set to begin the 2024 season with a three-game tournament in Tampa, Florida, starting with Indiana State at noon Friday.
Here are three things to know and the 2024 schedule as the Cardinals begin their drive toward the College World Series:
Adding Sebastian Gongora
Louisville added experience to its pitching staff with Wright State transfer Sebastian “Sea Bass” Gongora. The lefty was the 2023 Horizon League Pitcher of the Year, going 10-1. He struck out 89 batters and had a 3.17 ERA over 93 ⅔ innings. Gongora was named a preseason All-American for the Cardinals and is expected to take the mound during the opening weekend.
“Even though he came in here with some, I guess, fanfare, he earned it,” McDonnell said of Gongora. “He earned the respect of the players. Physically, (he's) a big, talented, strong left-handed pitcher. He really took to the system. He took to the growth mindset. You could tell he just wanted to get better, and he just wanted to be coached and pushed and challenged.”
Gongora said part of the allure of coming to Louisville was the chance to compete for a national championship and the fact that “this program plays meaningful baseball year-round.” He joins a pitching staff that returned Carson Liggett, Evan Webster, Riley Phillips and Kaleb Corbett. Liggett is the returning strikeouts leader (64). The junior righty posted a 3.42 ERA in 71 innings, starting 14 games. Of the four, Corbett had the lowest ERA (1.36), going 21 ⅓ innings over 18 appearances.
Deeper group of catchers
During the 2023 season, Louisville had 51 different batting lineups and 43 different defensive alignments in 55 games. Much of that was because of injuries, and catchers were affected the most. Though the Cardinals aren’t 100% healthy now, McDonnell said, they have more depth to lessen the impact.
Besides returning Trinity High School graduate Matt Klein and Will Vierling, both of whom suffered season-ending injuries last year as freshmen and sat out in the fall, U of L added Quincy transfer Luke Napleton from the portal. The Cardinals also signed Zion Rose, George Baker and Tagger Tyson as part of the 2023 high school recruiting class.
“I've always caught multiple guys, two to three catchers just to keep them healthy, keep them strong, keep them fresh,” McDonnell said. “Hopefully, that's an advantage for our team this year.”
Louisville also will have a new starting catcher with two-time leading hitter Jack Payton gone. Napleton, a senior, brings the most playing experience. Vierling and Klein have been in the Cardinals’ system for a year and played in 14 and 10 games, respectively, in 2023.
Bringing back experience
Perfect Baseball ranked Louisville’s 2023 recruiting class as the 10th best nationally, with Rose and left-handed pitcher Colton Hartman among the top 100 recruits. The group will have time to develop because of an experienced returning cast.
Louisville lost its top two hitters (Payton and Christian Knapczyk) but returns plenty of players from last year’s 31-24 finish. Brandon Anderson and JT Benson are the top returning hitters, batting .295 and .288, respectively. Benson totaled six home runs. After hitting a co-team-leading 12 home runs to go along with a .247 batting average, Ryan McCoy also returns to the lineup.
McDonnell spoke highly of Gavin Kilen, a sophomore and the youngest player in the lineup. Kilen batted .265 last year and hit nine doubles, starting in 38 of 46 games played.
“All those hitters that are returning can make huge jumps and just be more consistent, more productive, and allow us to be more balanced,” McDonnell said, "so when a Zion Rose is in the lineup, or Lucas Moore, it's not as much pressure on them. ... Let these older players do what they're supposed to do and let these young guys just play.”
2024 Louisville baseball schedule
Feb. 16: Indiana State#, noon
Feb. 17: South Florida#, 4 p.m.
Feb. 18: UConn#, 9 a.m.
Feb. 21: Xavier, 3 p.m.
Feb. 23: St. Bonaventure, 3 p.m.
Feb. 24: St. Bonaventure, 1 p.m.
Feb. 25: St. Bonaventure, 1 p.m.
Feb. 27: Eastern Kentucky, 3 p.m.
March 1: Youngstown State, 3 p.m.
March 2: Youngstown State, 1 p.m.
March 3: Youngstown State, 1 p.m.
March 5: Morehead State, 3 p.m.
March 8: Northwestern, 3 p.m.
March 9: Northwestern, 1 p.m.
March 10: Northwestern, noon
March 12: Lipscomb, 3 p.m.
March 13: Lipscomb, 11 a.m.
March 15: Virginia Tech*, 6 p.m.
March 16: Virginia Tech*, 1 p.m.
March 17: Virginia Tech*, noon
March 19: Bellarmine, 6 p.m.
March 21: at Wake Forest*, 7 p.m.
March 22: at Wake Forest*, 6 p.m.
March 23: at Wake Forest*, 1 p.m.
March 26: Cincinnati, 5 p.m.
March 28: at Florida State*, 6 p.m.
March 29: at Florida State*, 6 p.m.
March 30: at Florida State*, 2 p.m.
April 2: at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
April 5: N.C. State*, 6 p.m.
April 6: N.C. State*, 1 p.m.
April 7: N.C. State*, 1 p.m.
April 9: at Western Kentucky, 6 p.m.
April 12: Virginia*, 6 p.m.
April 13: Virginia*, 1 p.m.
April 14: Virginia*, 1 p.m.
April 16: Kentucky, 6 p.m.
April 19: at Miami*, 7 p.m.
April 20: at Miami*, 8 p.m.
April 21: at Miami*, 1 p.m.
April 23: Western Kentucky, 6 p.m.
April 26: Clemson*, 6 p.m.
April 27: Clemson*, 1 p.m.
April 28: Clemson*, 4 p.m.
April 30: Northern Kentucky, 6 p.m.
May 2: at Boston College*, 7 p.m.
May 3: at Boston College*, 5 p.m.
May 4: at Boston College*, noon
May 7: at Vanderbilt, 7 p.m.
May 10: at North Carolina*, 6 p.m.
May 11: at North Carolina*, noon
May 12: at North Carolina*, noon
May 14: Indiana, 6 p.m.
May 16: Notre Dame*, 6 p.m.
May 17: Notre Dame*, 6 p.m.
May 18: Notre Dame*, 1 p.m.
*ACC game
#Tournament in Tampa, Florida
Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville baseball: 3 things to know about Dan McDonnell's team
