The University of Louisville runs one of the best baseball organizations in college sports. No argument there. And once again, the road to the College World Series in Omaha has a stop in Louisville as Jim Patterson Stadium, 3015 South Second Street, hosts a double elimination regional that begins Friday, May 30th.
The 7th ranked Cardinals (45-15) have some interesting competition. In this regional, they’ll host Kent State (36-21), Kansas State (34-24) and arch nemesis Kentucky (35-23). The opening matchup pits Kentucky against Kansas State at 2pm while the home team faces Kent State at 6pm. From there, winners and losers determine the next games.
The only team in the regional that the Cards have faced is Kentucky and that was a 4-2 home loss. UK was ranked 19th at the time.
Vying for a regional wasn’t as easy as it appeared. On Sunday, May 25, the Cardinals blew their chance to win the American Athletic Conference’s championship tournament with a less than sharp showing against Houston at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Florida. The Cougars blasted 16 hits in the upset. That meant Louisville and Houston both had a claim to a regional tournament.
Luckily for UofL, the selection committee chose to look at the season as a whole when divvying out the regionals meaning Louisville gets the nod. That one game anomaly aside, the Cards own a three game sweep against the Cougars in Houston back in April.
As far as tickets you can get the entire session for $70. If you’re a student, that price drops to $45. With that price, you can see all the games. You can get those now at the Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium ticket office.
On Friday, single game tickets are $10-$15 and available at the Papa John’s at 9am or at Jim Patterson’s box office at noon.
All games will be available on ESPN3.
Photo by: Dan Thornberg/Shutterstock [4]