By Morgan Davenport
On Sunday, the Louisville Cardinals punched their ticket to baseball’s biggest show: Omaha.
This is the sixth Louisville appearance in the College World Series and first time since 2019 all because of this spectacular team.
There is major buzz about stand-out Senior, Eddie King Jr. He has brought a whole new level of energy to this team, having 60 RBIs for the season so far and 17 home runs. King had all of Jim Patterson Stadium chanting “Eddie” as he went up to bat, and he returned the energy. His electricity fired up the Cards in game 3 and helped them seal their trip to Omaha.
Lucas Moore is an influential player for the Cards leading in stolen bases with 51 for the season and 48 RBIs. Moore is sixth in the D1 rankings for stolen bases per game and second for stolen bases overall. While only having 5 home-runs for the season, he is an incredible base runner and is quick on his feet.
Patrick Forbes is another important name, having 107 strikeouts for the season and a 4.36 ERA. Forbes leads the pitching rotation and he definitely showed why in game 1, getting the Cards out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning. The momentum grew and he kickstarted the Cardinals for an invigorating win.
The full return of Matt Klein after being out for an injury had an electric affect on the Cards. You can see the energy comeback in the pitchers and the fielders as they plow through the post season.
Zion Rose, Garret Pike, and Jake Munroe have 28 home-runs combined and 160 RBIs combined. They all have had powerful at bats in the post and bring the energy to the field.
There is also a lot of incredible freshman athletes this season as well. Tague Davis leads in home-runs with 18 for his first season as a Cardinal. Ethan Eberle transitioned into the starting pitching rotation having a 4.34 ERA for the season and 53 strikeouts. I can’t wait to watch what they can do in their sophomore seasons and the rest of the post season.
The Cardinals will face Oregon State once again, hoping to keep the momentum going in the first match-up of the College World Series June 13.
As long as the Cards can keep the bats hot and utilze the bullpen as well as they can, they have a high chance of heading to the finals.
This years team has something special about them, Coach Dan McDonnell has curated an incredible group of young men and hopefully he can lead them to their first College World Series win in program history.
