By Charlie Leffler
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance and on this 2002 holiday the Louisville baseball team was certainly given something to commemorate the day. It was on this day that the Cardinals were told they were going to a place where no other U of L baseball team has gone: The NCAA Regioinals.
To say that it was a long time coming would be an understatement. In the 93-year history of U of L baseball no other team had ever made it into the NCAA tournament.
On Friday, May 31, the No. 3 seed Cardinals (39-16) will face the No 2 seed Georgia Bulldogs (30-27) at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Louisville made it into the tournament as an at-large bids and if they win will face the winner of the Georgia Tech vs Coastal Carolina game.
This year’s Cardinal team had a lot going for it. Head Coach Lelo Prado was named C-USA coach of the year and will also coach the USA National Team this summer. Rightfielder Mark Jurich was named to the C-USA first team while first baseman Morgan Bojorquez, DH Ken Tirpack, and pitcher Zach Jackson were selected to the second team. Jackson, a freshman, tied the school record for wins in a season with 10 victories and was also named to the All-Freshman team.
The team gathered in their locker room on Monday afternoon to watch the selection show together. And even though the players were hopeful that they would pick up an at-large bid, there were nervous moments as the selections were announced.
Going into last weekend, Louisville thought that they had a bid locked up. They were ranked 25th in the country and were entering the C-USA tournament as the number two seed. But then back to back losses in the first two days of the tournament sent the Cardinals home with doubts. They thought that they may have blown their chance to make it to a Regional.
Speculation had four teams from Conference USA making the field this year and the players watched as first South Florida made the cut, then Tulane and Houston were announced. With conference tournament winner ECU still waiting in the wings, the Cards were on edge, doubtful that five C-USA teams would be selected. As the commercials played several players called out, “just get on with it. Show the teams.”
“We got really nervous when that happened,” said Bojorquez. “But we played a good season all along and we were just hoping that 39-16 would get us in. There was still doubt in my mind because of our poor showing last weekend in the conference tournament.”
“I was real nervous after seeing a few other teams go from our conference” said Jurich. I knew our conference was good, but I didn’t know how many team we were going to be able to get in. My stomach was in a knot while we were in there waiting. That element of surprise is part of the whole thing. Waiting to find out if we make it or not.”
Finally, in the second half of the show the name Louisville appeared on the screen and the room erupted in cheers.
Prado said that even though the number of slots was disappearing he still had no doubt that they were in. “I think we deserved it. We won 21 conference games, we were second in our conference which was one of the top conferences in the country. Our young men put us in a tremendous situation. We played terrible in the conference tournament but now we get a chance. ”
“This is the best feeling I’ve ever had,” said Jurich, “it’s great to be able to be a part of something so special, to be able to be the first team in U of L history to play in a regional tournament. This is the best experience I’ve had baseball-wise.”
“Everybody today was pretty anxious,” Bojorquez. “Everybody was nervous and it was nerve-racking, but we got in.”
This year’s Cardinal team already has the distinction of being the best team ever by setting a school record 39-wins, but Prado said, “we’re not done yet.”
After the disappointing losses in the conference tournament the players felt that they learned something about themselves. “I think that we got really humbled after that experience,” said Bojorquez. “Now we’ve got to go out there just to show ourselves that we are a good baseball team.”
As the coach spoke to his team after the selections he made one item perfectly clear. “Georgia pays for what we did last weekend,” Prado told his team. “If you don’t come out with enthusiasm now boys, hang it up.”
The Cards have faced hostile environments throughout the season, so going to Atlanta to play the Bulldogs in a sold out stadium should not prove too distracting. “Hopefully the Georgia Tech fans will be for us because they hate Georgia. We’ve played before some nasty crowds at Tulane and East Carolina so we’re used to it. We’ve just got to play baseball and if we do that I think that we can take care of business.”
“I’m not worried about the other team,” said Prado, “if we don’t come out and play we’re in trouble.”
“I think everybody realizes now what we need to do,” said Jurich.
Bojorquez also feels that it is not a matter of who Louisville plays, but how they play. “If we play our best we can beat anybody. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Georgia was 15-15 in the SEC and have lost 10 of their last 12 games including seven straight.
Only a limited number of tickets will be available for Louisville fans and will go on sale at the U of L ticket office on Tuesday morning. For information call 502-582-5151.
