Hittin' and Pitchin'...Baseball Takes Over Louisville again this weekend -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NCAA REGIONAL AT PATTERSON THIS WEEKEND

The ping of the bat, the pop of the mitt. The chants of the crowd and the conferences at the mound. It's the big show in town this weekend and Cardinal fans of all ages, interest levels and occupations will flock to Jim Patterson Stadium this weekend to watch UofL try to best their three guests and advance to the Super Regionals. Hats on backwards and inside out. Al Greener playing the organ. Beautiful weather...something the ACC Tournament would have loved to had on opening day. Keep your eyes open if you go...you'll see plenty of UofL women's student-athletes out there cheering on their classmates. 

NCAA Baseball Tournament time is big time on the corner of 2nd. and Central for the next couple of days. It's pretty much the only Cardinal Athletic event going on this weekend...so let's take a look at it. We know, and I know I'll hear about it. We're a women's sports site. Why are we covering this? We know that plenty of women's sports fans will be there. We're not so narrow-minded and "blinkers-on" that we can't appreciate and laud Dan McDonnell's guys for a few days. 

1) McKay can play. The junior left-handed pitcher and first baseman has been named National Player of the Year for NCAA College Baseball. It's the first time the honor has been bestowed on a Cardinal baseball player. 

He's pretty good. He batted .363 for the season, had 17 home runs and 52 RBI's. On the mound, he went 9-3 with a 2.37 ERA and 124 strikeouts. He was also ACC Player of the Year. He'll be appearing soon in a minor league city for a brief while before donning a major league uniform. Is it too much to hope he ends up in Wrigley Field? Hope springs eternal for us Cubbie fans, you know...

Lincoln logs....saves. 

2) He's got company.  Also named to the First Team All-American squad with Brendon McKay are Drew Ellis and Lincoln Henzman. They're both juniors as well and are probably donning their Cardinal uniforms for their last times.  

Ellis, a hard-hitting infielder who leads the Cards with a .376 batting average. He's got 17 fence-clearers and 18 doubles...so outfields are best served by not playing shallow on him. He's a local kid...from Jeffersonville, IN. You can put him at first or third base when the Cards take the field...usually first when McKay's on the mound...he was first-team All-ACC as well. 

Henzman hails from Lexington, KY and is the door closer. The stopper. The relief specialist that led the nation with 16 saves. Only 32 innings on the season for the righty...who sports a 1.41 ERA. Opposing batters offered a weak .157 batting average against him. his brothers play the game as well....Dalton at MTSU and Cameron at Centre. 

Hiya, Highlander !!

3) First up? Louisville (47-10) will face Radford (27-30) at 6 p.m. tonight. An earlier contest (Oklahoma vs. Xavier) will take place at 2 p.m. Both games will be televised on ESPN3. Limited single game tickets ate still available. Free parking at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium with shuttle services available to the ball pack for the fans. If they win against Radford, the Cards would advance to the winner's bracket to face the winner of the Sooners and Muskies. That game would go at 7 p.m. Saturday...the loser's bracket to play at noon.

Cade McClure will get the start against Highlanders. An unlikely participant for baseball's big dance...Radford had to win four games in the Big South Tournament to get the title and automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. They're one of only three teams with a losing record in the field. 

Certainly, there will be a lot of activity around the south end of the Louisville campus both today and tomorrow. One scheduled event, however, will not be held. It leads to the question...

4) Why Did They Cancel the Women's Football Clinic? 

The annual women's football clinic...scheduled for Saturday, June 3rd. from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Thornton's Center For Academic Excellence....on the south side of Papa John's Stadium has been cancelled. 

We'll bring in #1 Cardinal fan and the revered "Bird Lady" Julie "J.C." Sullivan for our Saturday radio show to take a further look at this announcement. Parking issues? One would think not. They got a lot of asphalt for parking out there at the corner of Floyd and Central.

Join us at www.crescenthillradio.com WCHQ 100.9 FM tomorrow at 11 a.m. for the story and speculation...plus much more on The CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR. 


paulie
xxxxx