LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville baseball team will host Vanderbilt in the annual Battle of the Barrel game Tuesday night at Jim Patterson Stadium. FIrst pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will be televised on the ACC Network. Radio coverage will be available on 93.9 The Ville and 970 WGTK.
CARDINALS LOSE TWO OF THREE AT NOTRE DAME Louisville dropped two of three games of the weekend series at Notre Dame. The Cardinals won the opening game on Thursday night before losing the final two.
BATTLE OF THE BARREL HISTORY The Battle of the Barrel between Louisville and Vanderbilt began in 2012 and has been played every year since except 2020. Tuesday will be the 13th Battle of the Barrel game, with the series tied at six.
VANDERBILT SERIES HISTORY Tuesday will be the 41st all-time meeting between the two programs with Vanderbilt leading the series 28-12. After Louisville won two in a row in 2021 and 2022, the Commodores have won each of the last two years, including a 4-2 victory in Nashville last year.
TEAM NOTES
Louisville has an .818 winning percentage (189-42) in regular season non-conference games since the start of 2016.
The Louisville offense has tallied double digit hits in 27 games this season, going 24-3 in those contests. The Cards notched at least 10 hits 29 times in 2024, posting a 22-7 mark when doing so.
Louisville has scored 10 runs or more in 20 games this season, including 10 ACC contests.
The Cardinals are 31-4 this season when outhitting their opponent and 0-10 when losing the hit battle.Louisville is 26-7 when hitting a home run this season.
Louisville is 22-2 when it limits the opposition to five runs or less and 30-5 when its opponent is kept in single digits.
The Cardinals have eight wins over ranked opponents this season, six of which came against teams in the top 10.
PLAYER NOTES
Lucas Moore has been the ultimate weapon at the top of the lineup for the Cards. Moore leads the Cardinals and the ACC with 71 runs scored, second-most in all of Division I. The speedy outfielder is also pacing the league going 39-for-40 in stolen bases. He also ranks second in the ACC in hits, fourth in triples, fifth in batting average and eighth in on-base percentage.
Eddie King Jr. went on the shelf with an injury just four games into the season and missed nearly three weeks. King returned to the starting lineup for the first time in the finale of the North Carolina series, but he has been red hot since returning. The senior is 34-for-87 (.391) in his last 24 games, with 11 doubles, eight home runs, 26 runs scored and 33 RBIs. King led the Cardinals in home runs and RBIs in 2024.
Jake Schweitzer has become a key cog in the Louisville bullpen in his first season with the Cardinals. Since allowing three runs in his collegiate debut, the Louisville native has surrendered just two earned runs in 25.0 innings (0.72 ERA) across 14 relief appearances. Schweitzer has earned his first three career wins in the last two weeks against No. 20 Western Kentucky, No. 2 Clemson and No. 4 Florida State.
Zion Rose has an exception freshman campaign that saw him hit .380 with 19 extra-base hits and 32 RBIs while finishing with more walks than strikeouts. The 2025 season has seen more of the same but with more damage. Rose is hitting .337 and already has 26 extra-base hits and a team-leading 50 RBIs. The increase in production hasn't affected his plate discipline though, as he has 24 walks and five HBPs to just 26 strikeouts.
