LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville baseball team opens up the 2022 season with three games in Tampa, Fla. The Cardinals will take on Charlotte at 2 p.m. ET Friday, South Florida at 4 p.m. ET Saturday and Connecticut at 9 a.m. ET Sunday. 93.9 The Ville will have radio coverage throughout the weekend. The Saturday game against USF will be televised on ESPN+ with no TV coverage of the Friday or Sunday contests.

ABOUT THE CARDINALS

The Cardinals enter 2022 looking to rebound after posting a 28-22 record last season and missing the NCAA Tournament for just the second time during Dan McDonnell's tenure.

CARDS SET FOR EARLY TEST

All three of Louisville's opening weekend opponents played in the postseason in 2021, with South Florida reaching a Super Regional. Charlotte was voted as the favorite to win Conference USA this season, while Connecticut is the preseason favorite to win the Big East.

OPENING WEEKEND FEATURES FAMILIAR OPPONENTS

Louisville spent time in the same conference as each of its first three opponents. Louisville, Charlotte and South Florida were all members of Conference USA from 1995-2005. The Cardinals then moved to the Big East, as did USF, where the two joined Connecticut from 2005-13. UofL, USF and UConn all moved to the American Athletic Conference for the 2013-14 season before the Cardinals joined the ACC in 2014-15.

TEAM NOTES

Louisville is 11-4 in season opening games under Dan McDonnell, including wins in seven of the last eight opening games. The Cardinals return three starting position players (Christian Knapczyk, Cameron Masterman and Levi Usher) and 14 pitchers from last season. Twelve different pitchers started a game on the mound for the Cardinals in 2021, seven of which return for the 2022 season. Luke Seed started a team-high 12 games last spring and led the Cards with a 2.64 ERA.

PLAYER NOTES

Ben Metzinger begins the 2022 season healthy after missing the majority of 2021 due to injury. Metzinger started 11 of 17 games for the Cardinals in the shortened 2020 season, hitting .349 with a pair of home runs and eight RBIs. After missing most of 2021, Metzinger started both of Louisville's pool play games in the ACC Championship, going 5-for-11 with three home runs and six RBIs and earned All-ACC Tournament Team honors.Levi Usher has been a terror on the basepaths since arriving at Louisville after one season at Kirkwood Community College. Usher led the ACC with 26 stolen bases and was thrown out just twice. In his two seasons at Louisville, Usher is 37-for-40 in the stolen base department.Cameron Masterman is the most experienced player on Louisville's roster entering 2022 with 76 career games played. The senior started 39 games in 2021, hitting .240 with six doubles and six home runs. Masterman came flying out of the gates, homering in each of the first three games of the season against Bellarmine.Christian Knapczyk moved into a starting role at shortstop nine games into his freshman season in 2021. Knapczyk started 43 games and reached base at least one in 40 of them. He finished the season with a .297 average, nine doubles, three triples and 19 RBIs.Jared Poland and Tate Kuehner have pitched in a variety of roles during their Louisville careers. The duo moved into the weekend rotation during the final week of the 2021 regular season against Miami, making their first career weekend starts in game two and three, respectively.Kaleb Corbett had a strong start to his collegiate career in 2021 working out of the Louisville bullpen. Corbett moved into the closer role for the Cardinals early in the season, picking up four saves while not allowing a run in his first 17.1 innings before missing a month due to injury.

LOUISVILLE FAMILIAR WITH SUNSHINE STATE OPENERS

Louisville returns to the Sunshine State to begin the 2022 season, a common place for the Cardinals to open up. This will mark the seventh time in the last 12 seasons that the Cardinals have started their season with neutral site games in Florida. Louisville is 13-5 in its previous six season-opening weekends in Florida, which includes games against two of its three opponents this season. The Cardinals lost 2-of-3 against UConn in Lakeland to open the 2019 season and defeated USF in their second game of the opening weekend in Clearwater in 2015.

CARDINALS OPEN 2022 SEASON UNRANKED

For the first time since Dan McDonnell's first season in 2007, the Cardinals will not open the season with a top-25 ranking. Louisville was not in the top 25 in any of the six major polls, with its highest ranking coming at No. 26 from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The Cardinals had been ranked in at least one poll every week since 2012 until falling out during the final week of the 2021 regular season. The last time Louisville was unranked to begin a season, 2007, the Cardinals finished the year with the program's first trip to the College World Series.

McDONNELL WINNINGEST ACTIVE COACH IN DIVISION I BASEBALL

Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell enters the 2022 season as the winningest active coach in Division I baseball. Over 15 seasons, McDonnell has a .708 winning percentage in 912 career games, the highest percentage among all coaches with at least five years as a Division I coach. Prior to McDonnell's arrival in 2007, the Louisville program had a .511 all-time winning percentage. During McDonnell's tenure, the Cardinals have made five College World Series appearances, captured 11 conference titles, reached the postseason 12 times and rank second nationally with 646 wins over that span.

CARDS PICKED FOURTH IN ACC ATLANTIC

The Louisville baseball team was voted fourth in the Atlantic Division in the ACC Baseball Coaches Preseason Poll. Florida State, NC State and Notre Dame held the top three spots in the division ahead of the Cardinals. Louisville did receive a pair of first-place votes. The Cardinals had been voted first or second in the ACC Atlantic Division in every preseason poll since joining the league in 2015. Louisville won the Atlantic Division in each of its first three seasons in the conference (2015-17) and then again in 2019.

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