Louisville Regional Preview
Baseball America will break down all 16 regionals, including Louisville. Teddy Cahill has the details.
| STAT PACK (National rank in parentheses) |
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| Avg. | Scoring (R/G) | HR | SB | ERA | K/9 | WHIP | Fielding %age | |
| 1. Louisville | .321 (9) | 7.5 (18) | 57 (25) | 92 (19) | 2.85 (7) | 8.9 (18) | 1.16 (7) | .978 (11) |
| 2. Ohio State | .269 (166) | 5.8 (109) | 56 (28) | 98 (13) | 3.09 (12) | 7.7 (83) | 1.21 (13) | .974 (46) |
| 3. Wright State | .283 (95) | 7.2 (27) | 46 (55) | 91 (20) | 3.47 (36) | 6.6 (211) | 1.20 (10) | .973 (59) |
| 4. Western Michigan | .274 (142) | 4.5 (250) | 11 (284) | 29 (264) | 5.81 (242) | 7.2 (134) | 1.66 (241) | .978 (17) |
1. Louisville (47-12, 22-8 in Atlantic Coast Conference)
10th appearance (fifth straight), at-large, first in ACC Atlantic
Top 300 Prospects: OF Corey Ray (7), RHP Zack Burdi (21), RHP Kyle Funkhouser (92), LHP Drew Harrington (122), 3B Blake Tiberi (149), 2B Nick Solak (153), C Will Smith (219)
Season In A Sentence: Louisville entered the season ranked No. 2 in the country and it comes into the NCAA tournament as the No. 2 national seed thanks to a deep, talented roster and a dominating 33-1 record on its home field.
Player To Watch: Kyle Funkhouser, rhp: Drafted 35th overall last year, Funkhouser decided to return to school for his senior year. It was a rocky start to the season for Louisville’s Opening Day starter, and he was 2-3, 5.56 in mid-April and lost his spot at the front of the rotation. But he’s been much better in the second half of the season, going 5-0, 2.48 since reaching his nadir. Louisville will turn to Funkhouser in Friday’s opener and will look to its senior to set the tone for the weekend.
Best Weekend: vs. North Carolina State, May 13-15. It wasn’t always clear Louisville would get a national seed, let alone the No. 2 seed it ended up with. The Cardinals and Wolfpack went into the second-to-last weekend in the regular season back-to-back in the ACC standings and the winner of this series was going to be in the drivers’ seat. Louisville emphatically declared its superiority, sweeping N.C. State and outscoring it 12-3 over the course of the weekend. It was one of the Cardinals’ seven sweeps this season at Jim Patterson Stadium.
Outlook: Louisville wound up with a harder draw than might be expected for a national seed, but this is one of the most talented teams in the country and a team on a mission after a gut-wrenching loss in super regionals last year. Anything less than advancing to super regionals would be a disappointment.
2. Ohio State (43-18-1, 15-9 in Big Ten Conference)
19th appearance (first since 2009), automatic, fourth in Big Ten, won Big Ten Tournament
Top 300 Prospects: OF Ronnie Dawson (53)
Season In A Sentence: After being on the wrong side of the bubble last year, Ohio State removed any doubt this season with a strong finish and its first Big Ten Tournament championship since 2007.
Player To Watch: Nick Sergakis, 3b: Dawson is Ohio State’s best prospect and was named most outstanding player at the Big Ten Tournament. But Sergakis has been one of the Buckeyes most important players this season, as he has gone from batting .250/.352/.330 last year to leading the Buckeyes in hitting with a .344/.461/.564 line as a senior. Ohio State will need another big weekend from its captain.
Best Weekend: vs. Michigan, May 13-15. Ohio State had been quietly building steam for about a month before hosting its archrival. There was nothing quiet about the Buckeyes after that weekend, however. They swept the Wolverines, holding them to seven runs all weekend. The sweep thrust Ohio State toward the NCAA Tournament bubble, though its eventual Big Ten Tournament championship meant it didn’t have to sweat out Selection Monday again this year.
Outlook: The last time coach Greg Beals was in regionals, it was as the head coach of Ball State in 2006, when he led his team to an opening round upset of host Kentucky, the Southeastern Conference champion. He could use some more of that Bluegrass State magic this weekend, but the momentum Ohio State carries into regionals may be just as good. The Buckeyes went 16-4 in May, and won three straight elimination games in the Big Ten Tournament before prevailing in the championship game.
3. Wright State (44-15, 23-6 Horizon League)
Sixth appearance (second straight), automatic, first in Horizon League, won Horizon League Tournament
Top 300 Prospects: C Sean Murphy (63)
Season In A Sentence: Wright State, which reached the final of the Champaign Regional last year, came into the season as the Horizon League favorites and did not disappoint, winning the regular season title by 5.5 games over Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Player To Watch: Ryan Fucci, of: The senior brings a good combination of power and speed to Wright State’s offense. He hit .326/.414/.529 with 11 home runs and 25 stolen bases this season. With all the good pitching in Louisville this weekend, the Raiders will need Fucci to power their offense.
Best Weekend: Horizon League Tournament, May 26-28. Wright State had played its way to bubble territory with a dominating regular season, but a sweep through the conference tournament assured it would reach regionals in back-to-back years for the first time since moving up to Division I. With a 7-2 victory against Valparaiso in the championship game, Wright State won its 44th game of the season, leaving it just one win shy of matching a program record that dates back to 1989.
Outlook: Wright State has held its own against good competition and is 4-5 against top 100 RPI teams – with all but one game coming on the road. And it finally got over the hump in regionals last year, winning an NCAA Tournament game for the first time since 1994. The competition this weekend will be tougher than what the Raiders faced during the Horizon League season, but they’ll be ready to go.
4. Western Michigan (22-32, 11-13 Mid-American Conference)
12th appearance (last in 1989), automatic, fifth in MAC West, won MAC Tournament
Top 300 Prospects: LHP Keegan Akin (116)
Season In A Sentence: Western Michigan got hot at the right time of year, winning four games in the MAC Tournament to upset top-seeded Kent State and claim its first conference championship since 1989.
Player To Watch: Keegan Akin, lhp: Building off a strong performance in the Cape Cod League, Akin dominated this spring and pitched the Broncos into the NCAA Tournament. He went 7-3, 1.46 and struck out 125 batters, shattering the program’s single-season strikeout mark of 99 set by Pat Misch in 2001. Akin gives the Broncos a chance every time he takes the mound, and they are 9-7 in his starts this season.
Best Weekend: MAC Tournament, May 25-29. Western Michigan had won just 18 games going into the MAC Tournament last week. But the Broncos put it all together in Avon, Ohio, and got two strong starts from Akin against Ball State and Kent State, the two division champions. Western Michigan won the tournament as the No. 7 seed, becoming the lowest seed ever to win the MAC Tournament.
Outlook: Western Michigan has the worst winning percentage of any team in the field this year, but with Akin on the mound it can make things interesting. The Broncos have won his last five starts and if they can make it six in a row, they would throw a wrench into the weekend.
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