For Louisville baseball’s title hopes, timing is everything

After an unexpected run to the College World Series, Louisville baseball has a chance to finally defeat their postseason demons.

As is often the case in life, timing is everything for Louisville baseball.

In 2019, the Cardinals are coming off of a season where they once again lost some of their top contributors, including infielder Devin Mann and center fielder Josh Stowers, as well as stud pitcher Sam Bordner.

Reloading after the loss of a group of dynamic contributors is nothing new to Dan McDonnell and the Cards’s coaching staff. Still, it seems near impossible to have half of your starters drafted every season and go out and compete for conference titles and postseason hardware.

Yet, that’s exactly what Louisville baseball does. In his thirteen seasons at Louisville, McDonnell has guided his squad to the College World Series five times, and done so now four times in the last seven seasons.

Over the last decade, no team has recorded more wins than the Cardinal nine, and no team has made more trips to Omaha. Louisville has cemented itself as a college baseball powerhouse in an area of the country where it should be near impossible. Like always though, McDonnell and company found a way, circumventing the problem by poaching Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky for the majority of their top talent.

For Louisville baseball, there’s only one thing eluding the next big thing in college baseball: Success in the College World Series, and in the postseason in general.

In their four previous appearances under McDonnell, Louisville has entered the postseason red hot, only to be sent packing far earlier than their liking.

In 2007- the Cards’s first CWS appearance ever- they lost to Rice, defeated Mississippi State, but then lost to North Carolina.

2013 ended in the blink of an eye after Louisville lost to Indiana and then again to Oregon State.

The same happened again in 2014 when they lost to Vanderbilt and then lost to Texas.

2017 was the first time Louisville entered the winner’s bracket after game one when they beat Texas A&M. However, the Cards could take advantage of momentum as they lost to Florida and TCU.

Each time Louisville has been to college baseball’s biggest stage, it wasn’t a fluke. They recorded at least 47 wins in each season and earned a top 8 national seed in 2017. For one reason or another though, the Cards simply couldn’t get the job done.

Even in earlier stages of the NCAA tournament, Louisville has seen promising seasons come to an end. They were bounced in home Super Regional series in back-to-back years in 2015 and 2016, both times in astonishing fashion.

In 2015, the Cards dropped an extra-innings game to Cal State Fullerton on a controversial home run call that made Louisville fans question everything they know about instant replay, common sense, and general knowledge of a rule book.

2016 ended in even more jaw-dropping fashion when Louisville, as the No. 2 overall seed, was taken out by UC Santa Barbara on a walk-off grand slam hit off of the Cards’s fireball hurling closer Zach Burdi.

As incredible as it has been to watch Louisville amass a 337-116 record since 2012, it’s been equally as heartbreaking watching the nation’s best program over that time span get ousted in unthinkable fashion time after time.

Many Cardinals faithful began to wonder if they were in for disappointment once again in 2019. Louisville squeezed by UIC in game one, and then couldn’t get anything going in game two in a loss to Illinois State.

However, over the next two days, Louisville won three games against Indiana and twice against Illinois State to advance to the Supers where they absolutely clobbered East Carolina two games in a row.

2019 really could be different for the Cards. This season, Louisville got out to an unusually sluggish start. McDonnell and Louisville have earned a reputation for sending a message to the rest of the country early on in the season.

Louisville dropped its first series in over two years when it started out the season 1-2 against UConn. During the season, the Cards showed progress but dropped two series against Clemson and Virginia.

Still, the Cards won their seventh conference title in eight years to earn the No. 7 overall national seed, and they could finally be peaking at the right time.

The 2019 squad doesn’t feature Louisville’s most talented players ever, and aside from emerging ace pitcher Reid Detmers, there isn’t a big-time name on this team. What Louisville does have though is a solid mix of young talent and experienced veterans.

Now, all Louisville needs is a little more fortuitous timing. Given the unlucky scenarios that the Cardinal nine have found themselves in during the postseasons of the past, maybe it’s now Louisville’s year to have lady luck on their side.

The Cards have drawn their biggest rival in No. 2 seeded Vanderbilt. If they can get past the Commodores with a win, the rest of the College World Series field feels beatable.

But, similarly to how the difference between a home run to deep center and a pop fly is a matter of milliseconds, the timing of Louisville’s success in the postseason is constantly weighing in the balance.

Things seem to be operating right on time this season. Though Louisville began slow, they have picked up a head of steam en route to Omaha. The pitching rotation is strong, and the bats are hot. Never before have the Cards so easily marched through a Super regional. Now, they get an extra day’s rest and have a whole lot of good mojo heading into college baseball’s biggest stage.

The Cards are on a collision course with a College World Series title and a national championship. The only variable is time. And in 2019, things have never felt more there for the taking.