Dan McDonnell suspended three games

Louisville baseball coach and certified bad, bad man Dan McDonnell has been suspended for the first three games of the NCAA Tournament for making contact with at least two umpires during the Cards' Big East Tournament loss to St. John's on Saturday.

The incident started when U of L's Drew Haynes was ejected for arguing and throwing his bat after striking out in the sixth inning. McDonnell then came out to argue, returned to the dugout briefly and then came back out and bumped multiple umpires before being ejected. After his ejection he had to be restrained by an assistant coach.

"I'm just trying to stick up for my kid. I thought it was a marginal pitch," McDonnell told Greg Auman after the game. "Obviously, it's a cardinal sin (ed. note: don't say anything). You're not supposed to argue balls and strikes. My kid got thrown out. I went out to argue for him. Obviously, one thing led to another. It's a lot of emotion. It's an elimination game. It is what it is."

McDonnell and Tom Jurich have already issued statements in light of the suspension.

"It's my job as head coach to set the standard for excellence in everything we do in our program," said McDonnell. "I let the emotion of the situation get the best of me, and for that, I apologize to everyone in the Louisville baseball family. Competition brings out the very best and the very worst in people. I wish I would've handled the situation differently, but I will learn from this. I will do everything in my power to prepare this team so that we can continue playing great baseball."

"Dan has accepted responsibility for the matter and is truly apologetic," said Jurich. "He has done a terrific job guiding our baseball program and in this one extremely rare situation, I know he regrets the incident. His focus now is on preparing our team for the weekend."

Louisville could play as many as five games this weekend during the regional tournament they are hosting.