Dan McDonnell's Louisville baseball team took two of three from rival Cincinnati over the weekend, but it wasn't quite enough to earn a regular season conference title, as the Cards (38-18, 19-8) finished a game back of co-champs Rutgers and St. John's.
U of L will be the third seed in this week's double elimination Big East Tournament being held at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn, NY, the home to Single A's Brooklyn Cyclones. The Cards will open with No. 6 Villanova (28-23, 12-15) in the first game of the tournament on Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Louisville pounded the Wildcats twice in the regular season (11-2, 10-3), but fell in the third game in a 1-0 pitcher's duel.
St. John's earned the top overall seed in the tournament by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker, and will open with No. 8 Connecticut, which sneaked into the tournament on Sunday with a win and a West Virginia loss. Fourth seeded Pitt will take on No. 5 USF, and Rutgers gets defending Big East champs No. 7 Notre Dame in the other first-round games. The Irish, who knocked off Louisville 7-0 in last year's title game, are looking for their sixth straight tournament title.
If Louisville gets by Villanova Tuesday morning, then the Cards will take on the Rutgers/Notre Dame winner at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. If the Cards stumble, they'll play the loser of the same game on Wednesday at 10 a.m.