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Tuesday evening Cardinal news and notes

Lydia Leftin caught every game of the Cards' run to Omaha, and now she's got that College World Series look.

By Mike Rutherford Updated

I_medium Tampa Bay's initial plan with Brendan McKay is to let him both hit and pitch, and then go from there.

I_medium Reluctantly, Dan McDonnell has joined his players and gone blonde for the College World Series.

I_medium Louisville closer Lincoln Henzman became the third Cardinal to hear his name called in this year's MLB Draft. Henzman was taken by the Chicago White Sox this afternoon with the 117th overall pick. Kade McClure was also selected by the White Sox in the sixth round of the draft.

I_medium Two rounds after Henzman, shortstop Devin Hairston was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 174th overall pick.

I_medium DeVante Parker is looking like a different player early on as he gets ready for his third season with the Dolphins.

One second left. The offense has the ball on the 1-yard line and the defense knows the final play of this drive is going to be a pass because a noncontact OTA practice in June isn't going to be decided by a Jay Ajayi belly play.

So Ryan Tannehill takes the shotgun snap and fires to the right front pylon of the end zone.

And DeVante Parker, matched one-on-one against cornerback Byron Maxwell, dives as he keeps his two feet inbounds. And he catches the pass.

One-handed.

Touchdown.

The Nick Saban Memorial Bubble where the Dolphins are practicing erupts in shouting and energy and bedlam.

Offensive players rush Parker as he gets up. And this:

Parker rushes at Maxwell, bodies him up as he did during the touchdown play, and gets facemask to facemask to talk smack to the veteran cornerback.

I am standing two feet from this scene, and there is energy and a tinge of violence coming from Parker.

And I'm wondering, who is this guy?

Because that doesn't look or feel like the DeVante Parker I have seen the past two seasons.

I_medium Fox Sports gives one reason why every football team in its preseason top 25 will surpass expectations in 2017. Louisville's is pretty easy to predict -- it still has Lamar Jackson.

I_medium ESPN lists Jaire Alexander and Trumaine Washington as one of college football's best duos.

I_medium Shirts are here.

I_medium A very early line has Louisville as a 27-point favorite over Purdue for the 2017 season-opener.

I_medium Ballard High School's Jordon Adell, who was drafted 10th overall by the Angels last night and will probably never suit up for Louisville, is the type of person who's easy to root for.

Jordon is very aware of his audience at Newburg. He loves the responsibility of being a role model for these kids because he recognizes he was in their shoes only a few years ago.

"It's really important. It's realizing that, when these African-American middle schoolers, they look on TV and they look at the NBA and it's all African-American guys, they watch football and you've got a lot of African-American guys playing. But they flip to a baseball game and they don't see that many guys who look like them," he says. "They don't see that as being an option for them, just based on the fact that there aren't a lot of guys on the field who are African-American. And it's unfortunate that that's the mindset. And the parents of those kids, I'm sure they see the same thing. They see that baseball is an expensive sport, and there's not a lot of African-Americans playing, so they don't want to jump into that. That doesn't feel safe to them.

"That's what I've gotten out of this. It's, OK, how do we come up with a solution to open this thing back up and say, ‘Look, you guys can come get this sport. This is for you'? Baseball is looking for athletes. Baseball is looking for guys who can run, have the athleticism and have speed. This game pays for that. That's another message I want to be able to send, that the opportunities that baseball has are pretty unbelievable if you look at it. It's unfortunate that some of these families don't see that. So that's definitely one of my goals, to reach out to the African-American, especially the middle-school kids, and just let them know that there's a lot there. There's a lot of work you have to do, obviously, you have to commit to it, but there's a big reward at the end of it."

Jordon's goal, of course, isn't just to push kids into baseball. And it's not to push kids away from football or basketball, either. It's just to make sure they understand they have options.

"My message is really just this: Look at me and the type of athlete that I am, and these kids resemble how I was coming through middle school, a really good athlete who played everything. I played some stuff because my buddies played," he says. "My message to them is, whatever you really want to do, take it and run with it. If it's tennis, and you love tennis, then do it. If you're a bowler and you love to bowl, then do that. But don't play football because your friend plays or your mom said you need to play. And don't play basketball because your brother plays and you feel like that's the only sport for you. Really try to figure out what you enjoy."

I_medium Brendan McKay has been named the Perfect Game/Rawlings national Player of the Year. Golden Spikes, you're on the clock.

I_medium Louisville makes the cut for one of the top high school players in the country.

I_medium All Things ACC says that Deng Adel must emerge as a leader for Louisville in 2017-18.

I_medium What a place.

I_medium Arizona State has signed with adidas, whose CEO says Louisville has the best overall program of all its schools.

It's worth asking if this deal effectively puts ASU in the conversation for the title of Adidas's flagship school. Nike's flagship school, as almost any sports fan knows, is the University of Oregon, alma mater of Nike founder Phil Knight; Under Armour's flagship is the University of Maryland, where Under Armour founder Kevin Plank created the company as an undergraduate football player. (Some argue Under Armour's flagship is Auburn, one of its earliest sponsored schools and a much bigger sports powerhouse.)

Adidas doesn't have any obvious flagship university. Mark King says that's by design.

"I don't know if we look at it that way," he says. "We have Kansas, which is obviously one of the top two or three basketball programs in the country. They're our flagship basketball school. But North Carolina State has been very strong with basketball too, and Indiana. Then we have Nebraska, a historic football program. We have Texas A&M, really great for overall athletics. Mississippi State, same thing, especially baseball. To me, Louisville has the best overall athletics of all our schools."

I_medium She's got his facial expression down perfectly.

I_medium Big Ten commish Jim Delaney wants the league to follow in the ACC's footsteps and move to a 20-game league schedule. Tom Izzo thinks it's going to happen.

I_medium Donovan Mitchell talks about how Rick Pitino got him ready for the NBA Draft process and the next level.

I_medium Logan Taylor gets some ink from the Hillsboro Times Gazette.

I_medium Emmonnie Henderson also gets some love from her hometown paper.

I_medium Cool indeed.

I_medium NCAA.com gives readers everything they need to know about Louisville heading into this weekend's CWS.

I_medium I like the way the San Antonio Express-News is viewing the Louisville-Texas A&M baseball game.

Consider this Sunday's collision between Texas A&M and Louisville in the College World Series a rubber match of sorts among the NCAA's most prominent sports.

A little more than 10 years ago, the Aggies defeated the Cardinals in the NCAA basketball tournament to advance to the Sweet 16. In late December 2015, Louisville toppled A&M in football in the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn.

Sunday's contest, the first in baseball between the programs, has more riding on it than the two previous encounters in the other sports, considering the Aggies and Cardinals already have advanced to college baseball's version of the elite eight — the CWS in Omaha, Neb.

Do it for Edgar.

I_medium If you're following the team to Omaha this week, here's an event guide for you.

I_medium And finally, the NCAA's CWS hub for the week is here.

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