Louisville baseball heads to Charlotte with significant work to do

Since making the move to the ACC in 2014-15, Louisville baseball has dominated the conference in virtually every area but one: The postseason tournament. The Cards have never won the event, and have played for the tournament title just once.

In every season before this one, the ACC tournament has been something of an annoyance for Dan McDonnell’s club. The Cards have always been safely in the NCAA tournament, almost always set up to be a national seed, and have been more focused on the regional tournament set to take place less than a week after the ACC crowns its champion.

This year, things are different.

Louisville enters the postseason as the 7-seed for the ACC tournament, and likely needs to do some serious damage to hear its name called on Selection Monday. The Cardinals have lost 10 of their last 14, failed to produce a winning conference record for the first time since McDonnell took over in 2017, and are squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble thanks in large part to a less-than-stellar RPI of 67.

U of L will be a member of Pool B for this year’s ACC tournament, which features a four-pod pool-play format that leads into a four-team, single-elimination bracket to determine the league champion. The Cards will face No. 11 seed Clemson in the tournament opener on Tuesday at 11 a.m., and then second-seeded Georgia Tech on Thursday at 3 p.m.

Here’s the full schedule for the tournament, which will take place at Truist Field in Charlotte:

Tuesday, May 25

No. 7 Louisville vs. No. 11 Clemson, 11 a.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 8 Virginia vs. No. 12 Virginia Tech, 3 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 6 North Carolina vs. No. 10 Pitt, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

Wednesday, May 26

No. 5 Florida State vs. No. 9 Duke, 11 a.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 Virginia Tech, 3 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 2 Georgia Tech vs. No. 11 Clemson, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

Thursday, May 27

No. 4 Miami vs. No. 9 Duke, 11 a.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 2 Georgia Tech vs. No. 7 Louisville, 3 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 3 NC State vs. No. 10 Pitt, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

Friday, May 28

No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 Virginia, 11 a.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 4 Miami vs. No. 5 Florida State, 3 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)
No. 3 NC State vs. No. 6 North Carolina, 7 p.m. (RSN/ACCN Extra)

Saturday, May 29

Pool A Winner vs. Pool D Winner, 1 p.m. (ACCN/ACCN Extra)
Pool B Winner vs. Pool C Winner, 5 p.m. (ACCN/ACCN Extra)

Sunday, May 30

ACC Championship, Noon (ESPN2/ACCN Extra)

Let’s do some damage and make sure that that this season doesn’t end before June gets here. Go Cards.