Louisville Prepares for Opening Weekend, Announces Starting Rotation

The biggest question surrounding the Louisville Baseball program is who would be in the weekend pitching rotation. Just 24 hours before the first pitch of the season, it was announced that Tate Kuehner, Jared Poland, and Jacob Ferris will get the ball this weekend.

Fans should be familiar with Kuehner and Poland, but Ferris is a name that many Louisville fans may not know — yet.

Ferris spent his first two seasons at Eastern Kentucky University where he compiled an 8-6 record with a 5.26 ERA, but these numbers tell the whole story. During his sophomore campaign in 2020, Ferris was second in the OVC in innings pitched and fifth in strikeouts.

His two best outings came against LSU, where he tossed 7.2 innings, striking out seven Tigers, and a complete game, three hit shutout against Norfolk State.

Kuehner will get the ball on Friday afternoon, facing a resilient Charlotte team that won the Conference USA Tournament last season before being eliminated from the Greenville Regional. The 49ers were selected as the fourth best team in Conference USA this season. Keep an eye on Austin Knight, the preseason selection for Conference Player of the Year.

On Saturday at 4:00pm, Poland will face the host of the weekend round robin, South Florida. The Bulls are coming off a season where they finished 27-26 in the regular season before going on a run and making it all the way to the Super Regionals where they fell to Texas. South Florida was voted 6th best in their conference this season.

Ferris will make his Louisville debut nice and early on Sunday at 9:00am against Connecticut, another NCAA Tournament team from a season ago. The Huskies were placed in the South Bend Regional, giving up 41 runs in three games before heading back to Storrs. The coaches selected Connecticut as the favorite in the Big East in 2022.

Unfortunately, the only game that will be televised this weekend is the Saturday game against USF, which will be available on ESPN+. You can listen to all three contests on 93.9. South Florida elected to broadcast their games on TV, but not the games between the other teams in the round robin.

One would think that if you had an opportunity to help grow the brand of college baseball on opening weekend, you would find a way to get the games on TV.

No worries, we will remember on Saturday. And September 24th. And August 31, 2024. And August 31 2030. Satterfield won’t forget about this on the gridiron.

Go Cards.