Cards get a nice schedule in the ACC Tourney courtesy of the #2 overall seed.

 

WED - 7:00 PM v. Duke / Wake Forest winner

THU - off

FRI - 11:00 AM v. Clemson

SAT - 7:00 PM v. UVa

SUN - Noon Championship (if qualifies)

 

Lots of potential options here. Normally you would pitch your typical weekend rotation in the 3 pool games and then figure out SUN if you get there. I think McDonnell goes a different way for 2 reasons:

 

A - baseball players are creatures of habit & schedule. Bumping McKay, Harrington & Funkhouser each up a day (McKay 2 from his usual FRI night start) takes all of them out of their routine & pushes McClure from the 14 midweek starts he has made to a SUN start.

 

B - would guess hosting a regional (Top 16 seed) is locked up. A 1-2 or 0-3 pool play could jeopardize a top 8 seed, but some argue that tourney play shouldn't hurt your position and can only help your chances of making it / seeding. If that is the case, UofL should have a tip 8 seed secured. Also, McClure is far from a "hack" to send out against Duke / Wake Forest winner. He is 11-0 and has faced quality opponents like Vandy & UK (2x).

 

My guess is we'll see McClure on WED. McDonnell may also be prepared to throw Funk an inning or 2 in 1 of the 3 pool games just to make sure he gets some work and doesn't go 2 weeks without toeing the rubber if Cards weren't to advance from pool play.

 

Looking forward to it. Saw in the press release that the games are on regional TV (likely FoxSports South), ESPN3 and also on Sirius XM radio if you are trying to keep up.

Wake Forest burns what appears to be their top starter (Dunshee 6.2 IP) and probably their closer (Craig 2.1 IP) in play-in game victory over Duke. Dunshee pitched well against the Cards last THU giving up only 2 ER in 7.0 IP. He did allow 8 hits and 2 BB.

 

Would expect to see WF throw Johnstone tonight at 7:00 PM against Cards. Cards had some success against him last FRI with 8 hits & 6 R over 4.1 IP. Hope they can replicate that to get off to a good start in Pool Play.

 

I haven't seen any announcement as to who McDonnell will start, but I am sticking with my guess that McClure gets the ball.

UofL took care of business against Wake but couldn't get it done v. Clemson. Key play was a missed squeeze in the 4th where they could have gone up 4-1. Either Ellis (batting) or Rosenbaum (on 3B) missed a sign and Rosey got hung out to dry.

 

McKay started missing up in the zone and Clemson cracked several HRs to put the game away.

 

Last night UofL played UVa with nothing on the line. Harrington cruised until the 5th and simply got smacked around hard that inning. That's the hardest I have seen him hit all year. He's a bulldog of a kid and you wonder what the impact of seeing Clemson come back and beat Wake late earlier in the day did to the squad. These kids are not used to "exhibition" games. Not making excuses for them but it has to impact mindset.

 

Funkhouser pitched a couple of clean innings (6th & 7th) to make sure he didn't have a long layoff (since he would not be able to pitch today) and Wolf & Burdi pitched the 8th & 9th for the same reason.

 

You hope they got those 2 games out of their system and will right the ship at home as they have done all year. Experts on the ACC broadcast had Miami & UofL safely in the Top 8 National Seeds despite not making the finals. A quick internet search agrees with that. If so, Cards will have every chance to get to Omaha from JPat.