‘23 Record: 29-18 (9-15 ACC).

The Louisville Cussin’ Luke Smiths have a lot of work to do if they want to get into postseason play. Oddly enough, this game won’t really factor into that, as what they need are ACC conference wins (barring winning the ACC Tourney, they’ll likely need to go like 5-1 in their last 6 conference games).

They already have some strong one-off out of conference wins: against aTm, TCU, Michigan, and Kentucky.

In conference, though, they only have 2 series wins: they took 2 of 3 from Georgia Tech, and swept Boston College.

On the negative side, they lost 2 of three against Notre Dame, QANoNC State, Wake Forest, and Miami, and were swept by Duke and Clemson.

In short, they’re a tough team, but if the selection committee were to decide today, they would be on the outside looking in. Their fate will more be determined by what they do against UVA and FSU in the coming two weeks than what transpires tonight.

Player to Watch: #33 Jr. C Jack “Payton Jack” Payton (.382/.489/.667 with 9 2B, 1 3B, 10 HR, and 32 RBI). Of course, he hasn’t played since last Tuesday, so he may be still injured. If so, that’s a lot of thunder missing from their lineup, and their best hitter would then be #9 Jr. SS Christian “The Napsack” Knapczyk (.336/.448/.423 with 8 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 24 RBI, and 16-22 steals).

Anchor of Gold Tiger Beat Hottest Pitcher: #10 So. RHP Carson “Lick It” Liggett (7-0; 2.31 ERA). We will not be seeing him today.

On the Mound

Tuesday @ 5:00pm CT on ESPN 2

¯\_(ツ)_/¯, as last Tuesday, we went with #98 So. RHP Greysen “Billy Beer” Carter (2-0, 3.33 ERA). This is likely a Johnny Wholestaff game, regardless.

vs. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, though last Tuesday, Louisville went with #22 Fr. RHP Tucker Biven (0-2; 4.50 ERA), but they only used him for 2 IP. Staff on Staff action today, methinks.

The Lineup

See you in the comments.