LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The names on the Jim Patterson Stadium left-center field wall are familiar.
They’re etched in College World Series history: 2007, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019 — the five times Louisville baseball reached Omaha.
Now they’re adding 2025. But this one feels different.
“This time last summer, our program could have just crashed,” Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell said Thursday to reporters in Charles Schwab Field. “We were low. We were in the valley.”
Instead, this team climbed out.
The Cardinals open play Friday night at 7 p.m. against Oregon State, a storied program with a chip on its shoulder — much like Louisville. A year removed from missing the NCAA Tournament, the Cards return with a group that’s not only still standing, but has grown stronger.
McDonnell’s teams have long been known for offense and energy. But it’s the pitching staff that’s carried Louisville through the postseason — with a 2.04 ERA, tops in the NCAA Tournament, and just 12 earned runs allowed in 53 innings.
It helps when you get back a captain.
Catcher Matt Klein missed two months after being hit by a pitch in February. He returned for the postseason and has made an immediate impact — both behind the plate and in the batter’s box.
“Everybody feels comfortable throwing to Matt,” said Friday starter Patrick Forbes. “We know he’s going to give it 100 percent when he’s back there. That’s all you can ask for. It’s great to have him back. I think it’s a big reason why the pitching staff has had a lot of success in the postseason.”
McDonnell added: “We had such high hopes for Matt… clearly looked like our best all-around hitter, team captain, a catcher back there with a reputation we have for success with our catchers. I give Matt a lot of credit… Probably, in the long run, is probably going to be a better baseball player for it because he had to lean over the railing. He really got to kind of see it more as a coach, probably. … I think he was better prepared when he came back.”
But what’s gotten Louisville back to Omaha isn’t just health. It’s loyalty.
In an era of college baseball defined by transfers and NIL deals, McDonnell knows this run doesn’t happen if veterans like Forbes, Eddie King Jr., Zion Rose and others don’t stay put.
It’s here that McDonnell’s voice kicks up a notch. This time a year ago, the departures from the program were a bit breathtaking. A dozen players in a month. All-ACC shortstop Gavin Kilen, eventually ranked the top transfer in the SEC, went to Tennessee. Third baseman Brandon Anderson went to Purdue. Right-hander Carson Liggett was among the top pitchers who left.
“As I said, we were in the valley, but that’s why I have so much appreciation for those kids who could have taken more money,” McDonnell said. “They could have taken schools that were selling, I guess you say, more than us. But you can only sell more money than us, I’m sorry. … If you’re chasing more money, good luck. But you want to list the other 25 qualities, let’s go toe-to-toe and let’s see whose resumé stacks up.”
Louisville will open the series with one who stayed. Forbes, a junior from Bowling Green, has been a strikeout machine, with 102 Ks in 66 innings. He’ll be backed by a bullpen that’s allowed just one run in 18.2 postseason innings. Offensively, King leads the team with 17 home runs and is hitting .556 over the last 10 games.
Louisville’s opponent, Oregon State, brings its own pedigree to the stage.
The Beavers have won three national championships and are making their ninth CWS appearance since 2005. The last time these teams met was on this stage — a 2013 College World Series matchup that Oregon State won 11-4. This is a program that lost its conference, simply watched the Pac-12 pick up and leave, and had to navigate 35 road games to get back to Omaha.
“I’m impressed by the adversity and what they had to go through,” McDonnell said. “Being on the road and traveling… it doesn’t surprise anybody in college baseball as to why they’re here and how good and dangerous they are.”
But as Louisville has shown over the past couple of weeks, there’s a little danger on its roster, too. And there’s also connection — forged through last year’s frustration, through months of injury setbacks, through a culture McDonnell has built over nearly two decades, that spread rapidly to the transfers and young players he added.
“This group has been very close,” McDonnell said. “Either way, no matter what happened in the postseason, this group got us back on track, and it’s been a lot of fun. I like where we’re at. I’ve talked about schools that have won a national championship that really don’t have much experience being out here. Experience is a coin flip. I think there’s good and bad with it. My job is to feed off of these kids and what makes them go and where they’re at and just support them in that. … We’re going to have fun. We’re going to throw the ball, catch the ball, hit the ball — and let the scoreboard kind of take care of itself.”
More Louisville Baseball Coverage:
How to Watch | Louisville vs. Oregon State; time, matchups, CWS odds
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Coffee with Crawford | Louisville’s Eddie King didn’t try to be a hero — he just moved the ball
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