University of Kentucky Sued By James Paxton

Two Sport Report #5

Toby Gerhart And Golden Tate Are Among More Than 35 Players In The Report

This is the latest installment of the Collegebaseball360.com Two Sport Report.  We are updating the progress of college baseball players who also play sports like football, soccer and swimming.  We have added a couple new players to the list as well.  If you know of someone not on the list shoot us an email and let us know: editor@collegebaseball360.com.

Boston College

Dave Shinskie- 6’4-215 – Football: QB & Baseball: P
While Shinskie is not a college baseball player, he is an interesting two sport athlete.  Shinskie is a 25-year-old freshman who is starting at quarterback for the BC football team.  He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2003 MLB draft by the Minnesota Twins, and he finished his minor league baseball career in 2009 in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.   He is not eligible to play for the BC baseball team.

Shinskie passed for 1,831 yards with 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions during the 2009 regular season.   Boston College (8-4) will play in a bowl game.
Cincinnati

Zach Collaros- 6’1-209 – Football: QB & Baseball: IF
Collaros batted just .204 in 49 at-bats in 2009 for the Bearcat baseball team.  However, he has had a much bigger impact this fall for the UC football team.  Collaros has passed for 1,434 yards with 10 touchdowns and just two interceptions in 2009.  He has also rushed for 344 yards and four more TDs.  He has played in all 11 Cincinnati games in 2009, including four starts after Heisman contender Tony Pike went down with injury.

Cincinnati (11-0) plays Pittsburgh (9-2) on Saturday, Dec. 5.  A win would send the Bearcats to a second straight BCS bowl.

Clemson

Kyle Parker- 6’1-200 – Football: QB & Baseball: OF
Parker graduated high school a semester early to enroll at Clemson in January 2008.  He’s a redshirt freshman on the football team, but he will be a junior on the baseball squad in 2010.

Parker has passed for 2,294 yards with 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2009.  Clemson (8-4) plays Georgia Tech (10-2) on Saturday, Dec. 5 in the ACC Championship Game.

Elon

Scott Riddle-6’0-210-Jr. – Football: QB & Baseball: IF/C
This season Riddle became the  Southern Conference record holder for career completions and passing yards.

Riddle passed for 3,345  yards with 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions for the Phoenix in 2009.

Riddle led Elon (9-3)to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, but the Phoenix lost 16-13 to #4 Richmond in the first round.  He finished seventh in the nation with 278.7 passing yards a game.

Fairfield

Tucker Nathans-6’0-180-Jr. – Soccer: Forward & Baseball: 2B
Nathans started 10 of Fairfield’s 17 soccer games and totaled three points in 2009.  Nathans started all 47 games for the Fairfield baseball team last season, and led the Stags with a .377 average with a 1.006 OPS.

George Washington

Marshall Seedorf-6′3-185-So. – Swimming: Sprints & Baseball: P                                               Seedorf was one of just two freshman to qualify for the Atlantic 10 Championship finals in both the 50 and 100 meter freestyle events in 2009.  He pitched in relief in 13 games last season for the GW baseball team.  He is currently competing

Hofstra

Anthony Nelson-5’10-180-Jr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Nelson finished the 2009 season as  Hofstra’s second-leading receiver with 40 catches for 520 yards and four touchdowns for the (5-7) Pride.

Holy Cross

Rob Dornfried-5’8-176-Jr. – Football: K & Baseball: IF
Dornfried hit 7 of 9  field goals and 40 of 41 extra points for the Crusader football team this fall.  He played in 15 games in 2009 for the Holy Cross baseball team.

Holy Cross (9-3) won the  Patriot League title but lost 38-28 to Villanova in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Josh Hauser-6’4-218-Fr. – Football: TE & Baseball:

Kentucky

Brian Adams-6’4-212-Fr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Adams is a true freshman who was a high school quarterback and is now making the transition to receiver in college.

Louisiana-Monroe

Kolton Browning-6’2-181-Fr. – Football: QB & Baseball: Pitcher.
Browning is a true freshman that is a back-up quarterback on the football team and is expected to pitch for the Warhawk baseball team next spring.

LSU

Chad Jones-6’3-231-Jr. – Football: Safety & Baseball: Pitcher
Like his former LSU teammate, Jared Mitchell (drafted and signed by the Chicago White Sox), Jones has both a football and a baseball national championship ring.

Jones is LSU’s fifth  leading tackler with 60 takedowns along with 3 interceptions.  Jones is also averaging 21.5 yards on six punt returns, including a 93 yarder for a touchdown vs. Mississippi State.  LSU (9-3) beat Arkansas 33-30 to close the regular season.  The Tigers will finish their season in a bowl game.

McNeese State

Jace Peterson-6’1-190-So. – Football: Safety & Baseball: IF

Peterson had 39 tackles, three sacks and an interception in 2009.  He batted .366 with 16 stolen bases in limited action on the diamond last spring.

Malcolm Bronson-5’11-188-So. – Football: Safety & Baseball: OF
Bronson led the Cowboys with 75 tackles in 2009.  He also had two interceptions.

McNeese State lost 49-13 to New Hampshire in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

Minnesota

Eric Decker-6’2-215-Sr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Decker entered the season on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List.  The award is given to the nation’s top receiver.  He started Minneosta’s first eight games, but suffered a foot injury against Ohio State missed the rest of the season.   Depite missing the Gopher’s last three games, Decker was still named All-Big Ten by a vote of conference coaches.  He finished the season as Minnesota’s  leading receiver with 50 catches for 758 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Nebraska

Khiry Cooper-6’2-180-rsFr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Cooper started 20 games for the Cornhusker baseball team as a true freshman
last spring.

New Mexico State

Tanner Rust-6’2-195-Fr. – Football: QB & Baseball:
Rust is the Aggie’s third-string quarterback and he plans to play baseball next spring as well.  He would be just the second athlete to play both football and baseball at New Mexico State.

Nicholls State

Mike Barba-6’1-180-Fr. – Football: WR & Baseball

Kyle Hughes-6’5-220-Sr. – Football: LB & Baseball
Hughes recorded 34 tackles with an interception for the Colonel’s (3-8) in 2009.

Kevin Persick-6’2-215-rsFr. – Football: LB & Baseball

North Carolina State

Russell Wilson-5’11-201 – Football: QB & Baseball: 2B
Wilson is a redshirt sophomore for the football team, but he will be a junior on the 2010 Wolfpack baseball squad. He

totaled 3,027 passing yards with 31 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2009, while also rushing for 260 yards and 4 more scores.   His 31 touchdown passes led the ACC.

He passed for 259 yards and 4 touchdowns to help N.C. State (5-7) upset North Carolina (8-4) to end an otherwise disappointing season for the Wolfpack.

Notre Dame

Eric Maust-6’2-190-Sr. – Football: P & Baseball: Pitcher
Maust has averaged 35.8 yards on 19 punts in 2009.  As the holder on ND’s field goal team he completed a pass to convert a first down on a fake FG vs. USC.  He was an All-Big East pitcher in 2008.

Evan Sharpley-6’2-217-Sr. – Football: QB & Baseball
Sharpley is the ND 3rd string quarterback in 2009. He was named the
team’s scout team player of the week for his impersonation of Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick prior to ND’s 35-0 win. 2009 was Sharpley’s last season with the Irish baseball team. He was picked by Seattle in the 50th round of the June MLB draft. Sharpley batted .333 with 7 HR, 29 RBIs and a 1.043 OPS for the Mariner’s AZL Rookie League team.

Golden Tate-5’11-195-Jr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Tate is one of three finalists for the 2009 Biletnikoff Award.  He’s had a record-setting season in 2009 with 93 receptions for 1,496 yards and 15 touchdowns (all single-season school records).  His 2,707 career receiving yards are also an Irish school record.

Tate finished the regular season with 10 catches for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 45-38 loss to Stanford.  The Irish (6-6) lost their last four regular season games, but they are bowl eligible.

Oregon State

Jordan Poyer-5’11-181-Fr. – Football: S & Baseball

Penn State

Jesse Alfreno-5’11-194-Jr. – Football: CB & Baseball: Pitcher
Alfreno was 1-0 with one save in 20 relief appearances in 2009 for the Nittany Lions baseball team.

Sacred Heart

Steve Tedesco-6’1-195-Sr. – Football: WR & Baseball: IF

Tedesco is the Sacred Heart (2-8) school record holder with 37 career touchdowns.  Tedesco had a career day with 12 catches for 144 yards and four touchdowns in the Pioneer’s season-ending 45-42 loss to Duquesne.  He finished the 2009 season with a team-high 67 receptions for 865 yards and 11 touchdowns.  He was selected to play in the 9th annuall East Coast Bowl All-Star Game.

Bobby Shepherd-6’1-180-rs Fr. – Football: P & Baseball: Pitcher
Shephard made four relief appearances and two starts in ’09 for the Sacred
Heart baseball team. He’s the football team’s back-up punter.

South Alabama

Eddy Cabrera-5’9-160-Fr. – Football: DB & Baseball: OF

This is South Alabama’s first season of college football, which makes Cabrera the first player in the 45-year history of the USA baseball program to play football and baseball.

Stanford

Toby Gerhart-6’1-235-Sr. – Football: RB & Baseball: OF
Gerhart is one of three finalists for the 2009 Doak Walker Award, which goes to the nation’s top running back.  He is also a top contender for the 2009 Heisman Trophy. Gerhart was an outfield starter for Stanford’s 2008 College World Series team.

Gerhart capped his regular season with 205 rushing yards and 3 touchdown runs in Stanford’s 45-38 win over Notre Dame.  He also complete his first career pass attempt for an 18-yard touchdown pass in the game.

As of Nov. 29 Gerhart leads the nation with 1,736 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns.  His 42 career touchdowns are a Pac 10 record.  Gerhart has now topped the 200 yard mark three times this season.  Coming into 2009 no Stanford back had surpassed 200 rushing yards in a game since 1988.

Gerhart could exercise a fifth year of football eligibility (he missed most of 2007 with a knee injury) and he still has a final season of baseball eligibility remaining.  However,  he  is expected to forego those options to prepare for February’s NFL combine and, ultimately, April’s NFL draft.

Texas State

Jeff McVaney-6’2-220-So. – Football: FB & Baseball: OF/LHP
McVaney made 12 relief appearances as freshman for the 2009 Bobcat baseball team that made it to the NCAA Tournament.   The fullback had four carries for nine yards in 2009.

Villanova

Matt Szczur-5’11-195-Jr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF

Szczur was second team All-CAA in football last season as a sophomore.  He was named the Colonial Athletic Associations Offensive Player of the Year and Special Teams Player of the Year in 2009.   He is just the second player in CAA history to receive two major awards in the same season.

As a redshirt freshman in 2009 he led the baseball team with a .346 average.  Szczur was a 38th round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of high school in 2007.

Szczur’s 2009 stats include:  45 catches for 534 yards and 4 touchdowns, 86 rushes for 562 yards and 7 TDs, 3 of 3 pass attempts for 21 yards and 2 touchdowns, and 26 kickoff returns for a 27.7 average and another TD.

He and the Wildcats have playoff wins over Holy Cross and New Hampshire & are now in the FCS national semifinals.

Marlon Calbi-5’11-180-So. – Football: QB/Holder & Baseball: SS
Calbi is a third-string quarterback who has played every career game as the
team’s holder. He started more than half of the baseball team’s games at
shortstop last season.

Christian Culicerto-5’9-190-So. – Football: QB & Baseball: LHP
Culicerto is a backup quarterback on the football team who walked on to the
baseball roster last season. He pitched in two games in relief.

Kenny Miles-5’11-180-Fr. Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Miles is a highly-touted freshman in both sports. He is currently low on the depth chart for football, because the team is deep at the wide receiver position.

Wofford

Landon Bennett-6’3-200-So. – Football: K/P & Baseball: OF
Bennett had 8 punts in four games in 2008 for the football team. During the 2008 baseball season played in 25 games with 14 starts and hit .298 with 17 hits and 8 RBIs.

Two Sport Report #4

This is the latest installment of the Collegebaseball360.com Two Sport Report.  We are updating the progress of college baseball players who also play sports like football, soccer and swimming.  We have added a couple new players to the list as well.  If you know of someone not on the list shoot us an email and let us know: editor@collegebaseball360.com.

Boston College

Dave Shinskie- 6’4-215 – Football: QB & Baseball: P
While Shinskie is not a college baseball player, he is an interesting two sport athlete.  Shinskie is a 25-year-old freshman who is starting at quarterback for the BC football team.  He has passed for 1,503 yards with 12 touchdowns and 9 int. so far in 2009.  He guided a 70 yard touchdown drive, capped by a one yard sneak to give the Eagles a 14-10 win over Virginia on Saturday.  The wins keeps BC’s ACC Atlantic Division title hopes alive.

Shinskie was drafted in the fourth round of the 2003 MLB draft by the Minnesota Twins, and he finished his minor league baseball career in 2009 in the Toronto Blue Jays organization.   He is not eligible to play for the BC baseball team.

Cincinnati

Zach Collaros- 6’1-209 – Football: QB & Baseball: iF
Collaros batted just .204 in 49 at-bats in 2009 for the Bearcat baseball team.  However, he has had a much bigger impact this fall for the UC football team.  Collaros has completed 75- percent of his passes for 1,434 yards with 10 touchdowns and two interceptions for the unbeaten Bearcats.  Cincinnati sits atop the Big East standing, and is ranked fourth in the most recent BCS standings.

Clemson

Kyle Parker- 6’1-200 – Football: QB & Baseball: OF
Parker graduated high school a semester early to enroll at Clemson in January 2008.  He’s a redshirt freshman on the football team, but he will be a junior on the baseball squad in 2010. Parker has completed 134 of his 252 pass attempts for 1,665 yards with 14 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.  He has helped lead Clemson (7-3, 5-2 ACC) into the Top 25 in 2009.  A win over Virginia on Nov. 21 would clinch the ACC’s Atlantic Divsion for the Tigers.

Elon

Scott Riddle-6’0-210-Jr. – Football: QB & Baseball: IF/C
This season Riddle became the  Southern Conference record holder for career completions and passing yards.  For the season Riddle has completed 65-percent of his passes  for 2,758 yards with 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions for the Phoenix in 2009.  Elon (8-2) finishes the regular season Saturday at Samford.  Riddle ranks 8th in passing yards and 17th in pass efficiency in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Fairfield

Tucker Nathans-6’0-180-Jr. – Soccer: Forward & Baseball: 2B
Nathans started 10 of Fairfield’s 17 soccer games and totaled three points in 2009.  Nathans started all 47 games for the Fairfield baseball team last season, and led the Stags with a .377 average with a 1.006 OPS.

George Washington

Marshall Seedorf-6′3-185-So. – Swimming: Sprints & Baseball: P                                               Seedorf was one of just two freshman to qualify for the Atlantic 10 Championship finals in both the 50 and 100 meter freestyle events in 2009.  He pitched in relief in 13 games last season for the GW baseball team.  He is currently competing

Hofstra

Anthony Nelson-5’10-180-Jr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Nelson is Hofstra’s second-leading receiver with 28 catches for 352 yards and three touchdowns through nine games in 2009.

Holy Cross

Rob Dornfried-5’8-176-Jr. – Football: K & Baseball: IF
Dornfried has hit 6 of 8 field goals and 34 of 35 extra points through the Crusader’s first six games.  He converted all four extra points in Saturday’s 28-26 win over Lafayette.  The win clinched the Patriot League title & gave Holy Cross (9-1, 5-0) the league’s automatic entry into the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Josh Hauser-6’4-218-Fr. – Football: TE & Baseball:

Kentucky

Brian Adams-6’4-212-Fr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Adams is a true freshman who was a high school quarterback and is now making the transition to receiver in college.

Louisiana-Monroe

Kolton Browning-6’2-181-Fr. – Football: QB & Baseball: Pitcher.
Browning is a true freshman that is a back-up quarterback on the football team and is expected to pitch for the Warhawk baseball team next spring.

LSU

Chad Jones-6’3-231-Jr. – Football: Safety & Baseball: Pitcher
Like his former LSU teammate, Jared Mitchell (drafted and signed by the Chicago White Sox), Jones has both a football and a baseball national championship ring.  Jones is LSU’s fourth leading tackler with 59 takedowns along with two interceptions.  Jones is also averaging 21.5 yards on six punt returns, including a 93 yarder for a touchdown vs. Mississippi State.

McNeese State

Jace Peterson-6’1-190-So. – Football: Safety & Baseball: IF
Peterson has 37 tackles, three sacks and an interception in the Cowboy’s first 10 games of 2009.  He batted .366 with 16 stolen bases in limited action on the diamond last spring.

Malcolm Bronson-5’11-188-So. – Football: Safety & Baseball: OF
Bronson leads McNeese (8-2) with 68 tackles in 2009.  He also has two interceptions.

Minnesota

Eric Decker-6’2-215-Sr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Decker entered the season on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List.  The award is given to the nation’s top receiver.  He started Minneosta’s first eight games, but suffered a foot injury and is out for the remainder of the 2009 season.  Although he has missed the Gopher’s last three games, he remains their leading receiver with 50 catches for 758 yards and five touchdowns.

Nebraska

Khiry Cooper-6’2-180-rsFr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Cooper started 20 games for the Cornhusker baseball team as a true freshman
last spring.

New Mexico State

Tanner Rust-6’2-195-Fr. – Football: QB & Baseball:
Rust is the Aggie’s third-string quarterback and he plans to play baseball next spring as well.  He would be just the second athlete to play both football and baseball at New Mexico State.

Nicholls State

Mike Barba-6’1-180-Fr. – Football: WR & Baseball

Kyle Hughes-6’5-220-Sr. – Football: LB & Baseball
Hughes has recorded 33 tackles with an interception in the Colonel’s ten games.

Kevin Persick-6’2-215-rsFr. – Football: LB & Baseball

North Carolina State

Russell Wilson-5’11-201 – Football: QB & Baseball: 2B
Wilson is a redshirt sophomore for the football team, but he will be a junior on the 2010 Wolfpack baseball squad.  He has completed 58-percent of his passes for 2,534 yards with 26 touchdowns and ten interceptions.  Wilson has also rushed for 319 yards and four touchdowns through seven games.

Notre Dame

Eric Maust-6’2-190-Sr. – Football: P & Baseball: Pitcher
Maust has averaged 35.8 yards on 19 punts in 2009.  As the holder on ND’s field goal team he completed a pass to convert a first down on a fake FG vs. USC.  He was an All-Big East pitcher in 2008.

Evan Sharpley-6’2-217-Sr. – Football: QB & Baseball
Sharpley is the ND 3rd string quarterback in 2009. He was named the
team’s scout team player of the week for his impersonation of Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick prior to ND’s 35-0 win. 2009 was Sharpley’s last season with the Irish baseball team. He was picked by Seattle in the 50th round of the June MLB draft. Sharpley batted .333 with 7 HR, 29 RBIs and a 1.043 OPS for the Mariner’s AZL Rookie League team.

Golden Tate-5’11-195-Jr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Tate is a semi-finalist for the 2009 Biletnikoff Award.  He is ND’s leading receiver with 74 grabs for 1,172 yards and 11 touchdowns.  His 1,172 yards are the fourth most in the nation, and he’s 18th nationally in all-purpose yards.  Tate has also rushed for 159 yards and two TDs.  He returned a punt 87 yards for a touchdown vs. Pittsburgh.

Oregon State

Jordan Poyer-5’11-181-Fr. – Football: S & Baseball

Penn State

Jesse Alfreno-5’11-194-Jr. – Football: CB & Baseball: Pitcher
Alfreno was 1-0 with one save in 20 relief appearances in 2009 for the Nittany Lions baseball team.

Sacred Heart

Steve Tedesco-6’1-195-Sr. – Football: WR & Baseball: IF Tedesco is Sacred Heart’s leading receiver with 67 catches for 865 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.  His yardage ranks 14th in the Football Championship Subdivision.  He is the Sacred Heart (2-8) school record holder with 37 career touchdowns.  Tedesco had a career day with 12 catches for 144 yards and four touchdowns in the Pioneer’s 45-42 loss to Duquesne.

Bobby Shepherd-6’1-180-rs Fr. – Football: P & Baseball: Pitcher
Shephard made four relief appearances and two starts in ’09 for the Sacred
Heart baseball team. He’s the football team’s back-up punter.

South Alabama

Eddy Cabrera-5’9-160-Fr. – Football: DB & Baseball: OF
This is South Alabama’s first season of college football, which makes Cabrera

the first player in the 45-year history of the USA baseball program to play football and baseball.

Stanford

Toby Gerhart-6’1-235-Sr. – Football: RB & Baseball: OF
Gerhart is one of ten semifinalists for the Doak Walker Award, which goes to the nation’s top running back.  He has the third most rushing yards in the nation with 1,395 yards with 19 touchdowns in 2009.

On Sept. 26th he rushed for 200 yards and a TD in Stanford’s win over Washington.  On Nov. 7th he topped his own school record with 223 yards in a 51-42 upset of then #8 Oregon.  He also ran for 178 yards and 3 TDs in a Nov. 14th win at USC.  He is the first Cardinal back since 1988 to have a 200 yard rushing day.

In 2008 Gerhart was an outfield starter for Stanford’s College World Series team.

Texas State

Jeff McVaney-6’2-220-So. – Football: FB & Baseball: OF/LHP
McVaney made 12 relief appearances as freshman for the 2009 Bobcat baseball team that made it to the NCAA Tournament.   The fullback has four carries for nine yards through in 2009.

Villanova

Matt Szczur-5’11-195-Jr. – Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Szczur was second team All-CAA in football last season as a sophomore.  As a
redshirt freshman in 2009 he led the baseball team with a .346 average.  Szczur was a 38th round draft pick by the Los Angeles Dodgers out of high school in 2007.

He has 33 catches for 335 yards and four touchdowns for the Wildcats (9-1)  in 2009.    Szcur is also averaging 28.8 yards on 19 kick returns (including one for a touchdown) this season.  As of Nov. 14 Villanova was third in the Football Championship Subdivision national rankings.

Marlon Calbi-5’11-180-So. – Football: QB/Holder & Baseball: SS
Calbi is a third-string quarterback who has played every career game as the
team’s holder. He started more than half of the baseball team’s games at
shortstop last season.

Christian Culicerto-5’9-190-So. – Football: QB & Baseball: LHP
Culicerto is a backup quarterback on the football team who walked on to the
baseball roster last season. He pitched in two games in relief.

Kenny Miles-5’11-180-Fr. Football: WR & Baseball: OF
Miles is a highly-touted freshman in both sports. He is currently low on the depth chart for football, because the team is deep at the wide receiver position.

Wofford

Landon Bennett-6’3-200-So. – Football: K/P & Baseball: OF
Bennett had 8 punts in four games in 2008 for the football team. During the 2008 baseball season played in 25 games with 14 starts and hit .298 with 17 hits and 8 RBIs.

Louisville Baseball 2010 Schedule

Cards to play 31 home games, 41 games vs. BCS Conference foes & 12 games against 2009 NCAA teams

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville baseball head coach Dan McDonnell released the Cardinals’ 2010 schedule on Thursday and it includes 31 games at Jim Patterson Stadium, 41 games against BCS Conference schools and 12 games against NCAA Regional teams from last year.

The Cards, which won swept the BIG EAST Conference and regular season titles and advanced to the NCAA Super Regional in 2009, will play seven games against Big Ten competition and six games against Southeastern Conference teams, including a three-game series at reigning SEC champion Ole Miss.

“The 2010 schedule features some great opponents in some great venues that should really challenge our squad each week,” said McDonnell, who is 135-63 in three seasons in Louisville, including three straight NCAA appearances and back-to-back BIG EAST Tournament titles in 2008 and 2009. “As in years past, we continue to put an emphasis on playing against the best competition in the nation by scheduling more than 40 games against teams from the BCS conferences, as well as numerous NCAA Regional caliber squads. And as always, we’ve made it a priority to take advantage of having one of the top home facilities in the nation by playing more than 30 games at Jim Patterson Stadium.”

Louisville will open the 2010 season at home on Feb. 19-21 with a three-game series against reigning Mid-American Conference champion Bowling Green at Jim Patterson Stadium and will follow that with a mid-week game at home against Morehead State on Feb. 23.

The Cardinals will then take to the road for the first time for their first appearance in the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge hosted by St. Petersburg/Clearwater Sports Commission on Feb. 26-28. Louisville will play Michigan on Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Dunedin Stadium, spring training home for the Toronto Blue Jays, in the only night game on the opening day of the event, which will feature 10 games each day matching up teams from the Big Ten and BIG EAST.

Following the opener, the Cardinals will face Michigan State on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m. ET at Jack Russell Stadium, the longtime spring headquarters for the Philadelphia Phillies, while Louisville’s finale will be against Minnesota, a 2009 NCAA Regional squad, on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. ET at the Naimoli Complex, former spring training host for the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Cards will return home from Florida to host a five-game homestand at Jim Patterson Stadium. Louisville will host a mid-week game against Evansville (March 3), a three-game weekend series with NCAA Division I independent Le Moyne College (March 5-7) and a mid-week game against Indiana (March 9) in a rematch of the last year’s NCAA Regional first round game in Louisville. The Cardinals will play a return game against the Hoosiers on March 30 in Bloomington.

U of L will then return to the road for a three-game series in Oxford, Miss., against Ole Miss on March 12-14 in a match-up of reigning conference championship programs. It will also be a reunion for McDonnell, who served as an assistant coach at Ole Miss from 2001-06, and Cards’ senior first baseman Andrew Clark, who played one season for the Rebels before transferring to Louisville.

After hosting 2009 NCAA Regional team Xavier on March 15 for Elementary School Day at Patterson Stadium, the Cardinals will host their final non-conference weekend series on March 19-21 against Ball State.

Following a mid-week return game at Evansville on March 23, the Cards will the defense of their 2009 BIG EAST Conference title with a three-game series at home against Connecticut on March 26-28 at Jim Patterson Stadium. The series will be a rematch of last year’s BIG EAST Tournament title game, won by Louisville 11-3 in Clearwater, Fla.

Along with UConn, the Cardinals will host BIG EAST foes Villanova (April 1-3), Seton Hall (April 23-25), Rutgers (April 30-May 2) and St. John’s (May 14-16). Louisville will play four BIG EAST opponents on the road, including Pittsburgh (April 9-11), West Virginia (April 16-18), Georgetown (May 7-9) and Notre Dame (May 20-22).

The Cardinals will play the first of two games against rival Kentucky on April 6 in Lexington, while the Wildcats will visit Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville on April 28. U of L will also play two games against 2009 NCAA Regional squad Western Kentucky on April 14 in Bowling Green and on April 21 in Louisville and a mid-week home game against in-state foe Eastern Kentucky on May 18.

On May 4-5, Louisville will travel to Columbus, Ohio for a two-game, mid-week series against 2009 NCAA Regional participant Ohio State, while on May 11, the Cards will be in Nashville, Tenn., for a mid-week game at Vanderbilt in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Regional title game, which was won by Louisville 5-3.

The 2010 BIG EAST Championship is set for May 26-30 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla., where the Cardinals have won the last two tournament titles and have an 11-2 record overall. The 2010 NCAA Championship is set to begin on June 4 with regional play.

The 2010 Louisville squad returns seven position starters and most of its pitching staff from a team that finished the season ranked 14th in the nation after making the program’s second NCAA Super Regional appearance in McDonnell’s three years as the head coach.