Temps in the 30s as Kentucky baseball plays at Louisville

The University of Louisville baseball team traveled to Texas last weekend and pieced together its best three wins of the season, sweeping 14th-ranked Houston in the warm weather.

Kentucky cold and rain welcomed U of L home, and now the Cards face arch-rival University of Kentucky at 6 p.m. at Jim Patterson Stadium. It may even have snowed overnight ahead of Tuesday's showdown.

U of L coach Dan McDonnell won't be buying hot chocolate for the fans in attendance in homage to Louisville women's basketball coach Jeff Walz's beer-buying ways.

"They're coming out whether I'm buying hot chocolate or not," McDonnell said with a grin.

"We were down in Houston enjoying the weather. I thought this (weather) was all behind us. The weather will be the same in their dugout as it is in ours."

As if anyone needs extra motivation for a U of L-UK meeting in any sport. It helps that both teams are ranked in the Top 25 in the nation.

Louisville (27-8) is No. 10 in Baseball America's poll, and the Cards are a consensus top-10 team in college baseball's other three commonly used rankings. UK is 19th in Baseball America's rankings.

The Cards have done it with persistent run production — they're 11th in the nation in runs — and reliable pitching, particularly from starters Jared Ruxer and Kyle Funkhouser, who are a combined 13-2 with a 2.67 ERA. U of L's staff has a 3.04 ERA, which ranks 43rd in the country.

More recently, McDonnell said, U of L's getting solid pitching and fielding paired with timely hitting.

"We're playing good baseball right now," said senior third baseman Alex Chittenden. "We just have to keep it going."

UK (23-13) was one of the hottest teams in college baseball until a recent slump that's seen the Wildcats lose four of their past six games.

They're still seventh in the nation in batting average and on-base percentage and fourth in runs.

Louisville will start freshman lefty Josh Rogers (0-1) on the mound. Kentucky will counter with sophomore left-hander Ryne Combs (1-2).

Kentucky chased Rogers after four innings in the first meeting, which the Cats won 8-3. Louisville wants revenge today, regardless of the forecast.

"We checked the weather and saw it said 40 and it just made sense, because we're playing Kentucky," said senior left fielder Jeff Gardner.

Reach Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter @jeffgreer_cj.

If you go

Where: Jim Patterson Stadium

When: 6 p.m.

Tickets: $8 general admission; $6 kids and seniors; $12 for dugout, infield or home plate seats.