LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 19th-ranked Louisville baseball team will host Seton Hall for another pivotal BIG EAST Conference series this weekend at Jim Patterson Stadium and Friday's opener will be Patriotic Night at the ballpark. Admission is free throughout the weekend.

To honor those who serve and have served our country, the Cardinals (24-9, 7-2 BIG EAST) will salute the men and women of the Armed Forces and Louisville-area First Responders during Friday's series-opener, which is set to begin at 6 p.m., ET. Activities during the evening include special in-game recognition of service men and women and the Cardinals will wear commemorative jerseys and hats with a unique patriotic Cardinal logo during the game. In addition to Patriotic Game festivities, Friday night will also be Budweiser Buck Night at the ballpark. Fans can purchase draft beer and small Pepsi products for just a dollar each!

On Saturday, fans are encouraged to get a full day of Louisville Athletics. After getting your first glance at the BIG EAST Champion football team's Spring Game, which kicks off at 1 p.m., fans can walk over to baseball to see the second game of the weekend series.

For Sunday's series finale, Dr. Bizer's Vision World will host Family Fun Day as special family entertainment and activities will include inflatable games at the ballpark. Also, kids can run the bases after the game and select players will sign autographs on the field.

Louisville-Seton Hall Series Overview
Entering this weekend's series, Louisville leads 10-6 in the all-time series with Seton Hall, which started in 2006 when U of L joined the BIG EAST Conference. The Cardinals have lost three straight in the series after suffering a sweep in South Orange last season. The 2011 series started with Louisville falling 1-0 in 18 innings and then dropping a 1-0 walk-off loss in the ninth inning in game two of the weekend. SHU completed the sweep with a 9-4 win in the finale. Louisville is 5-1 all-time against Seton Hall at Jim Patterson Stadium, including winning two of three in 2010.

First Pitch for the Weekend
Live play-by-play of the series can be heard on News/Talk 1570 AM (WNDA). Live video as well as live audio will be available to subscribers of CardsTV online at UofLsports.com. Live scoring will be available through the Gametracker feature on the baseball schedule page at UofLsports.com.

Cardinals One Game Out of First in BIG EAST After Three Weeks
After opening BIG EAST Conference play with a series sweep against Cincinnati, the Cardinals followed with series wins against Villanova and Georgetown for a 7-2 league record through the first three weeks of conference action. Louisville is one game out of first place in the BIG EAST standings behind 8-1 USF and Connecticut. St. John's is fourth with a 6-3 record, while Seton Hall, which visits Patterson Stadium this weekend for a three-game series, is fifth at 5-4.

Early Scoring and a Steady Bullpen Two Key Ingredients for Louisville
Through the first 33 games this season, the Cardinals have a 58-7 scoring advantage in the first inning and an 89-22 margin through the first two innings. Louisville is 19-3 when scoring first and 14-4 when scoring in the first inning this season.

The Cardinals' bullpen has been very good recently allowing only two earned runs in the last 13 games for an ERA of just 0.47 over 38.0 innings. During that span, the U of L bullpen has 46 strikeouts to just 13 walks and opposing batters are hitting just .138.

Notes and Trends to Follow...
The Cardinals are 23-0 this season when leading after the seventh inning... Louisville is 12-1 against left-handed starters in 2012 and 12-8 against righties... U of L is 7-0 in night games this season... As a team, the Cardinals are 57-of-70 on stolen bases this season, while last season they were just 67-for-94... With his team-leading 10th home run of the season last weekend, senior Stewart Ijames moved into a tie for eighth on the Cardinals' career home run list with Richie Hawks (1988-91) with 43 home runs... Ijames has 185 RBI in his career, which places him in eighth on the Cardinals' career list, eight behind No. 7 Darren Oppel (1990-93)... With his nine career saves, senior righty Derek Self is tied for 10th on the Cardinals' career list with B.J. Rosenberg (2004-08) and David Sonson (1995-97)... With 40 stolen bases in less than two full seasons, sophomore Adam Engel is tied for eighth on the U of L's career list with Rick Siriano (1978-80)... With 21 career wins, junior righty Justin Amlung is tied for third on the Cards' career list with Mike Shields (1975-78)... And with 192 career strikeouts, Amlung ranks ninth all-time at Louisville... Engel leads the Cardinals in 2012 with 13 multiple hit games, while Nick Ratajczak is next with 12... Ijames leads the Cardinals with 12 multiple RBI games this season, while sophomore Ty Young and freshman Zach Lucas are next with seven.

About Seton Hall
Seton Hall enters the weekend at 17-15 overall after splitting a pair of midweek games with a win over Wagner and a loss to Princeton. The Pirates are 5-4 in BIG EAST games after earning a series sweep of Notre Dame last weekend in South Orange, N.J. SHU is led by coach Rob Sheppard, who is in his 12th season at the helm of the Pirates. Last season, Seton Hall was 34-25 and advanced to an NCAA Regional after winning the BIG EAST Tournament title. Prior to the tournament win, the Pirates finished tied for fourth in the BIG EAST standings with a 14-13 league record.

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