The 2026 season was a culture shock for Louisville. Fresh off a deep run in Omaha back in 2025, the Cardinals weren’t at full health for parts of last season, and the school struggled in ACC play. Ultimately, Louisville wound up missing the 2026 tourney. The good news is that some familiar, dependable faces are back.
The Returnees
Two of the big bats from 2026 came back for the Louisville Cardinals.
The big one was Tague Davis, who hit 34 home runs in a monstrous sophomore season for Louisville. He left after last season with 52 combined home runs after he blasted 18 during the Cardinals’ run to Omaha in 2025. Davis hit two home runs in five games in Cotuit, as he wound up spending much of the summer with the USA collegiate national team.
As expected, Davis struck out a hefty number of times, although the Whiff% (29.4%) wasn’t too high in Cotuit in what was a very short sample size.
Davis helped keep the engine going in 2026 for a team that was without Zion Rose for part of last year. Rose was fantastic when healthy. But overall, the Cardinals will return most of the cast that played alongside Davis.
Kade Elam, now entering his sophomore season, hit .297 with seven home runs as a freshman. A very strong year, although Elam couldn’t end it on the right note. The Kentucky kid batted just .214 with Wareham over 21 games last summer.
Very aggressive hitter up in the Cape. His 45.3% Take% was among the 15 lowest in the circuit last summer aming
Now-junior Griffin Crain hit .352 last season for the Cardinals, and his 62 hits were tied with Lucas Moore for fourth-most on the team. There’s also the four big seniors: Jimmy Nugent, Alex Alicea, Ben Slanker, and Jax Hisle.
Alicea, who hit .300 last season, has been a regular for the Cardinals in each of the past four seasons. Nugent hit 11 home runs and 25 extra-base hits last season during the regular season. Both he and Slanker played with Falmouth this past summer.
Nugent hit seven extra-base hits in 13 contests, a big positive. However, he had a Whiff% of 50.6%. As for Slanker (30.4% Whiff% for Falmouth), he slashed .235/.316/.318 for the Commodores.
As for the pitching staff, Ethan Eberle is on the roster for his junior season. A heavy groundball pitcher with a primary sinker/sweeper arsenal, the left-hander struck out 72 over 65 innings last year.
Jack Brown, Aaron England, Casen Murphy, Jake Schweitzer, and Brandon Shannon are also among the returning pitchers. Shannon, a hard-throwing right-hander with a running fastball that touched the upper-90s, received a lot of runway from Dan McDonnell in 2026. He struck out 36 over 31 innings last year.
The Newcomers
Samford pitcher Zak Spurrier was one of the more notable pickups by the Cardinals this past summer. Spurrier struck out 37 over 34 innings last season and led the Bulldogs during the 2026 campaign.
Kamden Hawks started 10 games and pitched in 15 for Morehead State during the 2026 campaign. The 6’6” left-hander walked 36 but also struck out 36 over 43 innings last year for the Eagles.
Senior Landon Akers was a sparkplug for Bellarmine in the ASUN. Akers batted .357 and led the school in hits (80), runs scored (56), and stolen bases (13).
Louisville’s fall roster also had 11 new freshmen. One of the notables was Noah Spalding, who was hitting in the mid-90s with his heater out of high school.
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