Louisville–Vanderbilt baseball rivalry

Louisville – Vanderbilt baseball rivalry

Louisville Cardinals Vanderbilt Commodores
First meeting	March 18, 1971
Latest meeting	May 31, 2025 Louisville , Vanderbilt
Next meeting	2026
Statistics
Meetings total	44
All-time series	Vanderbilt leads, 29–14 [1] (.690)
Trophy series	Louisville leads, 7-6 (.538)
Current win streak	Louisville, 2 (May 6, 2025–present)

110km
68miles

Vanderbilt

Louisville

   

Location of the University of Louisville and Vanderbilt University

The Louisville-Vanderbilt baseball rivalry, or the Battle of the Barrel, is an American college baseball rivalry between the University of Louisville Cardinals and Vanderbilt University Commodores.

The two nonconference foes represent the ACC and the SEC. The schools are separated by only 175 miles. The Louisville and Vanderbilt baseball teams first met in 1971 and have played a total of 44 times. Since the 2008 season, the two teams have played an annual single game midweek series. On May 8, 2012, the Battle of the Barrel trophy was introduced to the rivalry, giving the series its name. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Battle of the Barrel Trophy

The inaugural Battle of the Barrel occurred on May 8, 2012. An oak barrel was introduced as the traveling trophy for the series to represent the significance of Tennessee whiskey and Kentucky bourbon in the two states. The trophy is not exchanged for postseason meetings. ^[3]

History

Early history (1971-2002)

The Cardinals and Commodores first met in 1971 when Vanderbilt pitched two no-hitters in a double-header to beat Louisville 3-0 and 2-0. The two teams would met 15 times from 1971 to 2002, with Vanderbilt winning the first 12 games. In 2002, a three games series was played in Louisville where the Cards would win the series 2-1, securing their first two wins in 17 games. ^{[5] [6]}

Corbin-McDonnell years (2008-present)

In 2003, Tim Corbin was hired to coach the Commodores and a few years later in 2007, Dan McDonnell was hired to coach the Cardinals. Both coaches would immediately take programs with little success and turn them into national powers. The two progams hace been amongst the best in college baseball since these coaches arrived. Under Corbin, Vanderbilt has made the NCAA baseball tournament a total of 20 times including five College World Series appearances, four national championship appearances, two national championships, four conference championships, and four regular season championships. Under Coach McDonnell, Louisivlle has made the tournament 14 times including five College World Series appearances, two conference tournament championships, and four regular season championships. ^[7]

The rivalry between the two programs and coaches began in 2008 when the two teams agreed to meet every season in a midweek game. The first postseason meeting came in 2009 when Louisville hosted the Louisville Regional; its first regional host in program history. Vanderbilt was placed there as a three seed but fell to the losers bracket after losing to Middle Tennessee. Vanderbilt then won their next two games and ran into Louisville. After dropping the first game against Vanderbilt, Louisville would win 5–3 in game 2 to advance to the Fullerton Super Regional. ^{[8] [9]}

In 2012, the rivalry was given a name and a bourbon barrel trophy was introduced. The trophy series has been played 13 times and Louisville leads 7-6. ^[3]

Since the annual series began the teams have met in the postseason six times, in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2019, and 2025, for a total of 11 games. The two programs met in the College World Series in 2014 and 2019 Vanderbilt in 3–0 in these games.

Game results

Louisville victories

Vanderbilt victories

Tie games

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 March 18, 1971 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 3–07 2 March 18, 1971 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 2–07 3 1972 Louisville, KY Vanderbilt 4–3 4 1972 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 17–17 5 1972 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 2–17 6 March 22, 1973 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 3–17 7 March 22, 1973 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 6–47 8 February 25, 1990 Neutral (Unknown) Vanderbilt 8–7 9 April 26, 1995 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 13–0 10 February 25, 2000 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 18–5 11 February 26, 2000 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 6–5 12 February 27, 2000 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 9–5 13 February 22, 2002 Louisville, KY Louisville 6–1 14 February 23, 2002 Louisville, KY Louisville 12–3 15 February 24, 2002 Louisville, KY Vanderbilt 6–5 16 March 4, 2008 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 17–6 17 April 22, 2009 Louisville, KY Vanderbilt 4–3 10 18 May 31, 2009 Louisville, KY* Vanderbilt 8–4 19 June 1, 2009 Louisville, KY* Louisville 5–3 20 May 11, 2010 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 11–10 17 21 June 5, 2010 Louisville, KY* Louisville 7–1 22 June 6, 2010 Louisville, KY* Vanderbilt 7–0 23 June 7, 2010 Louisville, KY* Vanderbilt 3–2 10 No. Date Location Winner Score 24 May 10, 2011 Louisville, KY Vanderbilt 5–1 25 May 8, 2012 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 3–2 26 April 23, 2013 Louisville, KY Vanderbilt 10–2 27 June 8, 2013 Nashville, TN* Louisville 5–3 28 June 9, 2013 Nashville, TN* Louisville 2–1 29 May 6, 2014 Nashville, TN Louisville 11–7 30 June 14, 2014 Omaha, NE* Vanderbilt 5–3 31 May 12, 2015 Louisville, KY Vanderbilt 5–2 32 May 10, 2016 Nashville, TN Louisville 8–5 33 May 9, 2017 Louisville, KY Louisville 6–2 34 May 1, 2018 Nashville, TN Louisville 8–4 35 May 7, 2019 Louisville, KY Vanderbilt 6–2 36 June 16, 2019 Omaha, NE* Vanderbilt 3–1 37 June 21, 2019 Omaha, NE* Vanderbilt 3–2 38 May 4, 2021 Louisville, KY Louisville 7–2 39 May 3, 2022 Nashville, TN Louisville 1–0 40 May 9, 2023 Louisville, KY Vanderbilt 12–8 12 41 May 7, 2024 Nashville, TN Vanderbilt 4–2 42 May 6, 2025 Louisville, KY Louisville 5–4 43 May 31, 2025 Nashville, TN* Louisville 3–2 Series: Vanderbilt leads 29–14 *Meeting occurred as part of the NCAA Tournament.

References

1. "2025 UofL Baseball Book HR" (PDF). Go Cards. University of Louisville. pp. 133–138. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
2. "No. 22 Baseball Falters Late in 3-2 Loss at Vanderbilt". Go Cards. University of Louisville. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
3. "What is the Battle of the Barrel between Vanderbilt and Louisville?". The Tennessean. 4 May 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
4. McGavic, Matthew (6 May 2025). "Louisville Holds Off Vanderbilt to Win Battle of the Barrel". Louisville Cardinals On SI. Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
5. "Numerous no-hitters defined Vanderbilt baseball in 1971". VU Commodores. Vanderbilt University. 5 March 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2025.
6. "Cards Crush Commodores 12-3". Go Cards. University of Louisville. 23 February 2002. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
7. Xu, Vincent (7 May 2024). "Baseball: Battle of the what, now?". Vanderbilt Hustler. Vanderbilt University. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
8. "2009 NCAA baseball tourney schedule". ESPN. 24 May 2009. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
9. D'Andrea, Christian (5 June 2013). "How Vanderbilt/Louisville Developed Into One of College Baseball's Best Rivalries". Anchor of Gold. SB Nation. Retrieved 1 June 2025.