Louisville baseball continued to pick up preseason accolades, this time focusing on their duo of outfielders.
Two more of D1 Baseball’s ‘Top’ Lists dropped yesterday. Louisville baseball didn’t place a player on the ‘Top-50 Third Basemen’ List, particularly because there is still some mystery over who will run to the hot corner when the Cards start the season next Friday against Michigan State.
In news that, similar to Alex Alicea being a Top-10 Shortstop, should surprise no one, D1 Baseball is very high on two of the three Louisville baseball Outfielders.
Lucas Moore’s recognition is skyrocketing
Lucas Moore has cracked the list as the number five outfielder in the country. The junior is coming off of a phenomenal season and is poised to assume even more of a leadership role roaming Center Field, batting literally anywhere in the lineup, and on the base paths as a threat to steal any base at any time.
Moore racked up a list of 2025 accolades after batting .341 for the 2025 campaign and stealing 53 of 54 bases to lead the nation, among them Second Team All-America by D1 Baseball, First Team All-ACC and Academic All-ACC, NCAA Nashville Regional All-Tournament Team, ABCA/Rawlings All-Midwest Region Second Team, and was named to the roster for the US Collegiate National Team. Moore starts this season as a preseason Second Team All-American choice by D1 Baseball, and a Third Team selection by Baseball America.
Zion Rose poised to anchor Lousiville
Joining Lucas in the number nine spot is his Left Field teammate Zion Rose. Another Junior who had a stellar 2025 season, and a newly-minted Team Captain (on the position player side) alongside Alex Alicea, Zion has been making rounds on podcasts and media outlets ahead of the season, showing just how much the collegiate baseball media thinks of his before this season gets underway.
With 2025 accolades almost mirroring those of Moore, Zion was named to the 2025 Academic All-ACC Team, the 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team, the 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Second Team, was an All-ACC First Team selection, and was also a member of the 2025 USA Collegiate National Team along with being a 2025 NCAA Elite 90 Award Winner.
This team will be special
Having one Top-150 outfielder to go with a Top-50 Shortstop would be a dream for most clubs. Having two thirds of your outfield on the list is, put simply, the Louisville Baseball standard. I don’t think I’m done with these either, because D1 hasn’t released the list for Top-50 First Basemen or the list of Pitchers. I’m going to go ahead and wager that we see Mister-Might-Derail-A-Train himself, Tague Davis, on that First Basemen list, as well as Ethan Eberle (and probably one to two more) on the list of Top Pitchers.
I won’t ever tell anyone how to fan. But, as someone who is here because of being a fan…you should be extremely excited about this 2026 Louisville Baseball team. If you’ve never tuned in via ACC Network and ESPN coverage, or listened to Sean Moth weave you a baseball tale over the radio, this is your year. Get to Jim Patterson, get excited, and cheer this bunch on, because this group has the vibes of those past teams that have pushed really far into the June postseason and gave us a lot of incredible memories of Supers and six College World Series appearances.
Louisville begins their 2026 season one week from tomorrow at Jim Patterson Stadium against Michigan State. First pitch against the Spartans is scheduled for 3:00pm.