Monday, April 1 at 1:05 p.m., the Pirates are to play the St. Louis Cardinals in the first out of 80 played at PNC Park this year.

The Pirates recorded their first win against the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday, March 31, and are now 1-1. They are also tied for 2nd in the NL Central Division. The Cardinals, however, are 1-3 and are in last place in the NL Central Division.

The starter for the BUCS will be the 30-year-old ace Chris Archer. He will face up against the 37-year-old veteran Adam Wainwright.

Archer has a career ERA under 4.00 and over 1,200 strikeouts. He came up to the big leagues in 2012 with the Tampa Bay Rays at just 23 years old. He has performed very well over the last several years and is deserving of the Home Opener starting role.

The towering 6 feet 7 inches Wainwright, has a career ERA of 3.32 and over 1,600 strikeouts. He made his major league debut in 2005 and has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball since then. However, Wainwright missed all of the 2011 season due to Tommy John surgery. That elbow affected him again in 2018. He missed most of his starts and had a 2-4 win-loss record. He is already almost 40 years old and this will be his 14th major league season. We will have to see if he will still produce good numbers for the Cardinals this year, or if his age will be too much for him.

We will just have to wait and see if the Pirates can beat their division rival.