This weekend, the Notre Dame baseball team played in the Live Like Lou Jax College Baseball Classic in Jacksonville, Florida. They posted a 1-2 record with a win over Indiana, dropping games to UCF and LSU.
Irish head coach Shawn Stiffler turned to junior ace Jack Radel to open the weekend on Friday night against Central Florida. Radel dominated the Golden Knights hitters, serving up six perfect innings while striking out nine. Radel sat down 18 consecutive batters without allowing a baserunner before being pulled rather conservatively after six innings and 68 pitches. The Irish were held scoreless until the bottom of the fifth, when Notre Dame freshman designated hitter Dylan Passo drove a 2-1 offering over the right-field fence for a solo home run. In the following frame, Irish sophomore shortstop Noah Coy singled in sophomore right fielder Jayce Lee to make the score 2-0 Irish after six innings. A two-run lead would be the high-water mark for the Irish, though, as the game slipped away without Radel on the mound.
After a scoreless seventh inning, UCF cut the Irish lead in half in the top of the eighth when pinch-hitting third baseman Javier Crespo scored first baseman Landon Moran, who had reached on a walk. In the ninth, Notre Dame sophomore reliever Oisin Lee allowed an unearned run after pinch-hitter Stephen Chucka reached base on a fielding error by Irish sophomore first baseman Parker Brzustewicz and scored on a triple off the bat of UCF right fielder Andrew Williamson. The Irish bats went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the ninth, setting the stage for extra innings with the score tied 2-2 after nine. In the top of the 10th, Irish sophomore two-way player Chase Van Ameyde gave up a single and hit a batter. Both runners would advance on a wild pitch before Van Ameyde was replaced by graduate reliever Eli Thurmond, who promptly gave up a single through the right side, giving UCF a two-run lead. The Irish struck out three times in the bottom of the 10th, ending the game at 4-2 UCF. The Irish bullpen collective of senior Noah Rooney, Lee, Van Ameyde and Thurmond followed Jack Radel’s six perfect innings with four regrettable ones, combining to surrender four runs on three earned while giving up four hits and a walk, striking out three. Notre Dame’s batters would finish the night with two runs on seven hits and no walks. Passo and Coy each recorded an RBI, while Brzustewicz led the team in hits with two singles.
Looking to get back on track after Friday night’s disappointment, on Saturday the Irish faced off against LSU. The Tigers, defending national champions and ranked No. 2 nationally, would prove to be tough customers, consistently grinding out tough at-bats and stringing together hits. True freshman and Valparaiso, Indiana, native Caden Crowell got the starting nod for the Irish. He was roughed up over 2.1 innings of work but showed poise and competitiveness, striking out four LSU hitters. In total, Crowell gave up five runs, all earned, while allowing seven hits and issuing one free pass. LSU jumped out ahead of the Irish early, taking a 7-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning. LSU starter and Kansas transfer Cooper Moore had an effective day on the mound, going 5.2 innings while giving up three runs on eight hits and issuing one free pass. He held the Irish scoreless until a single from graduate outfielder Drew Berkland through the left side plated Coy in the top half of the fifth inning to make the score 7-1 LSU.
The Irish wouldn’t go down easily, though. In the top of the sixth, Lee’s two-run bomb to deep center added a pair of runs to the Irish tally, and the Irish would chase Moore with two more singles in the inning. LSU scored twice more in the bottom half of the frame, making the score 9-3 through six innings. The Irish plated one more run in the top of the seventh when Brzustewicz earned a bases-loaded walk, scoring freshman third baseman Jamie Zee. Neither team would score in the eighth or ninth, making the final score 9-4 LSU. The Tigers scored nine runs on 12 hits and collected five free passes. They went 6-18 with men in scoring position and left nine on base. The Irish finished with four runs on nine hits and four walks, going 2-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving eight stranded. Coy and junior catcher Mark Quatrani both had two hits, while Lee led the lineup with two RBI.
On Sunday, Notre Dame faced off against in-state rival Indiana in an effort to salvage the weekend. After four relatively calm innings, the game became an offensive slugfest that culminated in an extra-innings victory for the Irish. Irish graduate starter Ty Uber gave up two runs in four innings of work, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out two. Notre Dame scored once in the bottom of the second and once more in the bottom of the fourth, making the score 2-2 after four.
In the top of the fifth, Indiana’s offense jumped all over Irish senior reliever Xavier Hirsch. The Hoosiers loaded the bases with two singles and a walk, then hit a bases-clearing triple and another single, making the score 6-2 going into the bottom of the fifth. The Irish immediately responded with a leadoff homer by Quatrani, cutting the deficit to three runs. Indiana would add two more in the top of the seventh, but Notre Dame’s offense matched Indiana’s two runs with five of its own in the bottom half of the inning. Quatrani led off the offensive explosion with another homer. The Irish kept rolling with Brzustewicz scoring on a Coy single, before both Coy and Jayce Lee scored on a single off the bat of pinch-hitting second baseman Mason Barth. Van Ameyde came in to score on a Berkland sacrifice fly, tying the game at eight runs apiece after seven innings. Both teams would go scoreless in the eighth and ninth, setting the stage for extra innings tied at eight runs apiece.
With Lee on the mound shutting down the Hoosiers, the Irish struck in the bottom of the eleventh. With two outs and the bases loaded, Berkland hit a walk-off single to left-center, making the final score 9-8 Irish. In total, the Irish scored nine runs on 15 hits and four walks, leaving 11 men on base. Indiana managed eight runs on 13 hits and three walks, stranding eight. At the plate, Quatrani and Berkland both swatted four hits, and Berkland led the Irish with three RBI. Quatrani finished the day with 10 total bases, swatting two home runs and two singles, a huge day at the plate in a game the Irish needed to win.
With Sunday’s victory over the Hoosiers, Notre Dame finished with a 1-2 record on the weekend. Though Friday’s extra-inning loss stings, Coach Stiffler must be encouraged by the Irish’s resolve in Sunday’s contest. Down 8-3 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Irish scraped out a win with timely hitting and quality performances out of the bullpen. UCF, Indiana and LSU are likely to be the Irish’s toughest non-conference opponents, so it was crucial to pick up at least one win to show the Irish can compete with quality power-conference teams.
A question to be monitored going forward is how short a leash Stiffler gives his starting pitchers. Stiffler treated his starters rather conservatively this weekend, pulling Radel on Friday after six perfect innings and 68 pitches and replacing Uber on Sunday after four quality innings and only 51 pitches. Both these decisions came back to bite him. On Friday, the bullpen gave up four runs in four innings after being trusted with a 2-0 lead, and on Sunday, with a 2-2 tie after four, the Irish bullpen dug themselves in a 8-3 hole until the offense battled back.
On the season, Irish starters have gone 23.1 innings over six games and posted a 3.86 ERA. The bullpen has taken care of 31.2 innings but has only managed an ERA of 5.40. The starters have managed just under four innings per start, meaning the bullpen has averaged just over five innings a game. Just doing some back-of-the-napkin averages, the starters are averaging about 0.2 runs per inning fewer than the bullpen. If the starters averaged two more innings per start, going from just under four innings to around six innings, the Irish could save almost a half a run per game – a real difference. Last year, the Irish played 22 games in which their starter went 5-plus innings, and they won 18 of them. This season, Stiffler likely wants to preserve his starters for the rest of the season and figure out the bullpen pecking order. However, his cautious approach made it harder for the Irish to win this weekend, and he’ll have to make adjustments when ACC conference play opens in two weekends.
