Like the majority of Notre Dame students, Notre Dame baseball spent their spring break away from campus. However, rather than lounging at the beach or resting with family at home, the squad was hard at work on the road.
They played weekend series against ACC sides Duke and Louisville, and faced Queens University of Charlotte in the midweek. That’s seven games in 10 days. The men in green returned to South Bend with a 4-3 record on the trip, taking two games out of three at Duke and beating Queens in the Tar Heel State before posting a 1-2 record in Louisville.
Duke
Notre Dame began the slate with three games at Duke. Under Shawn Stiffler, the Irish hadn’t won an ACC opener and were 1-8 in ACC opening series games, but they got a monkey off their back with a 2-1 series win in Durham. Stiffler’s team won bookend games on Friday and Sunday, by scores of 10-4 and 2-0, respectively, while dropping a close one on Saturday, 6-5.
Irish staff ace Jack Radel led the charge on Friday night with another stellar outing, carrying the Irish to a 10-4 victory. The 6-foot-4 workhorse allowed one run on four hits in seven innings of work, striking out nine. Radel showcased a lively fastball in the 92-96 mph range and dominated the zone all night.
Notre Dame’s bats came out hot, tacking on five runs in the fifth and putting up crooked numbers in the third, eighth and ninth as well. Graduate outfielder Drew Berkland and sophomore left fielder Bino Watters each led the lineup with three hits. Watters flashed his power with two doubles and a homer, recording eight total bases on the night.
The Irish looked poised to take the series on Saturday, leading Duke for most of the game until a ninth-inning rally put the Devils ahead 6-5. Freshman lefty Caden Crowell had the best start of his Irish career, giving up two runs over five solid innings. The Irish took the lead after a three-run second and carried a 5-3 advantage into the bottom of the ninth, but were walked off on a hot shot to third base off the bat of Duke DH Kaden Smith. The Irish recorded seven hits on the night, each coming from a different hitter. Duke recorded 10 hits and played a clean game while the Irish’s lone error came in the pivotal ninth inning.
After Saturday’s gut-wrenching loss, the Irish grinded out a gutsy 2-0 victory in Sunday’s rubber match. Similarly to Saturday’s contest, the Irish got a solid performance out of their starter and leaned on their relievers to close out the game. Senior righty Ty Uber recorded 5.2 scoreless innings before handing it over to the bullpen in a 0-0 ballgame.
The Irish held a two-run lead after seven, while the bullpen trio of freshman Dylan Singleton, graduate Eli Thurmond and senior Noah Rooney worked some magic by stranding an astronomical eight runners in the final three innings to blank the Devils. Rooney came on in the ninth with men on second and third and two outs in a near identical situation to the previous night when he was walked off by Duke. Rooney, however, slammed the door on the Devils with a punchout, giving the Irish a 2-0 victory and an ACC series win.
Queens
Facing the Queens University Royals in Kannapolis, N.C., on Tuesday, Notre Dame won a sloppy 11-6 affair in which the Irish committed four errors and issued six free passes. It was a reliever parade on the mound for the Irish with five pitchers toeing the rubber and none going more than 2.2 innings. At the plate, the Irish totaled eleven hits. Sophomore right fielder Jayce Lee and sophomore first baseman Parker Brzustewicz each homered in the contest.
Louisville
Notre Dame ended their road trip with a back-and-forth weekend series loss at ACC foe Louisville. The Irish took Friday’s opener 14-11 but dropped Saturday’s game 8-7 in another bullpen heartbreaker, before losing Sunday’s rubber match 21-12.
The Cardinals, who opened the season ranked No. 8 nationally by D1Baseball after a trip to the College World Series last year, entered the contest at 12-5 and recently got top slugger Zion Rose back in the lineup after a preseason foot injury. Led by Rose, the Louisville offense was the best lineup Notre Dame had faced all season. The Cardinals lineup proved a formidable adversary for the Irish pitching staff, jumping all over the usually-solid Irish starters and stretching Notre Dame’s bullpen thin.
Radel got the start for the Irish on Friday night but wasn’t his usual dominant self, giving up six runs, four of which were earned, through three innings of work. Facing a six-run deficit after three innings, the Irish offense exploded for two grand slams in the fourth inning. Here’s how the frame unfolded: single, single, single, walk, home run, walk, walk, hit by pitch, hit by pitch, home run.
Louisville responded with a two-run bomb in the bottom of the frame, but the Irish put up runs in the sixth, seventh, eight and ninth to hold on for a 14-11 win. Sophomore shortstop Noah Coy and junior DH Davis Johnson each blasted grand slams in the fourth. Johnson went 3-5 at the plate and ended a triple short of the cycle, recording seven total bases and five RBI on the night to lead the Irish in both categories.
Just as against Duke, Notre Dame looked poised to take the series on Saturday until a late inning rally by the Redbirds put the game out of reach. Crowell got the starting nod for Notre Dame and gave up five runs over five innings. Johnson stayed hot with a two-run shot in the second and Brzustewicz added two more with a double in the third. The Irish were down 5-4 when Crowell exited the game but tied it up with a run in the sixth.
Another double by Brzustewicz put the Irish up two, but the Cardinals struck for three runs in the bottom of the eighth and fended off a ninth-inning Irish rally to take the game 8-7. Brzustewicz went 3-5 at the plate and paced the lineup with four RBI. Freshman second baseman Mason Barth went 3-4 with a walk, reaching four times on the night and stealing a base as well.
If Saturday’s game against Louisville resembled the Saturday Duke game, Sunday’s game against the Cardinals was anything but Notre Dame’s rubber match versus the Blue Devils. Notre Dame lost an exciting, offense-heavy affair 21-12, in a game that saw six lead changes.
The score sat at 7-5 in favor of Louisville after three innings and was knotted at nine apiece after four. Louisville held a 14-12 lead after seven innings, and after that the Irish bats went cold and their relief pitching faltered, giving up seven more runs for the 21-12 final score. Johnson performed well at the plate, going 2-5 with two homers and six RBI, while Lee collected three singles for a 3-6 performance.
Notre Dame baseball returned to South Bend with a 3-3 ACC record and a solid 4-3 mark on the trip. While the two Saturday losses sting, as the bullpen gets more experienced those close losses will become wins. A 3-3 start to ACC play is nothing for the Irish to fret over. Louisville went .500 in the ACC last year and made it to the College World Series semifinals. 3-3 also represents the best start to conference play the Irish have recorded under Shawn Stiffler.
With a gauntlet of Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia and Florida State — all teams ranked inside the top 20 nationally going into the Louisville weekend per D1baseball.com — upcoming, it was essential for the Irish to pick up wins against Duke and Louisville, and they largely succeeded in that task.
Looking Ahead
Notre Dame takes on Central Michigan at home this Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day, at 4:30 p.m. This weekend, the Irish will host Clemson for three games, with first pitches scheduled for 4:30 p.m., 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
