May 24, 2000

NCAA HISTORY

• The Irish will be making their 15th appearance in the NCAAs, second consecutive, third in the six-year Paul Mainieri era (1995-2000) and sixth in the last nine years … ND’s last trip to an away regional was in 1996, when the Irish traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala. (1-2).
• Notre Dame has made one appearance in the College World Series, doing so in 1957.
• Notre Dame’s other NCAA seasons came in 1949, ’56, ’57, ’58, ’59, ’60, ’63, ’70, ’89, ’92, ’93, ’94, ’96 and ’99.
• The Irish reached the title game in the 1992 NCAA Atlantic Regional, losing 5-1 to host Miami in the second championship game.
• Notre Dame was one of six schools that hosted an NCAA regional for the first time in 1999 (since the tournament shifted from a district to regional format in 1975) … ND previously played host to NCAA tournament games following the 1949 and 1959 seasons.

TEAM NOTES

• Notre Dame’s 42 regular-season wins rank second in the program’s 108-year history … the Irish were the only BIG EAST team to win all nine of its BIG EAST series during the regular season, including 2-1 vs. Rutgers in the final week and 2-0 at Seton Hall.
• The Irish went 8-2 this season vs. teams in the NCAA field, including 2-0 vs. Illinois plus a win over Wake Forest and a 9-7, late-inning loss to Minnesota in the Metrodome.
• Notre Dame has posted 40-plus victories in each of the past 12 seasons, the nation’s fourth-longest active streak behind Florida State (23), Wichita State (23) and Clemson (15).
• Notre Dame’s team stats for include a .299 batting avg., 50 home runs, 69 stolen bases, a 3.79 ERA and a .965 fielding percentage (tied for the school record)… the Irish have homered in nine of the last 11 games and have totaled 26 HRs in the last 19 games … ND was ranked 1st in the nation for team ERA in early April (14th last week, at 3.68).
• The Irish were 11-1 in regular-season games decided by one run or in extra innings (before losing a pair of one-run games to Boston College in the BIG EAST Tournament).
• Notre Dame ranked as the seventh winningest team in NCAA Division I baseball for the decade of the 1990s, with a .724 winning percentage (440-168).
• The Irish played 29 of their first 43 games away from home, posting a solid 22-7 record in those games … from April 15-26, the Irish played nine road games (plus a home DH) in a span of 12 days?and in six different cities?with a 9-2 record during that stretch.
• ND hit game-ending home runs in each of the final three weekends of the regular season, with three different players providing the clutch long balls: Jeff Felker (vs. SJU), Alec Porzel (vs. Pitt) and Brian Stavisky (vs. RU).
• The Irish staved off elimination in the BIG EAST Tournament with the highest-scoring inning of the six-year Paul Mainieri, plating 11 runs in the 8th to seize a 15-7 lead (Porzel hit his first career grand slam to break a 7-7 tie).

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• ND’s top six batters are non-seniors, led by: soph. CF and No. 2 hitter Steve Stanley (.361, 23 RBI, 46 R, 32 BB, 27 SB), soph. DH and leadoff batter Ken Meyer (.358, 44-for-123, 3 HR, 5 3B, 12 2B, 31 R) and jr. SS and 3-hole hitter Alec Porzel (.344, 54 RBI, 9 HR, 4 3B, 21 2B, 9 SB) … fr. RF Brian Stavisky (.298, 41 RBI, 14 HR, 5 3B, 14 2B) ranks 3rd in the BIG EAST for HRs and has set the ND record for HRs by a freshman (he also leads the BIG EAST in 3Bs).
• Top Irish pitchers include jr. RHP and three-year All-American Aaron Heilman (3.04, 10-2, 97.2 IP, 113 Ks, 24 BB, 85 H), sr. RHP Scott Cavey (4.15, 6-2, 65 IP, 57 K, 20 BB, 63 H) and fr. RHP J.P. Gagne (3.76, 7-1, 69.1 IP, 43 K, 23 BB, 87 H) … Cavey (15-3) and Heilman (28-7) have combined to win 81.1 pct. of their career decisions (43-10) … Gagne is one win shy of becoming the first ND freshman to post eight wins since 1990 … sr. RHP John Corbin owns the ND records for saves in a career (20) and season (11, in 2000).
• After beating Pittsburgh on May 6, Heilman was one of three pitchers in the nation with 10 wins and an ERA ranked among the national top 25 … he is six Ks shy of breaking his ND record for Ks in a season and needs seven for the ND career record (he currently has 309, in 273.1 IP) … he led the nation as a freshman closer with a 1.61 ERA, plus nine saves and a 7-3 record (his 2.73 career ERA is best ever by an ND pitcher with 150-plus IP) … Baseball America projected Heilman as the No. 3 prospect in college (in its mid-April issue), prior to Heilmam’s 18-K, 6-hit effort in the 3-1, 10-inning win at West Virginia on April 15 (he K’d 10 of the final 12 batters he faced in that game).