March 3, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Two days after running its win streak to nine games and just three days out from the start of its first Atlantic Coast Conference series of the season, let’s take a look back at a few of the news and notes from the first11 games of the2015 campaign for theUniversity of Notre Dame baseball team.
STREAKING
Counting thelast two series of the 2014 season, the Irish are 15-2 since May 9, 2014 … their current nine-game winning streak this season is the most since an 11-game streak from April 4-18, 2008 … before that streak, the Irish boasted a remarkable 23-game winning streak from March 25-April 24, 2006.
ENTERING THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
For the first time since the week of April 8, 2013 (No. 16), the Irish are in the national rankings, as they checked in at No. 25 in the College Baseball Newspaper Top 25 on Monday, March 2.
MOST WINS IN ACC
As of Monday, March 2, the Irish are tied with consensus top-3 Virginia (10-0) for the most wins in the ACC through three weeks of play … nationally, as of Monday, 16 teams have 10 or more wins this year.
Ranked (According to D1Baseball.com)
No. 2 Florida (10-1)
No. 3 Virginia (10-0)
No. 4 UCLA (10-1)
No. 7 LSU (10-1)
No. 8 Oregon (10-2)
No. 9 UCF (10-1)
No. 14 Texas A&M (12-0)
No. 15 Mississippi State (13-0)
No. 25 Tulane (10-2)
Unranked
Arizona (10-4)
Cal State Northridge (11-3)
Missouri (10-1)
Nevada (10-1)
Notre Dame (10-1)
San Diego State (11-1)
Southern California (12-0)
SCORING IN BUNCHES
After scoring two or more runs in an inning only 54 times last year in 53 games, the Irish are scoring in bunches this season, as they have plated two or more runs in 28 innings … the Irish have batted in 94 innings, so that means that in just under 30% (29.8%) of the possible innings, the Notre Dameoffense is scoring multiple runs.
AMONG ELITE COMPANY
Sophomore Cavan Biggio is among elite company with his .525/.950/.630 split, as he is one of only two players in the country (Joe Ogren – Bucknell) to be ranked in the top 11 in Division I in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage … the Houston, Texas native is eighth in OBP, 10th in slugging and 11th in batting average … he is also fourth in total bases, fifth in runs, eighth in doubles, 10th in hits, 16th in triples and 23rd in walks.
TULLY MAKING MARK AS A SOPHOMORE
After pitching only five innings as a freshman, sophomore LHP Scott Tully has certainly found his stride in his second year, as he is tied with 41 other players in Division I and three pitchers in the ACC in boasting a 0.00 ERA (min. 1 IP per team game) … Tully has gone through unscathed in 11 innings … only 17 pitchers nationally have pitched more innings than Tully has and still boast the lowest ERA possible.
FOUR HOMERS AGAINST MERCER
In Notre Dame’s Feb. 28 game at Mercer, the Irish clubbed four homers for the first time since they had four against West Virginia April 21, 2007.
RARE FEAT FOR FEBRUARY
By posting a 10-1 record in the month of February, the Irish ventured into extremely rare territory, as it marked the first time in program history (1st year of competition: 1892) that the Irish claimed 10 wins in February. However, the feat isn’t quite as impressive as it sounds, as the program only first started playing games in February in 1988 and have only played 10 or more games in the month one other time (1998 – 11 games – 5-6 record).
–Russell Dorn, Assistant Media Relations Director
–ND–