Feb. 19, 2011
| Notre Dame vs. Purdue Saturday, February 19, 4:00 p.m. Al Lang Stadium | St. Petersburg, Fla. |
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OUT OF THE BOX – Notre Dame continues action from the third annual BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday against in-state rival Purdue at Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg. Senior RHP Cole Johnson will start for the Irish.
DUPRA SOLID IN DEFEAT – Senior RHP Brian Dupra turned in a quality start, the 14th of his career, in last night’s season opener against Michigan State. He allowed two earned runs on seven hits in 7.0 innings of work. Dupra struck out five and did not issue a walk. He tossed 92 pitches, 72 of which were strikes.
SHERRY, DeSICO CARRY IRISH OFFENSIVELY – Senior 3B Greg Sherry and sophomore 2B Frank DeSico combined for five base hits against the Spartans. Sherry went 3-for-4 with three singles, while DeSico went 2-for-2 with two singles, including a RBI base hit, and two sacrifice bunts.
- The three-hit afternoon for Sherry was the 12th of his career and first since Apr. 26, 2009 at Louisville.
- DeSico’s two sacrifice bunts were a career-high and most by an Irish player in a game since David Mills had two against Villanova on Apr. 4, 2009 versus Villanova.
JAGIELO IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ORDER – Freshman 1B Eric Jagielo started at first base and batted third in the Irish lineup yesterday. He is the first Notre Dame rookie to start at first base and bat third in a season opener since at least 1996.
DeSICO CONTINUES FLAWLESS PLAY AT SECOND BASE – Sophomore 2B Frank DeSico has started 48 straight games at second base for the Irish, the last 33 of which were error-free. He has gone 157 consecutive chances without an error, last making a miscue in the first game of the doubleheader with USF on March 27, 2010. DeSico’s fielding stats in his first 18 games of his career compared to his last 33:
PO A E FLD%First 18 games 33 51 5 .944Last 33 games 64 93 0 1.000Total 97 144 5 .980
- The 48 consecutive starts at second base are the most for an Irish player since Steve Sollman made 86 straight starts at second from Mar. 30, 2002 – Apr. 22, 2003.
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