April 3, 2002
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vs. Valparaiso (April 3)
The Notre Dame baseball team (13-10) – continues its homestand on Wednesday, April 3, with a doubleheader vs. Valparaiso (the pair of seven-inning games begin at 4:05 p.m.) … the Irish won their home opener for the seventh straight season, with Monday’s 1-0 win over BYU … junior RHP J.P. Gagne tossed a three-hitter for his first career shutout while junior DH Mike Holba – in his first action of the season – doubled and scored the only run in the fast-moving game (1:39).
RADIO COVERAGE: South Bend’s ESPN Radio 1620 AM (WDND) and its sister station WHLY 1580 AM are slated to broadcast Notre Dame’s entire 56-game schedule in 2002 (plus all postseason action) … a real-audio link to internet broadcasts of the games may be accessed at www.und.com while real-time stats for home games – including updated play-by-play – likewise can be accessed at und.com … all remaining ND baseball games in 2002 are slated to air on WDND 1620.
Today’s Probable ND Starting Pitchers
Martin Vergara, Fr., RHP
(5 GP, 3.86, 2-1, 11.2 IP, 12 H, 12 K/7 BB, .286 opp. avg., 3 WP, 5 HB)
vs. Southern Illinois (2/24, 2-6) loss, 1.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, BB, K, 2 HB
vs. Sacred Heart (3/3, 4-1) 3.2 IP, 3 H, BB, 5 K, WP, HB
vs. USC (3/9, 15-8) win, 3.2 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K, HB
vs. Arkansas-Little Rock (3/15, 7-5) 3 R/1 ER, BB, WP, HB
at West Virginia (3/28, 10-6) win, 3.0 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K, WP
Situationally: 7-of-14 leadoff batters reached (.500), 0-for-10 opp. batting with 2 outs, .211 with runners on base (4-for-19), 10 groundouts, 10 flyouts
Peter Ogilvie, Jr., RHP
(6 GP/3 GS, 3.72, 2-1, 19.1 IP, 30 H, 12 K/3 BB, .366 opp. avg., 2 WP)
vs. Missouri (2/22, 7-6) GS, 3.0 IP, 6 H, 4 /3 ER, BB, 3 K
vs. Sacred Heart (3/3, 4-1) win, GS, 5.0 IP, 6 H, R, 4 K
vs. Texas-Pan American (3/10, 5-6) loss, GS, 5.2 IP, 9 H, 4 R/2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 WP
vs. Southern Illinois (3/16, 3-2) win, 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 K
at Connecticut (3/24, 6-13) 0.2 IP, 2 H, R
vs. Georgetown (3/30, 12-3) 2.0 IP, 3 H, R, K
Situationally: 10-of-19 leadoff batters reached (.579), .286 opp. 2-out batting (8-for-28), .264 with runners on base (14-for-53), 26 groundouts, 17 flyouts
ANOTHER STELLAR RATIO: The Notre Dame pitching staff once again owns an impressive strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.47, 163/66), which would rank third in team history (since ’48) behind the last two Irish staffs (2.92 in 2001, 2,50 in 2000) … the staff’s low walk total (2.97/9 IP) would rank 4th in ND history, behind the ’01 (2.48), ’94 (2.82) and ’92 (2.90) teams … ND starting pitchers have posted a 3.34 K-to-walk ratio (117/35) in their 2002 starts, led by juniors J.P. Gagne (26/5) and Peter Ogilvie (9/3) and freshmen Chris Niesel (31/9), John Axford (18/6) and Grant Johnson (33/12).
STANLEY MAKES HIS MARK: Senior CF Steve Stanley recently became Notre Dame’s all-time hits leader (now 309) while also setting the ND record for consecutive starts (now 211) … the national player-of-the-year candidate has hits in 22 of 23 games this season and owns a .371 career batting average with the Irish.
1-0 GAME A RARITY: Monday’s narrow win over BYU marked just the fourth 1-0 game in the eight-year Paul Mainieri era at Notre Dame – with one of those coming in a seven-inning game (vs. Navy, at the 1998 Service Academies Classic in Millington, Tenn.) … the Irish then posted a 1-0 win over Valparaiso on April 22, 1998 (7-inning game extended to 9) before the memorable 1-0 win over the Miami Hurricanes, on May 12, 1999, at Eck Stadum (Alex Shilliday, Chris McKeown and Aaron Heilman combined on a near-no-hitter).
FRIEND OR FOE?: Notre Dame junior RHP Peter Ogilvie and Valparaiso senior IF Mike Jaroscak and senior RHP Matt Price were teammates at Adlai Stevenson HS in Buffalo Grove, Ill.
HEAD COACH PAUL MAINIERI: Eighth-year ND head coach Paul Mainieri owns a 649-413-1 (.611) record in 19-plus college seasons … in addition to his 317-134-1 (.702) mark at ND, Mainieri’s teams were 180-121 in six seasons at St. Thomas (Fla.) and 152-158 in six seasons at Air Force … his 317 wins rank 3rd all-time at ND, behind Pat Murphy (318, ’88-’94) and Jake Kline (558, ’34-’75) … Mainieri has seen 27 of his Irish players go on to pro baseball (19 via the draft), with RHP Christian Parker being the first to reach the Majors (as the N.Y. Yankees No. 5 starter, making his debut vs. Toronto on April 6 at Yankees Stadium -with Mainieri and others from ND on hand) … 15 of his players at St. Thomas went on to pro ball, including three – Joe Klink, Dane Johnson and Dan Rohrmeier – who have played in the Majors … Mainieri and his father Demie are the only known father-son combo in college baseball history to top 500 wins … Demie won 1,018 in 30 years at Miami-Dade North CC.
WHO’S ON FIRST?: ND’s rotating lineups included the following combinations in the first 23 games (senior DHs Ken Meyer and Matt Bok have combined for just two DH starts, due to the Irish needing them at other positions while freshman SS Matt Macri has been relegated to just DH starts):
C … Andrew Bushey (8, shoulder injury), Matt Bok (7), Paul O’Toole (8, hand),
1B … Joe Thaman (15, shoulder), Ken Meyer (8)
2B … Steve Sollmann (11, quad), Paul O’Toole (4), Javier Sanchez (3), Geoff Milsom (1), Matt Bok (1), Kris Billmaier (1), Matt Macri (2)
SS … Javier Sanchez (15), Matt Edwards (8, leg)
3B … Paul O’Toole (10), Andrew Bushey (10, shoulder), Javier Sanchez (3)
LF … Matt Bok (8), Brian Stavisky (6, shoulder), Ken Meyer (6), Kris Billmaier (2), Brent Weiss (1)
CF … Steve Stanley (23)
RF… Kris Billmaier (16), Brian Stavisky (4), Matt Strickroth (1), Ken Meyer (2)
DH … Matt Macri (14, elbow), Brent Weiss (2), Ken Meyer (3), Matt Bok (2), Steve Sollmann (1), Mike Holba (1)
SOME STREAKS FOR ALL SEASONS: Senior CF and national player-of-the-year candidate Steve Stanley opened the season with a 13-game hitting streak (the fifth double-digit hitting streak of his career and second-longest overall) … Stanley – who closed the 2001 season by batting 14-for-23 in the NCAAs – already has collected three four-hit games this season, vs. Fairfield, Sacred Heart and Creighton (bringing his career total to 10 four-hit games, plus a 5-for-5 game vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the 2001 NCAAs) … his career-best hitting streak lasted 16 games in the 2000 season, (he also had a 12-game hitting streak in ’99 and 10-game hitting streaks in ’00 and ’01) … Stanley’s team-best .430 season batting average includes 10 walks and three sacrifice bunts … he takes a nine-game hitting streak into the Valparaiso doubleheader, with hits in 22 of 23 games overall in 2002 (29 of the last 30, including the final seven of 2001).
RECORD BOOK REGULAR: Stanley already has cracked the ND career top-10 list for games started (211, 7th, two behind 1997 grad. Mike Amrhen) … Stanley also has moved into 3rd on the ND career at-bats list (832), ranks 5th in runs scored (197, ’92 grad. Craig Counsell is 4th with 204) and has pushed his career batting average to .371, which would rank 4th in the ND record book (just behind Scott Sollmann’s .372, from ’94-’96).
AN SB A DAY: Stanley has swiped 15-of-19 stolen bases this season, which puts him on pace to challenge the ND single-season record set by Scott Sollmann in 1996 (52, in 62 GP) … ironically, Sollmann’s brother Steve typically bats with Stanley on base (as the Irish No. 2 hitter) … Stanley’s 99 career SBs rank second in ND history, just two shy of Sollmann’s record total of 101 (from ’94-’96).
PENCIL HIM IN, OR USE PEN: Stanley has started all 211 games of his ND career (all in CF) while logging all but 16 innings in CF during his four seasons (he has played every inning of the last 60 games, spanning 516.0 innings) … the familiar #2 – who has totaled just seven errors in 482 career fielding chances (.986) – has patrolled CF in 99.12% of the innings (1,791.2 of 1,807.2), including all but two of 513 as a freshman (his classmate Paul O’Toole played the final two innings in a 20-10 loss at Northwestern on April 6, 1999) … Stanley then played in CF for the final 267.2 innings of ’99 and the first 497 of 2000 – a span of 764.2 consecutive innings in CF – before being replaced by 2001 grad Ben Cooke for the final five innings of the 8-1 NCAA loss at Mississippi St. (the Irish fell into an early 7-0 hole and Stanley reluctantly left the game due to illness) … in 2001, he patrolled center in all but nine of 547.2 innings – with Mike Naumann inserted into CF for the final inning vs. Texas-Pan American (14-9) while Cooke played the final two frames in the second 3-0 at Pittsburgh and John Heintz played the position for the final four innings vs. Hillsdale (9-2) and for the final two innings of the 15-3 win over Seton Hall (becoming the only ND player other than Stanley to play CF at Eck Stadium during the past four seasons).
SCORING STREAK: Notre Dame heads into the Valparaiso doubleheader riding the school record for consecutive games with at least one run scored (208) … the Irish scored in the final 58 games of 1999 and in every game of 2000 (64), ’01 (63) and ’02 (23), for a streak that stretches back to a 12-0 loss at Florida International on Feb. 21, 1999 … the previous record 133-game scoring streak began with the first game of the Paul Mainieri era, a 10-6 loss to Texas at the Anaheim Classic, on Feb. 24, 1995 (the Irish were shut out by Auburn, 8-0, in the 1994 NCAA East Regional at Clemson) … the previous record streak ended vs. another Texas team, 2-0 vs. Texas Pan-American in a seven-inning game on March 10, 1997 (at Wolff Stadium in San Antonio) … ND has scored in 98.9 pct. of its games in the Mainieri era (444 of 449), with other shutouts at Seton Hall (16-0, 3/22/97), vs. St. John’s (3-0, 5/9/98) and vs. Rutgers in the BIG EAST Tournament (12-0, 5/16/98) … prior to the Mainieri era, the longest ND scoring streaks were: 121-games (April 23, 1930-May 26, 1937) and 103-games (May 25, 1907-May 17, 1912).