May 15, 2002

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The Notre Dame baseball team (36-14, 15-8 BIG EAST) heads into the final week of the regular season with a unique doubleheader at Eck Stadium on Wednesday, May 15, vs. Rochester College (1:05) and Detroit (6:05) … the Rochester makes up for Tuesday’s game at Purdue than was canceled (due to the Purdue-Indiana series overlapping due to rainouts) … freshman RHP Martin Vergara and junior RHP Ryan Kalita are slated to start for the Irish in the doubleheader … Rochester is slated to become the 277th different all-time opponent in the 110-year Notre Dame baseball history (Fairfield, Sacred Heart and Arkansas-Little Rock joined that list earlier this season).

ND-Detroit Series Notes
Series: ND leads 53-46
At Notre Dame: ND leads 25-23 (7-3@Eck)
1st Meeting: May 28, 1959 (10-0 ND, home)
Streak: ND has won the last five (since ’95)

THE 2001 GAME: Alec Porzel became the first member of ND’s 30-30 club while the Irish held off a late Detroit rally for a 9-8 win … ND used four runs in the 4th and three in the 7th for a 9-1 lead, but the Titans scored five in the 8th and two more in the 9th … Ryan Kalita picked up the win (5 IP, 1 R, 3 H, BB) and Keith Astrauckas took the loss (2 IP, 2 R, 4 H) … Porzel’s 2-run shot in the 7th provided what proved to be key insurance runs … Steve Sollmann (3-for-4, 2 RBI, 2 R) had a hand in four of ND’s nine runs.

Martin Vergara, Fr., RHP (starts vs. Valpo, WMU, CMU and Chicago State)
(11 GP/4 GS, 4.55, 4-1, 29.2 IP, 30 H, 31 K/15 BB, .259 opp. avg., 5 WP, 8 HB, 26 GO)
As a starter: 6.00, 2-0, 15.0 IP, 16 H, 15 K/8 BB, .254 opp. avg., 2 WP, 2 HB, 16 GO)

vs. Southern Illinois, at UNO (2/24; 2-6) loss, 1.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, BB, K, 2 HB
vs. Sacred Heart, in Homestead (3/3; 4-1) 3.2 IP, 3 H, BB, 5 K, WP, HB
vs. USC, in Round Rock (3/9; 15-8) win, 3.2 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K, HB
vs. Arkansas Little-Rock, in San Antonio (3/15; 7-5) 3 BF, 3 R/1 ER, BB, WP, HB
at West Virginia (3/28; 10-6) win, 3.0 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K, WP
Valparaiso (4/3; 16-0) win, 4.0 IP, 2 H, BB, 7 K, WP
Western Michigan (4/9; 5-4) 2.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 2 K, HB
Central Michigan (4/15; 10-9) 2.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, BB, WP
Toledo (4/17; 15-4) 1.0 IP, H, 3 K, HB
Chicago State (4/23; 16-7) win, 6.0 IP, 4 H, R, BB, 6 K, HB
Oakland (5/1; 11-5) 2.0 IP, H, K

Situationally: 42.4% leadoff batters reached, .097 opp. batting with 2 outs, .259 with runners on
Nine-Inning Averages: 9.1 H, 4.6 BB, 9.4 K, 8.5 GO, 43.7 BF

Ryan Kalita, Jr., RHP (starts vs. Virginia Tech, Bowling Green and Oakland)
(12 GP/3 GS, 4.00, 2-0, 27.0 IP, 30 H, 21 K/9 BB, .286 opp. avg., WP, 2 HB, 28 GO)
As a starter: 3.86, 1-0, 14.0 IP, 12 H, 12 K/6 BB, .240 opp. avg., HB, 13 GO

vs. Southern Illinois, at UNO (2/24; 2-6) 1.0 IP
vs. Florida International, in Homestead (3/2; 4-13) 0.1 IP, 2 H, R
vs. Creighton, in San Antonio (3/13; 6-2) 2.0 IP, 2 H, K
at Connecticut (3/24; 6-13) 1.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, BB, K, WP, HB
vs. Georgetown, in Bethesda (3/30; 12-3) 1.0 IP, BB
Valparaiso (4/3; 12-1) 1.0 IP, H, BB, 2 K
Western Michigan (4/9; 5-4) win, 3.0 IP, 2 H, 3 K
Virginia Tech (4/12; 2-1) 6.0 IP, 6 H, UER, BB, 5 K
Toledo (4/17; 15-4) 2.0 IP, 4 H, R, 2 K
Bowling Green (4/24; 3-2) 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB,6 K
Oakland (5/1; 11-5) win, 2.0 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 2 BB, K, HB
Rutgers (5/5; 0-11) 1.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R/1 ER

Situationally: 44.4% leadoff batters reached, .231 opp. batting w/ 2 outs, .250 w/ runners
Nine-Inning Averages: 10.0 H, 3.0 BB, 7.0 K, 8.7 GO, 41.0 BF

BEST OF THE BEST: Senior CF Steve Stanley is on pace to challenge team records for two of the three season batting percentages, with his .459 batting average ranking 12 points ahead of Edwin Hartwell’s 1993 mark (.447) while Stanley’s .527 on-base pct. is just behind the .531 posted by Hartwell’s classmate Eric Danapilis (in 1991).

SITUATIONALLY SPEAKING: In addition to his stellar all-around numbers, senior CF Steve Stanley leads ND in batting with runners in scoring position (.481) and on-base pct. when leading off an inning(.593) … junior LF Brian Stavisky (.535) is the best 2-out hitter on a team that is batting just .277 when facing its last out (compared to a .309 team avg. with 2 outs in 2001), with Stanley a distant second on the list of the team’s top two-out hitters (.354) … Stavisky (13) and senior C Paul O’Toole (13) are the team leaders in 2-out RBI while Stavisky (.644), Stanley (.616), sophomore 2B Steve Sollmann (.593) and senior 3B Andrew Bushey (.592) are the team leaders for pct. of runners advanced (Bushey has advanced a team-high 31 runners).

BRINGING ‘EM HOME: In the 11 games prior to the Rutgers loss, Notre Dame totaled 19 more runs (93) than runners left on base (74), batting .439 with runners in scoring position during that 11-game span (an impressive 125 points higher than the team’s .314 overall batting in those games) … in fact, the Irish hit just .247 during those 11 games in “non-RBI” at-bats, before cranking it up nearly 200 points higher with runners in scoring position … ND then hit 0-for-4 with RBI opp’s in the loss to Rutgers (1-for-10 in all ABs with runners on) … for the season, ND owns an 0.88 ratio of runs scored/LOB (343/390), compared to just an 0.57 ratio for the opponents (223/389) – with the Irish also owning a huge edge in season batting with RBI opp’s (.322-.224).

FAVORITE MONTH: Notre Dame has won nearly 82% of its games in April during the eight-year Paul Mainieri era (since ’95), with that 158-36 April record including a 39-4 mark during the past two seasons (20-2 in ’01, 19-2 in ’02).

PITCHING IN ALL SITUATIONS

• Top ND pitchers with runners on base (in terms of opp. batting avg.) are John Axford (.214), Drew Duff (.222), Brandon Viloria (.250), Ryan Kalita (.250) and Grant Johnson (.250).

• Leaders with 2 outs: Vergara (.097), Gagne (.171), Duff (.182) and Chris Niesel (.212).

• Top pitchers vs. leadoff batters include Viloria (.267 opp. on-base), Niesel (.326), Gagne (.333) and Johnson (.347).

MANUFACTUERS: Notre Dame’s recent surge in offensive efficiency has included quality execution, with the team’s 47 total sacrifice bunts already 19 more than the entire total posted by the 2001 ND team (28) … senior 3B Andrew Bushey – in addition to batting .340, with 4 HR, 14 2B and 39 RBI – has executed nine sacrifice bunts (more thn doubling his entire total just four SACs in his first three seasons combined) … junior RF Kris Billmaier (8, including two squeeze bunts) also has a high sac-bunt total, after totaling none as a freshman and just two in 2001.

STEVE STANLEY UPDATE

• Owns ND career records for hits (356), stolen bases (113), consecutive starts (238, 2nd in NCAA history behind Chip Hale’s 255 with Arizona in ’84-’87) and at-bats (928), plus 2nd in runs (235, behind Pat Pesavento’s 246).
• Also owns BIG EAST career records for hits (153) and runs scored (109) in BIG EAST regular-season games.
• Entered the week ranked 5th in the nation for batting average (.459).
• Owns three double-digit hit streaks this season (also 13-10-11) and seven in his career.
• Has struck out just seven times in 233 total plate appearances (33.6 per K).

HEAD COACH PAUL MAINIERI: Eighth-year ND head coach Paul Mainieri owns a 672-417-1 (.617) record in 20 college seasons … in addition to his 340-138-1 (.711) mark in eight seasons at ND, Mainieri’s teams were 180-121 in six seasons at St. Thomas (Fla.) and 152-158 in six seasons at Air Force.

BIG INNING: ND owns a 43-12 scoring edge (+31) in the 5th inning, with Arizona State’s 4-run output in the 5th-inning on April 26th nearly matching the total number of 5th-inning runs allowed by the Irish in the previous 41 games (5) … ND’s other big innings include the 7th (+20, 40-20) and the 2nd (+17, 43-26), with the opponents owning an edge in only the 8th (-10, 23-33).

MR. CONTROL: Junior RHP Brandon Viloria has averaged just 1.72 walks per 9 IP during his career (11/57.2) – which would challenge the ND record of 1.64 set by Alan Walania from 1990-93 (59/324) … Viloria owns a 2.37 ERA (second-best on the staff), plus a 2-1 record and three saves this season, with just five walks in 19 IP (no wild pitches and one hit batter) … he has yet to throw a wild pitch in 58 career innings, with just one hit batter.

WIN STREAK ENDS AT 16: The recent 16-game matched the longest of the eight-year Paul Mainieri era and third-longest in the program’s 110-year history (behind an 18-game streak in 1991 and a 17-game streak in 1907).

BOK’S BIG HITS: Senior DH Matt Bok (Akron, Ohiio) has delivered in clutch fashion five times in the last five weeks:

• His seventh-inning single broke a 2-2 tie in the series finale versus St. John’s and led to a three-run inning in that 5-2 win (April 7) .
• Two days later, he poked a single into left field to plate Javier Sanchez with the game-winning run as the Irish rallied for a 5-4 win over Western Michigan.
• His most vivid play came in the seven-inning opener versus Virginia Tech (April 12), when he led off the bottom of the 11th with a triple to the rightfield wall before scoring for the tense 2-1 win.
• His hit vs. Arizona State (April 26) came earlier in the game (5th) than the above three but had the added drama of a tie score, two outs and a 1-2 count. Bok came through on a 1-2 pitch, drilling the two-run single into right for the 6-4 lead (ND won 9-4)
• He then provided the go-ahead single for a 4-3 lead in the 6th inning of the 7-4 win over Michigan (April 30, in Grand Rapids).

RARE PAIR: Senior CF Steve Stanley (.459) and junior LF Brian Stavisky (.405) are bidding to become the third pair of ND teammates ever to hit above .400 in the same season (and the first in seven years) … another outfield duo did it in 1993, when LF Edwin Hartwell set the still-standing ND record (.447) and CF Eric Danapilis hit .438 (they dueled atop the NCAA charts for much of ’93) … one season later, IF Robbie Kent and CF Scott Sollmann both hit .402 in ’94.