June 8, 2002

Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

(Note: see PDF link for complete four-page GameDay Notes.)

ONE WIN FROM OMAHA: On the heels of Friday’s 10-4 win over Florida State, the Notre Dame baseball team – for just the fourth time in its history – stands just one win shy of advancing to the College World Series … the 1957 team opened the old four-team District Playoffs (fields set based on geography) with wins over Alma (18-2) and host team Western Michigan (4-2) and then had two chances at beating Northwestern to advance to Omaha … the Wildcats won the first game (9-2) but ND’s 6-1 win sent the Irish on to the CWS … two years later, homestanding ND was in the same position after wins over Detroit (10-0) and Minnesota (12-4) but WMU rallied for a pair of wins over ND (2-0, 9-6), denying the Irish a trip to the 1959 CWS … 33 years then elapsed before ND again crept within one win of Omaha, this time at the University of Miami for the 1992 Atlantic Regional … the Irish opened the ’92 NCAAs with a 5-1 loss to South Carolina but then reeled off wins over the host Hurricanes (6-3), Delaware (12-60 and South Carolina (11-2) to set up a winner-take-all title game between ND and UM (the Hurricanes won, 5-1, to earn a 1992 CWS berth).

CAPE COD REUNION: For the second straight night, several ND batters (as many as six) will face a pitcher that they have seen before during games in the prestigious Cape Cod wooden-bat league (last night’s FSU starter, Matt Lynch, played for the Hyannis Mets in the summer of 2000 and the Harwich Mariners last year) … FSU’s starter for tonight, senior RHP Blair Varnes, pitched the last two summers with Harwich … six of ND’s nine starters tonight have played in the Cape, led by the first three batters in the lineup: senior CF Steve Stanley (Brewster Whitecaps, 1999 and 2000), sophomore 2B Steve Sollmann (Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox; ’01) and junior LF Brian Stavisky (Hyannis Mets; ’00-’01) … ND senior C Paul O’Toole played for Brewster in 2000 and Yarmouth-Dennis in 2001 … two other ND players were active in the Cape for part of the 2001 summer: senior 3B/C Andrew Bushey (spent first month with Yarmouth-Dennis, before shoulder surgery) and senior DH Matt Bok (played with Bourne Braves during second half of summer) … FSU 3B Ryan Barthelemy was a teammate of Stavisky on the 2001 Hyannis squad.