May 15, 2004

Complete Game Program in PDF Format
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Notre Dame baseball fans who are unable to attend this weekend’s showdown series with Rutgers still can view a PDF version of the game program by clicking on the above link. The program includes rosters, statistics, BIG EAST standings and stat leaders, notes, features, color photos – and more!

BIG EAST Baseball Doubleheader – Rutgers Scarlet Knights (27-17, 13-5) vs. #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (39-9, 13-5) … Saturday, May 15, 2004 … Eck Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)

THE TALE OF THE TAPE

(Rutgers … Notre Dame)

2003 Records … 37-22, 19-6 BE (1st)s … 45-18, 16-7 BE (3rd)

Lettermen Ret./Losts … 21/5 s … 21/7

CURRENT Stats (BIG EAST rank in parentheses)

Overall Batting Average … (2) .322 … (3) .315

BIG EAST Batting Avg. … (5) .296 … (2) .310

Runs Per 9 Innings … (3) 8.1 … (1) 9.1

Home Runs … (3) 44 … (1) 50

Slugging Percentage … (3) .479 … (2) .480

Batters’ BB+HBP-K Ratio … -31 (194+49/275) … +15 (216+90/281)

On-Base Percentage … (2) .408 … (1) .415

Stolen Bases … (4) 55-73 … (10) 49-71

Stolen Base Percentage … .753 … .690

Overall Team ERA … (4) 4.42 … (1) 3.68

BIG EAST ERA … (4) 3.94 … (3) 3.86

Pitchers’ K-to-BB Ratio … 1.56 (276/177) … 2.56 (330/129)

Pitchers’ Ks Per 9 Inn. … (10) 6.4 … (4) 7.0

Pitchers’ Walks Per 9 Inn. … (5) 4.1 … (1) 2.8

Opponent Batting Average … (4) .266 … (2) .251

Fielding Pct./Errors … (8) .960/69 … (3) .965/65

BIG EAST Fielding Pct. … (7) .961/25 … (6) .962/28

Double Plays Turned … (3) 41 … (1) 45

Home Record … 16-1 … 15-4

Road Record (incl. neutral) … 13-15-1 … 25-5

Record In One-Run Games … 3-3 … 5-2

Extra-Inning Record … 1-3 … 4-0

Probable Pitching Rotations

Saturday (Game 1)

RU – Jack Egbert (Jr., RHP; (4.44, 7-3, 75.0 IP, 58 K/20 BB, .270)

ND – Chris Niesel (Jr., RHP; (3.94, 6-2, 75.1 IP, 67 K/15 BB, .301)

Saturday (Game 2)

RU -Aaron Kalb (Jr., RHP; (3.12, 5-2, 49.0 IP, 34 K/20 BB, .266)

ND – Grant Johnson (Jr., RHP; 2.27, 3-0, 31.2 IP, 29 K/17 BB, .186)

Sunday

RU – Jim Jansen (So., RHP; (3.59, 5-0, 42.2 IP, 27 K/20 BB, .296)

ND – TBA (possibilities include so. LHP Tom Thornton, fr. RHP Jeff Samardzija, sr. LHP Joe Thaman)

Updated BIG EAST Conference Baseball Standings

1. Notre Dame – 15-5 (.750) … 39-9

Pittsburgh – 15-5 (.750) … 35-12

3. Rutgers – 13-5 (.722) … 29-17

4. St. John’s – 13-7 (.650) … 31-17

5. Boston College – 11-7 (.611) … 25-22

6. Virginia Tech – 10-10 (.500) … 27-21-1

7. Villanova – 7-13 (.350) … 27-19-1

8. West Virginia – 8-15 (.348) … 18-28

9. Georgetown – 7-16 (.304) … 24-29

10. Connecticut – 6-14 (.300) … 22-25-1

Seton Hall – 6-14 (.300) … 14-30-1

This Weekend’s Other Series (bye for WVU)

Connecticut at Pittsburgh … Seton Hall at St. John’s … Virginia Tech at Boston College … Villanova at Georgetown

Next Week: VT@ND, VU#RU, SJU@Pitt, BC@SHU, WVU@UConn

Last Weekend’s Results – ND swept @UConn, Pitt swept @Pitt BC swept @WVU

Key Head-to-Head Tiebreakers: ND split vs. BC, SJU … Pitt over ND, BC, VT … RU over Pitt, VT … SJU over RU, BC, VT … RU-BC rainout TBD: ND-RU, VT-BC, ND-VT, Pitt-SJU

SERIES NOTES – ND holds a 17-12 series edge vs. Rutgers (5-4 at Eck Stadium) and has won 13 of the last 18 meetings … the teams met six times in 2002 (ND won 4) and ’03 (3-3 split) … ND holds a 5-4 edge in the BIG EAST Tournament, including title games won by RU in `98 and ND in `02 and `03 … RU’s last visit to ND saw the Irish win the doubleheader (6-5, 7-2), with the Irish rallying for 4 runs vs. ace Bobby Brownlie in the 7th and final inning of the opener … on the final play of that game, Steve Sollmann hit a 2-RBI, bases-loaded single into shallow center field (tying the game) but the centerfielder walked away from the ball thinking the game was over and the winning run scored as well … Brownlie was one strike from a win before singles by Joe Thaman, Steve Stanley and Sollmann … RU’s 11-0 win in `02 ended ND’s team-record scoring streak at 231 (that remains ND’s only shutout loss in the last 336 games and is one of just 6 in the 10-year Paul Mainieri era … the Knights won the `03 series at RU (2-0, 2-10, 3-5 in 19) … the 19-inning loss at RU is believed to be the longest game in ND history (also BIG EAST game and tied for 10th in NCAA record book) … that game featured 511 pitches, 144 batters, 44 baserunners (24 left on, 6 thrown out, 7 doubled up) … Sollmann’s 2-run shot broke up Aaron Kalb’s no-hitter in that game but RU tied the game in the 9th (2-2) on a close play at 1st that led to the tying run scoring during the argument (both teams then scored in the 15th) … RU’s Graig Badgder had an unusual 0-for-9 game but had the tapper that led to the E-1 and the tying run in the 9th … the game ended on a Steve Normane HR … Chris Niesel (6 IP, 6 H, BB, 2 Ks) posted the shutout in the `03 opener, Steve Andres was the offensive hero (HR, RBI single), Matt Macri made a 360-play at SS to save 2 runs and Jack Egbert took the loss (7 IP, 7 H, BB, 4 Ks) … Shaun Parker won the `03 nightcap (5.2 IP, R, 5 H, 4 BB, 3 Ks), John Axford took the loss (3.2 IP, 6 R, 3 H, 6 BB, 2 HB, 2 WP, 4 Ks) … ND beat RU in the winners-bracker game of the `03 BIG EAST Tournament, 9-3, led by Ryan Kalita (7 IP, R, 7 H, BB, 6 Ks) and Cody Rizzo (3-for-3, 2-run 2B, 2 R, 2 sliding catches) … RU later stayed alive at the `03 BET in a wild game (ND rallied from down 9-1 to up 11-9 but lost 15-11) … Matt Laird’s first start since 2000 then delivered the first repeat BIG EAST champs since 1986, with an 11-3 win over RU (Laird’s stats: 9 IP, 2 ER, 9 H, BB, 6 Ks , hard-luck loser in 19-IP gm) … Matt Edwards had a 3-run double in the 1st and Javi Sanchez completed a tournament MVP performance … the series has featured its share of blowouts (8 of last 25 decided by 8-plus runs) and tense finishes (14 total decided by 1-2 runs, with 8 won by ND).

SERIES STATS – Grant Johnson (injured in `03) posted a pair of wins over RU: 7-2 in reg. season (6 Ip, 5 H, UER, 4 BB, 5 Ks) and 8-3 at the BET (7 IP, 2 R/1 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 7 Ks) to open the ’02 BET with an 8-3 win over Rutgers … Chris Niesel posted the 2-0 sutout at RU last season (see above) but dnp vs. RU in `02 (mono) or at the `03 BET (finger injury) … Steve Sollmann started all 16 games vs. RU in the `01-’03 seasons, batting .246 with 11 RBI and 2 HR in those games (he scored on a Brian Stavisky single to win the `02 BET, 3-2 over RU in 10) … Matt Edwards his .389 in 6 games vs. RU in `03 (RBI, 2B, 4 BB).

IRISH TEAM NOTES – ND scored just 39 first-inning runs in its first 47 games of the season before scoring 10 first-inning runs earlier this week vs. UConn in the series finale and then 3 vs. Michigan … the Irish are on the verge of their 16th straight 40-win season and entered `04 with the 3rd-longest active streak behind Florida State (26; currently 32-19) and Wichita State (26; 35-13) … ND is one of 7 teams out of 287 in Division I with single-digit losses, as are East Carolina (44-7), Texas (46-8), Stanford (38-8), Oral Roberts (38-8) in Rice (36-9) and Albany (33-9) … ND logged nearly 16,000 travel miles in the first 12 weeks of the season (36 days on the road), posting a 25-5 record outside of Eck Stadium that ranks 2nd-best in the Mainieri era (the `01 team was 24-3-1 in regular-season road games) … the Iris hare 30 games over .500 for the 6th season in the program’s history (best ever was +36, in 2001) … ND is riding a 135-game scoring streak … ND’s team-record 90 hit-by-pitch rank 11th in NCAA history (Nevada’s 1997 team holds the record, with 125) … ND’s 2001-04 teams have combined for a 177-63-1 record … the Irish have posted 19 error-free games in `04 … ND has blasted 50 HRs after hitting just 31 in `03 .. the Irish have hit 3 HRs six times in `04, plus a 4-HR game at UConn … ND has dominated 2nd-inning scoring (49-7) and owns a 155-53 combined edge in the 6th (71-27), 7th (51-15) and 8th (33-11) … the Irish have posted three 3-0 BIG EAST road sweeps for the first time ever in one season (the previous eight ND teams combined for just five 3-0 BIG EAST road sweeps) … ND is 58-10 in its last 68 at Eck Stadium (since mid-’02) … Mainieri’s 22-year career record is 769-448-2 (438-169-1/.721 at ND) … the Irish own a 161-53 (.752) record in 8-plus seasons of BIG EAST play, with Mainieri owning the best BIG EAST winning pct. in the league’s history … ND’s 81 all-time BIG EAST series include 59 series wins, 12 even series and just 10 series wins by the opponent … the Irish have lost just 3 of 41 all-time BIG EAST home series (32 series wins, 5 even) while the last 26 BE series at Eck have seen ND win 22 (split 4) … the team’s .415 on-base pct. would rank 4th in ND history (best since `94) while the .251 opp. batting avg. is 6th-best by an ND staff since 1971 … the Irish have won 22 times by 5-plus runs.

IRISH PLAYER NOTES – Steve Sollmann is set to make his Eck Stadium return after missing 21 games due to an April 3 in-game collision (he has hit 6-for-14 since returning from the fractured jaw) … Sollmann ranks 4th in ND history with 286 hits, 5th with 76 stolen bases, 6th with 200 runs and 8th with a .364 career batting avg. … Chris Niesel is riding a 16-1-inning shutout streak (.211 opp. batting/12-for-57, 19 Ks, 2 BB) that includes 8.1 relief innings (career-best 12 Ks, 4 H) to set up the 15-inning win over Ball State and the 4-0 shutout at UConn (6 Ks, 6 H, BB) … Niese’sl .864 career win pct. (19-3) ranks 2nd in ND baseball history (best since Herb Kelly went 22-2 from 1912-14) while his 4.12 career K-to-walk ratio is on pace to break the ND record … football/baseball star Jeff Samardzija ranks 26th in the nation with a 2.15 ERA … leftside infielders Matt Macri (41) and Greg Lopez (31) have combined for 72 error-free games while Sollmann has yet to make an error this season (1B Matt Edwards has 3 Es and 43 error-free games) … Craig Cooper has hits in 13 of his last 14 games … Edwards is riding a career-best, 10-game hitting streak … Brian Stavisky (14, in 2000) is the last ND player to hit more HR in a season than Matt Bransfield’s current 11 … Cody Rizzo’s 46 times hit-by-pitch are an ND career record (he owns the top season totals, with 28 in `03 and 18 in `04) … Tom Thornton’s 6-hit gem at WVU is just ND’s third 9-inning solo shutout in a BIG EAST game during the last six seasons (Danny Tamayo had two in ’01).

see PDF for TEAM ROSTERS AND STATS, plus updated feature story on the Irish infield and ND headsheet sheet.