April 13, 2007

Full-Color Gameday Program in PDF Format
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BIG EAST Baseball at The Eck – Georgetown Hoyas (12-21, 2-7) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (15-16, 2-6) … Friday, Saturday & Sunday … April 13-15, 2007 … Frank Eck Stadium (Notre Dame, Indiana)

SERIES NOTES – Notre Dame holds a 27-4 series edge vs. Georgetown (14-2 at Eck Stadium), including 26-3 since joining the BIG EAST in 1996 (other games in 1908 and ’14) … ND had won 24 straight in the series before dropping the first game of a 2005 doubleheader vs. GU (8-9; game lasted 3:43 – 3rd-longest in Eck Stadium history) … Tony Langford (3-for-6, 2 RBI, R) and Brett Lilley (2-for-6, R, HBP) combined for five hits in the ’05 loss to GU … ND dropped the ’06 series opener at GU (3-8) before winning the other two games (12-2, 6-3) … Ryan Craft (4-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 R) and Warren Sizemore (7 IP, 3 R, 4 H, BB, 2 Ks) paced the win in the 7-inning opener vs. ND in ’06 (Jeff Manship took the loss) … the Irish came back to win the second game of the doubleheader, behind Jeff Samardzija (7 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 Ks), Cody Rizzo (3-for-4, 4 RBI, 3 R, HR), Jeremy Barnes (3-for-6 from leadoff spot, 3 RBI, 2 R, HR, 2B) and Ross Brezovsky (3 R, 2 2B), with Darren Sizemore (now a sophomore transfer at Ohio State) taking the loss … a pair of misplayed double-play balls in the 9th prevented Tom Thornton from picking up a shutout in the ’06 series finale (5 H, 2 BB, 8 Ks), with Greg Lopez pacing the ND offense in that game (3-for-6, 3 RBI) … the ’06 wins over GU launched ND on its record-setting 23-game, monthlong win streak … Lilley is a .353 career hitter vs. the Hoyas (6-for-17, 5 R, BB, K, 3 SB) … this weekend’s game-2 starter Dan Kapala has logged a pair of shutout relief outings vs. GU (4 IP, 4 H, 2 BB) … the rest of the ND staff has combined for just 4.2 career innings vs. the Hoyas … GU assistant Matt Bok was the starting DH for ND’s 2002 College World Series team … GU athletics director Bernard Muir recently was a senior associate AD at ND (Hoyas men’s soccer coach Brian Wiese is a recent ND assistant).

IRISH NOTES – The Irish played 22 of their first 30 on the road but now are in the midst of playing 19 of 26 at home … ND entered the week ranked 2nd in the BIG EAST and 32nd nationally with a 3.58 season ERA (now down to 3.51, which would rank 4th-best by an ND staff in the past 15 seasons) … ND’s 2007 highlights include wins over #12 TCU (4-1) and #7 Nebraska (16-6) … the Irish have lost seven times this season when unearned runs led to the losing margin (ND held midgame leads in each of those tough losses) … the Irish are batting .349 at home this season, led by Lilley (.500/16-for-32, 14 R, .750 slugging, HR, 2 3B, 2B, .619 on-base, 10 BB, 4 Ks), A.J. Pollock )/417) and Jeremy Barnes (.355) … ND’s many early-season challenges have included replacing the entire 3-man weekend rotation (a task not faced by at least the 19 previous ND teams) while losing six of the nine everyday position starters from 2006 (also unprecedented in a check of the past 19 seasons) … the streaky ND offense has hit .373 in wins (10.3 runs/gm, 11 HR, .534 slugging, .455 on-base, 25 Es, only 14 unearned runs) but just .198 in the losses (2.3 runs/gm, 2 HR, .246 slugging, .289 OB, 30 Es, 34 UERs) … the Irish are averaging 2.1 UERs allowed per loss … a series of untimely plays has seen errors become magnified in the losses, when the ratio of Es to UERs has been nearly 1-to-1 (0.9), compared to 1.8 Es for every UER in the wins … ND has won seven times this season by 5-plus runs but is just 2-4 in 1-run games (ND’s avg. margin of victory is 5.7, with just a 3.6 avg. loss margin) … the Irish have posted double-digit hits in 10 wins this season but also have 10 losses with 2-5 hits … ND head coach Dave Schrage began tracking the stat of “freebies” during the past few years at Evansville … the freebie stat takes into account seven categories (walks, hit batters, wild pitches, errors, passed balls, stolen bases, balks) in which a team helps its opponents by putting runners on base or allowing them to advance (without the benefit of a hit) … ND’s current freebie total is 288 (110 BB, 34 HB, 20 WP, 55 E, 20 PB, 45 SB, 4 BK), for an avg. of 9.3/gm … Schrage’s record-setting ’06 Evansville squad averaged just 5.6 freebies in its 43-22 season while ND’s 2006 team averaged just 6.3 freebies/gm, en route to 45 wins … ND is 13-5 when scoring the game’s first run, 8-6 when scoring in the 1st inning and 12-1 when scoring 5-plus runs (just 3-15 with 0-4; 2-12 with 0-3) … the team with the hit edge is 25-6 in ND’s games this season (the Irish are 13-4 when totaling more hits) … in ND’s games this season, the team leading at the end of the 6th is 25-3 (ND 12-1), the team ahead at the end of the 7th is 26-2 (ND 12-0) and the team with the lead entering the 9th is 28-1 (ND 13-0) … ND has scored 20 runs in the 1st inning but also has allowed 20 (ND’s top scoring margins are 20-7 in the 2nd and 30-14 in the 7th) … the 5th inning often can supply pivotal moments in a game, but ND has been outcored 21-11 in the 5th this season … the Irish are 6-2 when hitting a home run (3-0 with multi HRs) … ND has 14 games with 0-1 errors (17 with 2-plus) … Mike Dury has four more extra-base hits (16) than singles (12) this season … Danny Dressman ranks 3rd in ND history with 30 career sac. bunts … Lilley is riding a 10-game errorless streak (at SS) … Lilley’s .478 career on-base pct. ranks 3rd in ND history while his 62 career times hit-by-pitch are 8th in NCAA history … Barnes is hitting .381 (8-for-21) over the past 5 games … David Phelps ranks 11th among the nation’s ERA leaders (1.51; min. 1 IP/tm gm) … Schrage is nine shy of his 500th career coaching win … freshman OF Billy Boockford has been sidelined since mid-March with a knee injury … three ND pitchers (Kyle Weiland, Sam Elam and Brett Graffy) will pitch this summer with the Cape Cod League’s Falmouth Commodoes while Barnes will play for the CCL’s Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox (others TBA).