May 4, 2007

Full-Color Game Program in PDF Format
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The Notre Dame baseball team (25-20, 8-9 BIG EAST) this weekend looks to continue its climb up the BIG EAST standings, as the Irish play host to Seton Hall in a three-game series at Eck Stadium (Fri.-Sun., May 4-6; start times at 6:05, 1:05 and then 12:05 for the series finale) … a win in Friday night’s opener would place the Irish alone in 5th place (after starting 1-6 in league play) while a sweep of the SHU series could push the Irish into a tie for 4th … the ND rotation for the weekend includes (in order) David Phelps, Dan Kapala and Sam Elam (Kyle Weiland has returned to his 2006 closer role) while SHU will counter with Keith Cantwell, Corey Young and Dan Merklinger … the SHU staff also includes midweek starter Sean Black, who was rated by Baseball America as the nation’s top freshman prospect for 2007 (he was the highest-drafted prep player who did not sign following the 2006 draft) … SHU did not have any games during the week, due to exams (meaning that Black could see extended relief duty if needed) …

Note: see link above for complete full-color PDF of game program, including action photos, ND headshot page, headshots of the SHU starting pitchers, Tale of the Tape stat comparison, starting pitcher stats, team rosters, team stat sheets, notes (also included below), BIG EAST standings, results and this weekend’s games, and BIG EAST stat leaders.

THE BIG EAST RACE – ND would be alone in 5th in the BIG EAST with a win tonight and will move ahead of USF by going at least 2-1 vs. SHU … ND owns head-to-head tiebreakers vs. WVU, Georgetown and Rutgers but would lose head-to-head ties with USF, Pitt or Cincinnati … five BIG EAST games have been lost to rainouts (the SHU-UConn series, an ND-Pitt game and a WVU-CIN game) … series left after this week include WVU at UConn, USF at SHU, RU at Pitt, CIN at SJU, ND at LOU and VU at GU (all next week) and the May 17-19 games (UConn at ND, SHU at Pitt, GU at WVU, SJU at USF, LOU at CIN and RU at VILL).

SERIES NOTES – ND owns a 23-9 series edge over Seton Hall and won 8 straight from the Pirates (’00-’03), but the Irish own just a 4-3 series edge since that win streak … ND has won 8 of the previous 11 season series vs. SHU (plus one split of a 2-game series) … the home teams have combined to go 21-9 in the series (ND 14-1, SHU 7-8), with SHU’s only win at Eck Stadium coming in 1999 (7-1; ND has won 8 straight at home vs. SHU) … SHU swept the ’97 series from ND (at home) and then took 2-of-3 from the visiting Irish last season (7-6, 12-14, 2-1) … top ND hitters in the 2007 series vs. SHU included: Alex Nettey (5-for-10, 2 RBI, 2 R, HBP, K), Brett Lilley (4-for-9, 7 RBI, 4 R, 2 HR, 2 BB, 2 HBP, K, SAC, E) and Matt Bransfield (5-for-12, 4 RBI, 2 R, 3 K, SAC) while SHU’s top hitters were Mike Morano (4-for-9, RBI, 3 R, 2 BB, HBP, K, 2 SB), Dan McDonald (4-for-9, RBI, 2 R, K, SAC) and Brandon Cohen (4-for-12, 6 RBI, 3 R, 2B, 4 Ks) … Lilley is a .385 career hitter vs. SHU (5-for-13, 8 RBI, 5 R, 2 HR, 4 BB, 2 Ks, CS) … Dan Merklinger (7 IP, 4 R/3 ER, 3 BB, 3 Ks, 2 HB) won the 2007 opener vs. ND, with Jeff Samardzija taking the loss (3 IP, 6 R/5 ER, 6 H,3 BB, 3 Ks, WP) … the Irish then led game-2 by a 14-4 score before SHU scored 8 in the 9th, with Jeff Manship picking up the win (6.2 IP, 4 R, 6 H, BB, 10 Ks, WP) and McDonald suffering the loss (6.0 IP, 6 R/5 ER, 6 H, BB, 4 Ks, HB, WP) … Lilley hit a pair of 3-run home runs that proved to be key in that win, with Craig Cooper (3 R, 2B) and Ross Brezovsky (2 RBI, 2 R, 2B) adding 3-for-5 games … SHU scored twice in the 8th to take the finale, giving Tom Thornton (8 IP, 2 R, 8 H, BB, 7 Ks) a tough-luck loss while Corey Young picked up the complete-game win (5 H, BB, 6 Ks) … Robbie Hine had the 2-run double in the 8th, scoring Morano and Dan Lopez.

IRISH NOTES – ND’s rollercoaster season has included a long win streak of just five games and never more than three straight losses, plus high-end wins over then-#7 Nebraska, then-#12 TCU (now one of the nation’s hottest teams) and taking 2-of-3 at then-league-leading Rutgers (RU has lost just one other home game), countered by several frustrating losses to lesser teams … unearned runs have provided ND’s margin of defeat in eight losses (ND held midgame leads in seven of those tough losses) … Dave Schrage picked up his 500th career win in memorable fashion during the series finale at RU (6-4), with the Irish rallying in both the 8th and 9th (thanks to triples by Ross Brezovsky and Jeremy Barnes) … ND was 1-4 in its first five 1-run games of the season but now is 5-5 in those tight games (the Irish have played five 1-run games in their past 12 at Eck Stadium) … ND has homered in five of the past seven games (after a 14-game HR droguht) … the Irish are 13-4 since dropping a pair of tough 4-3 games at Cincinnati in early April (ND started 1-6 in the BIG EAST but is 7-3 in its past 10 league games) … ND recently faced an early 5-0 deficit vs. Toledo before staging its biggest comeback win since 2004 (8-6) … one night later, Sam Elam and Purdue’s Matt Bischoff both took no-hitters into the 8th (Purdue’s first hit came with 2-outs in the 8th while Barnes hit a leadoff single in the 9th, breaking up Bischoff’s perfect game) … Matt Weglarz hit a 2-out double in the 10th and scored on a Danny Dressman single to end the Purdue game … Weglarz is batting 106 points higher at home (.288) than in all road games this season (.182) … ND’s top hitters at home in 2007 include Lilley (.423, 24 R, 14 BB, 10 HBP in 20 GP) and A.J. Pollock (.408, 15 RBI, 15 BB) … Pollock has emerged as a top candidate for BIG EAST rookie of the year while David Phelps is a making a strong bid for conference and national honors (his 1.64 ERA leads the BIG EAST and is 6th-best in the nation, among pitching with 50-plus innings) … Phelps easily could be 9-1, if not for low run support in two of his early starts (2-1 and 3-0 losses) … Lilley recently had a 21-game errorless streak (at SS) and ranks 2nd in ND history with a .484 career on-base pct. (his 74 career times hit-by-pitch are 5th in NCAA history) … the Irish played 22 of their first 30 on the road but now are in the midst of playing 18 of 25 at home (ND is 14-6 at Eck Stadium this season) … ND ranks 2nd in the BIG EAST and 19th nationally with a 3.53 season ERA … ND’s many 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) … eight different pitchers have been tried in the 3-man weekend rotation this season (Elam this weekend is slated to be ND’s sixth different starting pitcher in BIG EAST play) … ND has won 11 times this season by 5-plus runs … the Irish have posted double-digit hits in 15 wins this season but also have 11 losses with 2-5 hits … 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 404 (154 BB, 49 HB, 32 WP, 76 E, 25 PB, 64 SBA, 4 BK), for an avg. of 9.0/gm … Schrage’s ’06 Evansville squad (43-22) averaged just 5.6 freebies while ND’s 2006 team averaged only 6.3 freebies (45-18-1) … ND is 21-5 when scoring the game’s first run, 13-7 when scoring in the 1st inning and 20-2 when scoring 5-plus runs (just 5-18 with 0-4 runs; 3-15 with 0-3) … the team with the hit edge is 35-8 in ND’s games this season (the Irish are 19-4 when totaling more hits) … in ND’s games this season, the team leading at the end of the 6th is 34-5 (ND 18-1), the team ahead at the end of the 7th is 36-4 (ND 18-0) and the team with the lead entering the 9th is 39-1 (ND 20-0) … ND owns a 37-23 scoring edge in the 1st inning, 34-10 in the 2nd and 50-33 in the 3rd (121-66 from the 1st-3rd), but the Irish have been outscored 34-13 in the 5th.