Dec. 25, 2004

The Notre Dame baseball team – coming off a record-setting 51-12 season in 2004 – is ranked 20th in the Collegiate Baseball magazine preseason poll and has been picked by the BIG EAST Conference coaches to win the 2005 league title. Junior closer Ryan Doherty also has been tabbed to repeat as an All-American in 2005 – earning first team preseason All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and third-team status from Collegiate Baseball – while junior outfielder Craig Cooper is a NCBWA third-team preseason All-American.

The 13-player preseason all-BIG EAST team includes four Irish players: Doherty, junior lefthanded starter Tom Thornton, senior first baseman Matt Edwards and junior shortstop Greg Lopez. Notre Dame (77) narrowly edged St. John’s (75) as the preseason favorite to win the BIG EAST title, with SJU (4) and Pittsburgh (2) being the only other teams with multiple players on the preseason all-BIG EAST team (the Panthers were picked third, followed by Rutgers, Boston College and Villanova).

Notre Dame’s 2005 opponents include several that are listed among the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll: Texas A&M (10th), Rice (15th), Central Florida (24th) and Michigan (35th). (See full poll at bottom of release).

Doherty, Cooper, Thornton and Lopez are part of the surging junior class that comprises the core of the 2005 team’s returning unit. Others from that class include Cooper’s fellow outfielders Steve Andres and Cody Rizzo and DH Matt Bransfield. Edwards is the other returning starter among the position players (he also could see time at third base) while the likely starters for the three open positions include sophomore catcher Sean Gason, freshman second baseman Brett Lilley and freshman third baseman Ross Brezovsky (a prep shortstop). Andres and Bransfield also could see more time behind the plate in ’05, as could Bransfield at first base. The deep 2005 outfield includes another junior, Alex Nettey, and sophomore Danny Dressman while switch-hitting sophomore Mike Dury could make an impact at first base or as a DH.

The Irish pitching staff is looking forward to the return of two top righthanders – senior John Axford and sophomore Jeff Manship – who missed all of the 2004 season due to injury. Those two pitchers combine with Thornton and sophomore two-sport standout Jeff Samardzija as top candidates for the ’05 starting rotation. Sophomores Dan Kapala and Jess Stewart also return after playing key roles as freshman while their classmate Derik Olvey will be looking to make a big impact after pitching just 15 innings in ’04 due to injury. Four promising freshmen – RHPs Joey Williamson and Tony Langford and LHPs Wade Korpi and David Gruener – also could fill key roles on the 2005 staff, with Langford likewise an option in the infield or at DH.

Doherty’s 2.30 career ERA is on pace to set the Notre Dame record while the 7-foot-1, 235-pound righthander also has compiled 12.93 strikeouts per nine innings, allowed just 5.75 hits per 9 IP and owns a 4.09 strikeout-to-walk ratio – with each of those marks also on track to break standing Notre Dame career records. His 2003 All-America season included 12 saves (8th in the nation), a 2.38 ERA, a 5-1 record, 46 strikeouts, 11 walks and 19 hits allowed (.160 opp. batting avg.) in 34 innings. The big closer allowed just 1-of-17 inherited baserunners to score in ’04 and owned a .227 opponent slugging percentage that ranks better than most pitchers’ opponent batting averages.

Cooper earned second team all-BIG EAST honors in ’04, after becoming the first player ever to lead the league in batting avg. (.470), on-base pct. (.545) and slugging pct. (.712) during BIG EAST play. His .360 overall batting avg. in ’04 ranked 9th among BIG EAST players while he also finished 4th among the league’s players in overall slugging (.617), 7th in home runs (10) and 8th in RBI (48). His other ’04 stats included 42 runs scored, 63 hits, 13 doubles, more walks (25) than strikeouts (22) and 12 stolen bases.

Lopez was a third team all-BIG EAST performer in 2004, ranking 3rd on the team with a .332 batting average while posting 42 error-free games. No previous full-time shortstop in the 10-year Paul Mainieri era had posted a batting average above .330 and a fielding percentage of .930-plus (Lopez finished at .931). His other ’04 stats included 66 hits, 14 doubles, 2 home runs and 34 RBI – plus a .353 batting avg. in BIG EAST action that ranked 12th among the league’s players (his 8 doubles in league action ranked 3rd on the BIG EAST stat charts).

Edwards – a first team all-BIG EAST performer in ’03 (at third base) – ranked among the 2004 BIG EAST leaders in RBI (5th, 54), home runs (6th, 12), total based (6th, 118) and runs (7th, 48), also batting .310 with 13 doublesand 32 walks.

Thornton’s stellar ’04 season included leading the BIG EAST in total wins (9-2) while ranking 2nd in starts (15) and innings (99.2), 5th in strikeouts (77), 6th in low opp. batting avg. (.251) and 11th in ERA (3.88), plus 24 walks.

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s NCAA Div. I Pre-Season Poll
Rank School (’04 Final Record … Points … Final ’04 Rank)
1. Texas (58-15 … 497 … 2)
2. Miami, Fla. (50-13 … 496 … 5)
3. Cal. St. Fullerton (47-22 … 495 … 1)
4. Tulane (42-21 … 493 … 15)
5. Louisiana St. (46-19 … 486 … 8)
6. Stanford (46-14 … 484 … 9)
7. North Carolina (43-21 … 480 … 27)
8. South Carolina (53-17 … 477 … 3)
9. Georgia (45-23 … 475 … 4)
10. Texas A&M (42-22 … 472 … 16)
11. Arizona St. (41-18 … 468 … 23)
12. Arizona (36-27-1 … 466 … 6)
13. Georgia Tech. (44-21 … 462 … 11)
14. Long Beach St. (40-21 … 459 … 12)
15. Rice (46-14 … 458 … 10)
16. Mississippi (39-21 … 456 … 24)
17. Washington (39-20-1 … 453 … 21)
18. Florida St. (45-23 … 451 … 14)
19. Mississippi St. (35-24 … 447 … NR)
20. Notre Dame (51-12 … 445 … 19)
21. Clemson (39-26 … 442 … 26)
22. Florida (43-22 … 441 … 18)
23. Oklahoma St. (38-24 … 437 … NR)
24. Central Florida (48-17 … 433 … 25)
25. Baylor (29-31 … 430 … NR)
26. Wichita St. (49-16 … 425 … 28)
27. Virginia (44-15 … 423 … 20)
28. Winthrop (37-23 … 420 … NR)
29. Pepperdine (30-32 … 416 … NR)
30. Florida Atlantic (47-17 … 413 … 30)
31. Nebraska (36-23 … 409 … NR)
32. East Carolina (51-13 … 407 … 13)
33. Arkansas (45-24 … 403 … 7)
34. Coastal Carolina (40-23 … 399 … NR)
35. Michigan (34-26 … 395 … NR)
36. U.C. Irvine (34-21-1) … 394 … NR)
37. Texas Christian (39-26 … 390 … NR)
38. Vanderbilt (45-19 … 387 … 17)
39. Stetson (36-23 … 383 … NR)
40. Tennessee (38-24 … 382 … NR)