April 7, 2006

TAMPA, Fla. –

Complete Release in PDF Format
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**Note – see PDF for complete release, including chart data … see earlier PDF release for full pre-series notes**

NOTRE DAME BASEBALL GAMEDAY NOTES (at South Florida; April 7, 2006)

IRISH LOOK FOR MORE SUNNY RESULTS IN FLORIDA – The Notre Dame baseball team is set for its 20th game in the state of Florida during the four-year career of the current senior class, with the Irish going 15-4 during the four most recent trips to the sunshine state: 6-1 at the 2003 Kennel Clubs Classic in Jacksonville; 4-0 at the 2004 FAU Classic; 3-1 at UCF in a pair of games vs. both Florida A&M (2-0) and Central Florida (1-1); and 2-2 at the ’05 NCAA regional held at the University of Florida.

STARTING WHAT YOU FINISH – A look back at the 2005 season reveals that the Irish opened and closed their season in the same state (outside of Indiana) for just the second time in the program’s 114-year history … the 1983 ND team opened vs. Creighton in game played at Oral Roberts (6-5 loss) and actually returned to that Tulsa, Okla., campus for the season-ending Midwest City Conference Tournament … another rare scheduling sequence saw Notre Dame end its 2000 season at Mississippi State (in an NCAA regional) and then open the 2001 season at MSU’s Dudy-Noble Field, vs. New Orleans.

SUPER SKIPPERS – ND’s Paul Mainieri (838) and USF’s Eddie Cardieri (785) have combined for 1,623 victories during their career as college baseball head coaches.

SHARK TALES – Tonight’s starter Jeff Samardzija matched his career-high last week with eight strikeouts in the 6-1 win over Pittsburgh, on a festive night at Eck Stadium … Samardzija lowered his season ERA to 3.16 after allowing the single run on eight hits and just one walk, with the eight strikeouts matching his career high set in 2005 versus both Seton Hall and Cleveland State … he located two-thirds of his pitches for strikes (75 of 113) in an eight-inning outing that included 11 groundball outs, two popups/lineouts to the infield, a runner caught stealing and just two flyouts … Pittsburgh put just two leadoff batters on base, with Samardzija holding the visitors to 2-for-11 batting with runners on base and 1-for-8 with 2-outs (opponents now are batting just .220 versus him with 2-outs this season).

ON A ROLL – Samardzija’s pair of strong starts in BIG EAST play (vs. Georgetown and Pittsburgh) have yielded a 1.80 conference ERA that ranks 7th among BIG EAST pitchers … his other BIG EAST stats include a .241 opp. batting avg., 11 Ks, 3 walks and 13 hits allowed in 15 IP.

Jeff Samardzija CAREER STATS (see PDF)

Jeff Samardzija 2006 GAME-BY-GAME (see PDF)

NOTRE DAME PITCHING STAFF 2006 INNING-BY-INNING (see PDF)

NOTRE DAME OFFENSE 2006 INNING-BY-INNING (see PDF)

NOTRE DAME 1ST-INNING OFFENSE (see PDF)

NOTRE DAME 8TH-INNING OFFENSE

SUMMER TEAMMATES – USF’s starting pitcher for game-1 (RHP Casey Hudspeth) and two ND juniors (RHP Jeff Manship and catcher Sean Gaston) briefly were teammates during the summer of 2005 with the Cape Cod League’s Cotuit Kettleers (Hudspeth left the team early in the summer while Gaston was a CCL all-star and Manship’s strong summer included the win that sent Cotuit to the postseason) … ND sophomro LHP Wade Korpi and USF’s 3B Joey Angleberger played together in the summer of ’05 with the Valley League’s Staunton (Va.) Braves.

FLORIDA NATIVES – The 2006 Notre Dame baseball roster includes three sophomore from Florida, in starting 2B Ross Brezovsky (Naples/Collier HS) and former Santaluces HS teammates: LHP Wade Korpi (Lake Worth) and RHP Joey Williamson (Lantana) – plus freshman 3B/C Eddy Mendiola (Miami/Palmer Trinity HS) … head coach Paul Mainieri is a Miami native and graduate of Columbus HS (his father Demie was a hall-of-fame coach at Miami Dade North Community College) … third-year pitching coach and recruiting coordinator Terry Rooney was an assistant at Stetson (located in Deland, Fla.) in the 2002 and ’03 seasons … the ND baseball program’s list of all-time monogram winners includes 19 Florida natives, among them first baseman and Tampa native Henry Valenzuela (Jesuit HS; ’79-’82, hit .314 with 15 HR, 123 RBI) … recent pitching ace Chris Niesel (Plantation; 3.21 ERA, 21-4, 2 SV, 233 Ks and just 57 BB in 272. IP) joined other noteworthy RHPs such as Mike Pasilla (Windemere/Bishop Moore HS; ’87-’89), David Sinnes (Miami/Palmetto HS; ’90-’93, 2.91 career ERA, 32-8 record, 315 Ks in 297.1 IP), closer John Corbin (Hollywood Hills HS; ’98-’00, 20 saves) and Danny Tamayo (Miami/Ransom Everglades HS; ’98-’01, 3.27 ERA, 141 Ks in 160 IP) … Sinnes held ND record for career win pct. and Ks (best by Aaron Heilman in ’01) while Corbin is the Irish career saves leader and Tamayo formed a potent 1-2 punch with Heilman … other noteworthy ND players from Florida have included: SS Daniel Cunha (St. Petersburg; ’33-’35), IF Joe LaRocca (Ft. Lauderdale/Gibbons HS; ’70-’72), OF Mike Galloway (Cocoa Beach HS; ’75-’77DH Ken Meyer (Ft. Myers/Verot HS; ’99-’02) and catcher Javi Sanchez (Miami/Columbus HS).

WARMING UP IN FLA. – The Irish baseball team owns a 50-43-1 all-time record in the state of Florida but found the Sunshine State to be an especially welcome home-away-from-home during the previous six seasons, racking up a 28-8 record (.778) in Florida during that 2000-05 span (including a win at Central Florida on the first weekend of the ’05 season).

ND IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

* The Notre Dame baseball team has made regular visits to Florida, totaling a 50-43-1 record vs. various top teams at games played in Boca Raton, DeLand, Gainesville, Homestead, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee and Winter Park.

* The 2005 team opened 3-1 in games played at Central Florida (18-3 vs. Florida A&M, 1-2 vs. UCF, 4-3 vs. FAMU, 4-2 vs. UCF) and then ended its season at the NCAA regional played at the University of Florida (1-5 vs. North Carolina, 7-4 vs. Stetson, 3-0 vs. UNC and 3-23 vs. UF). The 2005 trip to Orlando marked just the second time in the past 27 seasons that the Irish have opened in the Sunshine State.

* In addition to participating in the 2000 (7-1 record) and 2003 (6-1) Kennel Club Classics, the Irish recently have played three series at the University of Miami (1-2 in ’92 and ’95, 0-3 in ’98) while participating in the first ACC/Disney Blast in Orlando (’98; 1-2 with win over FSU) and winning the 2004 Florida Atlantic Classic.

* Notre Dame nearly advanced to the 1992 and ’93 College World Series, after competing in NCAA regionals at Miami and Florida State (the Irish upset the host schools and advanced to the final day of competition in both ’92 and ’93) – with the 2002 Irish team winning an NCAA Super Regional series at Florida State to earn a College World Series spot (Florida native Chris Niesel picked up the decisive win over FSU). Other Mainieri-era trips to Florida include the 2001 Devil Rays Invitational (lost to USF, beat FAU) and the 2002 Homestead Challenge (3-1, loss to FIU).

* The program’s first Florida trip came in 1956 (2-5 in games around Tallahassee area), plus a 5-2 loss at FSU in 1958, three wins at Rollins in `67, tournaments at Miami in `70 (1-5) and Rollins in `78 (3-5-1), seven games around the state in `79 (2-5) and six games played at Rollins and Miami in `89 (4-2).

NOTRE DAME CAREER STATS IN FLORIDA (see PDF)