CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (30-20) took down the No. 22 Boston College Eagles (32-17) in game one of the three-game series on Thursday, May 18 in Chestnut Hill. The Irish advance to 15-13 in the ACC as they have two final games left in the regular season to cap off conference play before heading into the ACC Tournament next week.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Notre Dame finished game one with 10 hits on the day, with TJ Williams, Vinny Martinez, and Casey Kmet leading the way with two hits a piece for the Irish.
The Irish offense was on the board early as TJ Williams led off with a base hit and scored on an RBI double from Vinny Martinez. While the Eagles tied it up in the bottom frame, the Irish led 3-1 after five.
Brady Gumpf scored Martinez on a sac fly in the fourth inning and an RBI single from Carter Putz in the fifth inning gave the Irish a two-run advantage of 3-1. Both the Irish and Eagles hung zeros in the sixth, as Aidan Tyrell closed the inning with his sixth strikeout of the day.
Casey Kmet recorded his second hit of the day as he sent it into the left center gap for a two-bagger to lead off the seventh. Estevan Moreno then followed with the fifth Irish double of the day to score Kmet. Notre Dame’s back-to-back doubles resulted in a two-run frame that made it a 5-1 ball game after seven.
Both the Irish and Eagles were held scoreless in the final two innings as Notre Dame secured the game one win 5-1. Tyrell took home his eighth win of the season as he pitched 6.0 innings, recorded six strikeouts, and gave up just one run on six hits. Radek Birkholz closed for Notre Dame, pitching 3.0 innings with two strikeouts and allowing no runs on two hits.
UP NEXT
Due to inclement weather on Saturday, the Irish will now face the Eagles in a doubleheader tomorrow for games two and three. Game two of the series is at 12:30 PM at Eddie Pellagrini Diamond on the campus of Boston College, while game three will be played at Fenway Park at 7 PM as the Irish compete in Boston College’s 11th Annual ALS Awareness Game.