Oct. 3, 2005
The Notre Dame baseball team will hold its annual Blue-Gold intrasquad series this week at Eck Stadium, from Oct. 4-6. The Tuesday-to-Thursday format will feature five-inning games on the first two days and then a seven-inning final game, with each game starting at 4:00 p.m. and open to the public free-of-charge.
Notre Dame’s assistant coaches will square off as bench managers of their respective teams. Third-year pitching coach Terry Rooney – whose teams have been victorious in the program’s previous two fall intrasquad series – will coach the Blue team while first-year assistant Cliff Godwin is coach of the Gold.
Junior righthander Jeff Manship is slated to be the starting pitcher for the Gold while the Blue will counter with freshman righthander David Phelps.
(Note that – due to the shortened game lengths – live stats will not be provided for the Blue-Gold games but complete stats will be posted post-game.)
Rooney’s 14-player Blue roster includes five position players who have been starters during their Irish careers: the senior DH/leftfielder tandem of Steve Andres and Matt Bransfield, senior centerfielder Alex Nettey, junior catcher Sean Gaston and sophomore infielder Ross Brezovsky. Rooney also has stacked his pitching staff with the likes of senior Tom Thornton, junior Mike Dury, sophomore Wade Korpi and freshman Sam Elam (all lefthanders), plus sophomore righthander Joey Williamson.
Other players on the Blue team include senior infielder Eddie Smith, freshman utility player Ryan Connolly and freshman catcher Mike Many (one of three walk-on candidates remaining who may earn a spot on the 2006 team).
Godwin’s veteran position players are led by three seniors – outfielder/first baseman Craig Cooper, shortstop Greg Lopez and outfielder Cody Rizzo – plus junior outfielder Danny Dressman. The Gold team’s pitching staff includes (all righthanders) junior Jess Stewart, sophomore Tony Langford and freshmen Kyle Weiland and Jeremy Barnes – with Langford and Barnes providing solid two-way ability for Godwin’s in-game strategy.
Others on the 13-player Gold roster include a pair of top freshman position players – catcher David Hum and third baseman Eddy Mendiola – plus a pair of walk-on candidates in junior RHP John Seabaugh and sophomore catcher Chris Soriano.
The Blue will be designated as the home team and utilize the third-base dugout while each team will bat eight players in their lineup with no DH. No pitcher will throw more than five innings or 75 pitches and other restrictions will limit pitchers returning to throw in a second game of the series.
Several members of the Irish team – including football players Jeff Samardzija and Evan Sharpley – will not be competing in the Blue-Gold Series. Others who will not be playing in the final intrasquad games include junior RHP Dan Kapala, sophomore infielder Brett Lilley, sophomore LHP David Gruener and freshman RHP Brett Graffy. All of the above players – with the exception of Kapala (who recently underwent shoulder surgery) – are expected to return to action for the winter and/or spring seasons.
Bransfield and Rizzo helped the Gold win the Blue-Gold Series in the fall of 2002 (9-1, 7-6, 1-6), with their classmates Nettey (4-for-9, RBI, 2B), Cooper (4-for-10, 2 RBI, 3 R, 3B, BB, SB) and Andres (4-for-10, 3 RBI, R, SB) having strong showings for the Blue in the ’02 series.
Rooney’s Blue team won the 2003 intrasquad series (9-7, 13-10, 1-5) – despite a strong series from Gold players Bransfield (reached base 10 times, 4-for-7, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 6 RBI, 4 R, 2 2B, SB, SF) and Dressman (4-for-11, 5 R, RBI, 2 2B, 3 BB, 2 SB).
The 2004 Blue-Gold Series was shortened to one game, with Brezovsky providing the key two-run double in the 8th inning of the Gold’s 10-9 win.
Bransfield has been a doubles machine during his previous Blue-Gold games, batting 8-for-20 (.400) in the seven games while totaling 6 doubles and 10 RBI (8 R, 5 BB, 3 HBP, K, SF, SB).
Andres (7 RBI, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 1-3 SB, SF) and Nettey (4 RBI, 3 R, HR, 2B, 2 SB, 6 K) each have hit a combined 8-for-25 (.320) in their seven career Blue-Gold games while Rizzo is a .304 career hitter in the series (7-for-23, 8 RBI, 7 R, HR, 3B, 2 BB, SF, 2 HBP, 4 SB). Cooper, who did not play in the 2003 series, is 5-for-12 in his previous Blue-Gold games (3 RBI, 4 R, HR, 3B, BB, SF, 4 SB, 2 K).
Gaston’s four previous Blue-Gold games include batting 5-for-15 (5 R, 2 RBI, 3B, 2B, BB, K, SB) while Dressman has hit 4-for-14 (RBI, 6 R, 2B, 4 BB, 3 SB, 2 K) and Dury 4-for-13 (4 RBI, 3 BB, 3 K, SF).
Lopez will be looking forward to playing his first full Blue-Gold Series, after being limited in previous falls due to injury.
BLUE TEAM (manager: Terry Rooney)
DH/LF – #36 Steve Andres (Sr.; Napa, California)
DH/LF – #12 Matt Bransfield (Sr.; Englewood, Colorado)
CF –#16 Alex Netty (Sr.; Dolton, Illinois)
IF –#5 Eddie Smith (Sr.; Olympia, Washington)
LHP –#30 Tom Thornton (Sr.; Middleboro, Massachusetts)
LHP/1B- #44 Mike Dury (Jr.; Indianapolis, Indiana)
C – #11 Sean Gaston (Jr.; Brownsburg, Indiana)
IF – #7 Ross Brezovsky (So.; Naples, Florida)
LHP – #13 Wade Korpi (So.; Lake Worth, Florida)
RHP – #51 Joey Williamson (So.; Lantana, Florida)
UTIL – Ryan Connolly (Fr.; Binghamton, New York)
LHP – Sam Elam (Fr.; Mesquite, Texas)
C – Mike Many (Fr.; Naperville, Illinois)
RHP – David Phelps (Fr.; Hazelwood, Missouri)
GOLD TEAM (manager: Cliff Godwin)
OF/1B – #9 Craig Cooper (Sr.; Plainview, New York)
SS – #4 Greg Lopez (Sr.; Upper Arlington, Ohio)
OF –#17 Cody Rizzo (Sr.; Temecula, California)
OF – #6 Danny Dressman (Jr.; San Jose, California)
RHP – #34 Jeff Manship (Jr.; San Antonio, Texas)
RHP – #32 Jess Stewart (Jr.; Manassas, Virginia)
RHP – John Seabaugh (Jr.; Granger, Indiana)
RHP/OF – #3 Tony Langford (So.; Fort Worth, Texas)
C – Chris Soriano (So.; Randolph, New Jersey)
IF/RHP – Jeremy Barnes (Fr.; Garland, Texas)
C – David Hum (Fr.; Little Rock, Arkansas)
3B – Eddy Mendiola (Fr.; Miami, Florida)
RHP – Kyle Weiland (Fr.; Albuquerque, New Mexico)