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Midweek Preview: Central Michigan

Notre Dame Game Notes

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The seventh-ranked Notre Dame baseball team continues its eight-game homestand with just its second midweek contest of the season against Central Michigan Tuesday night at Frank Eck Stadium. The Irish are coming off another conference series win against a ranked opponent, jumping them into the Top-10 in the rankings for the first time in 15 years. The Irish will turn to righty Liam Simon who will be making his first start of the season on Tuesday against the Chippewas.

Home Sweet Home

  • The Irish continue their eight-game homestand with a midweek contest against regional foe Central Michigan.
  • 12 of their next 16 games will come from Frank Eck Stadium and the Irish own a 6-3 record at home so far this season. 
  • The Irish and Chippewas will face off for the 36th time in program history.
  • Notre Dame holds a 21-13-1 advantage in the all-time series and the Irish are 16-9-1 in games played at home.
  • Central Michigan sports a 17-9 overall record and are 9-3 in MAC play.
  • The Chippewas have won nine of their last 10 games and are coming off a series win over Bowling Green where they won three of the four games in their first series at home since 2019.

Weekend Update

  • Heading into the weekend with their third ranked series in a row, the Irish continued their hot play against No. 14 Georgia Tech
  • Friday night, the Irish fell behind early and faced a 7-0 hole going into the bottom of the fourth and trailed 7-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh.
  • The comeback came alive in the seventh as the Irish put up four runs after home runs from Jack Brannigan and Niko Kavadas to trim the lead to one.
  • Georgia Tech added two runs in the top of the eighth but the Irish had another big inning in the bottom half of the inning.
  • Notre Dame put up another four runs to take their first lead of the game. Spencer Myers tied the game with a Two-RBI single to right  and subsequent error. Then with the bases loaded, Carter Putz worked a walk to bring home Myers as the game winning run in the 10-9 win.
  • It was the first time the Irish had come back from a seven run or more deficit to win since May 22, 2009 against St. John’s. The Irish trailed 9-0 in the fourth and won the game 11-10 in the BIG EAST Tournament.
  • On Saturday, the Irish pitching staff tossed one of their best outings of the season against a top-ACC offensive squad.
  • The Yellow Jackets came into the weekend with an ACC-leading .298 batting average and the duo of Aidan Tyrell and Alex Rao shut them down in game two.
  • Tyrell tossed a career high six innings and only allowed two runs while Rao pitched the final three innings and struck out a career-high eight.
  • The Irish scored in four of the eight innings to pick up a 7-0 win to clinch the series. 
  • It was the first time Georgia Tech has been shutout in an ACC game since May 25, 2018.
  • With the series win the Irish won their six conference series, the most by any ACC team so far this season. The Irish are still the only ACC team to not drop a conference series this season.

Top-25, Here Come The Irish

  • Following six ACC series wins, with four coming on the road and a sweep to begin the 2021 season, people are starting to take note of the Irish.
  • The Irish continued to rise in all six polls, including breaking into the Top-10 in a couple.
  • The Irish broke into the Top-10 in Baseball America (#7) and D1Baseball (#10). They rank #11 in Perfect Game, #12 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and #16 in Collegiate Baseball.
  • It is the first time the Irish have been ranked in the Top-10 since April 24, 2006. 
  • A week after cracking two of the polls after the series win against Clemson, the Irish appeared in all six polls after the road sweep of Virginia.
  • In the final week of the 2020 regular season, Notre Dame made their first appearance in the Top-25 when they were selected No. 24 by Collegiate Baseball News.
  • It was the first time the Irish were ranked in the Top-25 since the 2015 season, the last time Notre Dame made an NCAA Regional.

FRANK ECK STADIUM ATTENDANCE POLICY

2021 Baseball Media Credentials Info

The University of Notre Dame, in accordance with campus health and safety protocols and with the guidance of local health officials, will limit attendance for sports competing this spring to guests of competing Notre Dame student-athletes and coaches as well as current Notre Dame, Holy Cross and St. Mary’s College students. Students will be expected to show a current I.D. and physically distanced seating will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Additional student attendance policies can be found here.

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