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Midweek Preview: Valparaiso

Notre Dame Game Notes

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Coming off a thrilling doubleheader sweep of Boston College to secure the series, the sixth-ranked Notre Dame baseball team is back home for a week full of games at Frank Eck Stadium. The Irish open the week with the second visit from Valparaiso this season. The two teams are set to square off Tuesday night at 5 p.m. ET from Eck and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra. 

Home Sweet Home

  • The Irish are back at home for their final home swing of the regular season over the next two weeks.
  • Notre Dame is set to play seven of the next eight home games from Frank Eck Stadium to close out the home slate.
  • The Irish are set to face Valparaiso for the second of three meetings this season on Tuesday for another midweek contest.
  • Notre Dame defeated Valpo 6-3 back on March 23 in their first homestand of the season.
  • Tuesday’s meeting will be the 103rd all-time between the two schools. The Irish hold an 81-21 advantage over Valpo and are 55-10 in games held at Notre Dame.
  • The Irish have won the last nine games and 19 of the last 20 games against Valpo.
  • Valpo enters the game with an 8-21 record and are 3-9 in MAC play. They are coming off a home four-game series win over Southern Illinois.

Rally Irish Overcome Nine-Run Deficit to Defeat Boston College

  • The Irish had a comeback you had to see to believe in the rubber match of their road series with Boston College.
  • Notre Dame trailed 9-0 heading into the seventh as the comeback began with Zack Prajzner scoring the first run on a ground out from Spencer Myers.
  • In the eighth Niko Kavadas led the inning off with a solo home run, his 15th of the season.
  • Prajzner got in the long ball game with a three-run blast to pull the Irish within 9-5.
  • Kyle Hess made it 9-6 when he scored after Myers legged out an infield single. 
  • Myers and Cole both came home on bases loaded walks to trim the deficit to 9-8.
  • Then the Irish took their first lead of the game after David LaManna beat the throw to first which scored Kavadas and Carter Putz to put the Irish up 10-9.
  • They weren’t done in the inning as Jack Brannigan recorded his second career steal of home to double the Irish lead to 11-9.
  • Then with the bases loaded, Kyle Hess hit a ground rule double to right that scored Prajzner and LaManna to balloon the Irish lead to 13-9.
  • Notre Dame scored 12 runs in the eighth inning with eight coming with two outs.
  • The eight runs with two outs are the most scored in that scenario by the Irish since the second inning on March 20, 2008 when the Irish also scored eight runs with two outs in a 25-1 win over Georgetown.
  • Liam Simon and Aidan Tyrell combined for the final two innings to close the door on another series victory for the Irish.
  • Notre Dame scored 13 unanswered runs in the win, the most since March 24, 2016 when the Irish scored 15 unanswered runs in a 16-4 road win over Virginia Tech.
  • The 12 runs in the eighth inning was the most in an inning since the Irish scored 11 in the fourth inning on February 19, 2011 in a 19-2 win over Purdue.
  • With the series win the Irish have won eight ACC series this season, the most conference series wins since they won eight in the BIG EAST back in 2001.

Pitching, Power Push Irish Past Boston College

  • The Irish bounced back after dropping the series opener to BC and won the first game of the doubleheader 5-2.
  • The Irish jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Spencer Myers scored on a sacrifice fly and Ryan Cole came home after Niko Kavadas forced the throw to second on a delayed steal.
  • Notre Dame added to its lead in the second when Zack Prajzner scored on Myers’ single to the pitcher.
  • John Michael Bertrand put together another stellar outing on the mound, working 6.1 innings and allowed just four hits and two runs to the Eagles.
  • After BC trimmed the Irish lead to one, Tanner Kohlhepp came on to finish the outing off for the Irish.
  • Niko Kavadas gave Kohlhepp some breathing room in the ninth with a two run home run for his 14th of the season.
  • Kohlhepp retired all eight BC batters he faced to pick up his second save and even the series for the Irish.
  • With the win, Notre Dame improves to 7-0 this season coming off a loss.

Road Less Traveled

  • With the 13-9 series-clinching win over Boston College on April 24, the Irish won their sixth-consecutive ACC road series dating back to the 2020 season.
  • It is the longest road series winning streak for the Irish since they have joined the ACC back in 2014.
  • The last time the Irish won six straight conference road series was back in the 2000-01 seasons when they won six straight conference road series over Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Seton Hall, West Virginia, Connecticut and Villanova.
  • The Irish have been dubbed the road warriors as they have won nine of their last 11 ACC road series dating back to the 2019 season.
  • In the shortened 2020 season the Irish finished 9-1 on the road, it was their most road wins since the 2015 season.
  • During his two-year tenure as head coach for the Irish, Link Jarrett’s squad has a 20-5 record on the road.

Top-25, Here Come The Irish

  • Following eight ACC series wins, with five coming on the road and a sweep, everyone is taking note of the Irish.
  • The Irish are holding steady in the polls and continue to be ranked in the Top-10 in four of the polls.
  • The Irish are ranked in the Top-10 in Baseball America (#6), Perfect Game (#6), D1Baseball (#8) and USA Today Coaches Poll (#9). 
  • No. 6 is the highest ranking for the Irish since the final week of the 2004 regular season when they were also ranked sixth.
  • 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.

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