NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The fourth-ranked Notre Dame baseball team hits the road as they embark on the start of their final road trip of the regular season. A midweek matchup with a familiar foe is on deck as the Irish have one game before the finals exam break. The Irish head to Valparaiso Tuesday night for the first time since 2010 for the last midweek matchup of the season. The game is set for a 5 p.m. ET start and fans can follow along via Valpo’s radio stream as there is no broadcast of the game.
Hitting The Road
- The Irish are set to face Valparaiso for the third 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.
- The next meeting went the Irish way after a 8-7 midweek win on April 27 at Frank Eck Stadium
- Tuesday’s meeting will be the 104th all-time between the two schools. The Irish hold an 82-21 advantage over Valpo and are 23-9 in games at Valpo.
- This will be the first time the Irish travel to Valpo since the 2010 season when the Irish came away with an 8-1 win.
- The Irish have won the last 10 games and 20 of the last 21 games against Valpo.
- Valpo enters the game with a 13-25 record and is 8-12 in MAC play. They are coming off a four-game series split on the road against Bradley.
Bertrand Leads Irish to Victory Over Florida State
- After dropping the first game of the series, the Irish needed to bounce back in game one of the doubleheader against Florida State and they did just that.
- John Michael Bertrand was stellar on the mound for the Irish as he logged another long outing.
- Bertrand pitched seven innings without allowing a run and struck out a career-high nine batters.
- He allowed just five hits, all singles, and walked just one batter for his eighth quality start of the season. It is also the fifth outing that he has pitched seven innings or more.
- At the plate, Notre Dame scored in the first inning to take an early lead and it was the only run scored until the sixth.
- In the sixth, Jack Brannigan hit his fifth home run of the season, a three-run shot to right, to give the Irish some breathing room.
- Notre Dame took a 5-0 lead into the eighth but the Seminoles started to chip away and got the deficit to 5-3 with one out in the ninth.
- Jack Brannigan moved from third to the mound to finish the game off for the Irish. He collected the last two outs to earn his second save of the season.
- The win gave Notre Dame 22 ACC wins on the season, the most conference wins in a year since 2001 when they had 22 BIG EAST wins.
- After his performance, Bertrand was named ACC Pitcher of the Week on Monday.
Top-25, Here Come The Irish
- Following nine ACC series wins, with five coming on the road, everyone is taking note of the Irish.
- The Irish are ranked as high as No. 4 in the Baseball America poll, the second straight week they are in the Top-5.
- 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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