NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame baseball team travels to San Antonio, Texas, to host the 21st annual Alamo Irish Classic. Notre Dame opens the tournament with a Thursday afternoon matchup with Eastern Michigan (3 p.m. ET) on Thursday at Nelson Wolff Stadium. The Irish will play both Eastern Michigan (Feb. 21-22) and Incarnate Word (Feb. 22-23) over the course of the weekend.
Notre Dame (0-3) vs. Eastern Michigan (0-3-1) & Incarnate Word (3-1) | |
When: | Thursday, Feb. 21 | 3:00 p.m. ET vs. Eastern Michigan Friday, Feb. 22 | 3:00 p.m. ET Friday, Feb. 22 | 7:00 p.m. ET Saturday, Feb. 23 | 3:00 p.m. ET |
Where: | San Antonio, Texas | Nelson Wolff Stadium |
Live Scoring: | StatBroadcast |
Notes: | Notre Dame |
Social: | @NDBaseball @NotreDameBaseball |
Need to Know: Alamo Irish Classic
- Notre Dame will compete in the Alamo Irish Classic for the 21st time and the eighth time in Aoki’s nine seasons at the helm of the Irish.
- In 2018, Notre Dame went 2-2 in San Antonio with wins over Saint Louis and Purdue.
Jung’s Fast Start
- Junior first baseman Daniel Jung was one of the most experienced bats returning to the heart of the lineup and he wasted no time getting off to a fast start.
- He leads the team in average after posting a .357 (5-for-14) in the three-game series against Arizona State hitting out of the two hole.
- In the series finale, Jung tied a career high with three hits after going 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
- It was the sixth time in his career that he tallied three hits in a game and was his 21st career multi-hit game.
Kavadas, Gilgenbach Provide the Power
- In addition to Jung, senior captain Eric Gilgenbach and sophomore Niko Kavadas were the trio to anchor the middle of the Irish lineup.
- Kavadas made his presence felt in the opener when he launched a solo blast deep past the Sun Devils bullpen in right field.
- The Granger, Ind. native followed up the opening night performance with another solo blast in the ninth inning of the series finale.
- The lefty finished the weekend with a .300 average (3-for-10), three runs, three walks and two RBI.
- He holds a seven-game hitting streak dating back to last season after getting a hit in each game against Arizona State.
- Kavadas tallied five home runs during his freshman season in 2018 and leads the team with two after the first series of the year.
- Gilgenbach tied for the team lead with 10 home runs in 2018 and wasted no time to continue the power surge in 2019.
- With the team trailing by two, Gilgenbach got a hold of a fastball and sent it deep into the Arizona night and over the fence to tie the game Saturday night.
Youth Infusion in the Desert
- Heading into 2019, the Irish welcomed 14 newcomers to the squad and a number of them made their collegiate debuts against Arizona State.
- Jack Alexander, Carter Putz and Zack Prajzner all made their first career starts over the course of the weekend while five others (Carr, Mazur, Rao, Tyrell & Zyska) made their collegiate debuts.
- Alexander, Carr, Mazur and Prajzner all earned their first career hits while Prajzner also picked up his first career RBI.
- Junior Ethan Copeland saw his first action in an Irish uniform and picked his first career hit.
- Sophomore John Arndorfer also collected his first career hit over the weekend.
Miller Time at Short
- One of the key holes the Irish had to fill heading into the season was at shortstop and sophomore Jared Miller had a great first audition against the Sun Devils.
- Miller had one of the best overall weekends at the plate for the Irish. He hit .300 (3-10), scored twice, drew three walks and led the team with three RBI.
- In the series finale, Miller tied a career high with two RBI.
–ND–