Group vs. ASU

Baseball Heads South to Host Alamo Irish Classic

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–