Feb. 4, 2001

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame and Purdue baseball teams will play on the night of Tuesday, April 17, in a game at South Bend’s Coveleski Stadium that is being billed as the Mayor’s Cup Classic.

The game has a 6:05 p.m. start time and ticket prices are $5 for adults and $3 for children 16 years and under. Students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College and Holy Cross Junior College will be admitted free with their student ID while Notre Dame faculty and staff can gain admittance with their Blue-Gold cards.

Tickets may be purchased at the Notre Dame Ticket Office or by calling (219) 631-7356. Additional promotions involving the game currently are in the planning stage will be announced in the near future.

Coveleski Stadium, located in downtown South Bend, is home to the South Bend Silverhawks?the single-A affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks.

“This game will be a tremendous opportunity for our players to play in another pro ballpark and it will give the South Bend community an excellent chance to see two great college baseball teams in a great setting,” said seventh-year Irish head coach Paul Mainieri.

“Doug Schreiber has done an excellent job with the Purdue program and fans should be treated to a very high level of baseball.”

NOTES

  • ND is no stranger to Coveleski, after posting a record of 59-20 (.747) at “The Cove” while playing portions of the ’88-’93 seasons (plus the ’88-’94 Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournaments) at the facility. Notre Dame began playing its regular-season schedule at the on-campus Frank Eck Stadium in 1994.
  • ND and Purdue have played three times previously at Coveleski, with the Irish winning 14-2 on April 12, 1990, and 7-5 on April 21, 1993, while the Boilermakers posted a 5-4 win at The Cove on April 8, 1992.
  • ND and Purdue rank among the Midwest’s top teams, with the Irish ranked as high as ninth in the preseason national polls (the highest ranking in the program’s history). ND returns nine of its top-10 hitters and its top six ERA leaders from the 2000 team that posted a 46-18 overall record and advanced to the title game of the NCAA Starkville Regional. Purdue returns 28 of 34 letterwinners from its 2000 squad that went 35-23 overall and finished third in the Big Ten Conference.
  • Purdue is the fourth-most common opponent in ND baseball history, with the 2001 game set to become the 115th meeting in the series (ND has played 129 previous games vs. Northwestern, 121 vs. Western Michigan and 119 vs. Wisconsin). The Irish lead the series with Purdue 74-37-3, including a 45-21-1 mark in games at Notre Dame and a 4-1 record vs. the Boilermakers at Eck Stadium.
  • The ND-Purdue baseball series dates back to May 22, 1894, with Notre Dame winning that game, 4-3. In addition to the three previous games at Coveleski, just two other games in the series have been played outside the ND and Purdue campuses: ND’s 4-3 win at South Bend’s Springbrook Park and a 6-4 win for the Irish at Bosse Field in Evansville, Ind. (during the ’98 Diamond Classic).
  • The ND-Purdue series has included 20 games decided by one run (ND has won 13) and 14 shutouts (ND has 12) while the longest series winning streak was a nine-game run for Notre Dame from 1907-19.
  • The 2001 game will mark the 16th meeting between the schools in the last 12 seasons. The Irish hold an 11-5 series edge in that 12-year stretch, which include three one-run games and four two-run games.
  • Purdue posted a 7-5 win at Notre Dame on April 11, 2000, with Chad Blasko tossing six solid innings while a balanced Purdue offense cashed in its chances at the pivotal times (two ND errors in the sixth led to three unearned runs).
  • ND has played in a number of professional ballparks during Mainieri’s seven-year tenure: the Seattle Kingdome (’95 College Baseball Classic, ’96 Husky Classic), San Antonio’s Wolff Stadium (’95-’99 Irish Baseball Classics), Dodd Stadium (’96-’98 BIG EAST Tournament), Grand Rapids’ Old Kent Park (1997-2000 games vs. Michigan), Disney Wide World of Sports Complex (Atlanta Braves spring training site, ’98 ACC/Disney Blast ), Three Rivers Stadium (vs. Pittsburgh, ’98), Waterfront Stadium in Trenton, N.J. (’99 BET), Somerset Ballpark in Bridgewater, N.J. (2000-01 BETs), Minnesota Metrodome (2000 Hormel Foods Classic), Jacksonville’s Harmon Stadium (2000 Kennel Clubs Classic) and Florida Power Park (Tampa Bay Devils Rays spring training site, 2001 TBDR College Invitational).