June 1, 2003

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(Note: see PDF for complete gamenotes)

NOTRE DAME BASEBALL NCAA GAMEDAY NOTES – vs. Cal State Fullerton (June 1, 2003)

Notre Dame – which has won 45-plus games for the 10th time in team history and 4th straight season – looks to keep its season alive in Sunday’s first championship game vs. Cal State Fullerton (2:00 p.m. PDT), with the Irish needing to beat the Titans twice in order to advance to the Super-Regional round … the current senior class faced a similar challenge at Mississippi State in 2000, beating Tulane in a late-night elimination game (10-6) that was delayed by a passing tornado before coming back the next morning to shut out the host Bulldogs behind Danny Tamayo’s 3-hitter (7-0) … Mississippi State then won the final game, 10-9 on a 9th-inning home run … Paul Mainieri is one victory shy of his 400th win in nine seasons at Notre Dame (just 139 wins removed from his 300th win; 399-159-1), with an average of nearly 45 wins per season (he is 741-48-1 overall in 21 seasons) … the Irish are slated to send senior RHP Peter Ogilvie to the mound while CSF will counter with sophomore RHP Dustin Miller … ND is 5-5 when facing elimination in the NCAAs during the Mainieri era, with wins over Tulane and Mississippi State (’00), UCSB and Florida International (’01) and Rice (’02 CWS).

OGILVIE LOOKS TO ADD TO HIS BIG-GAME RESUME – Senior RHP Peter Ogilvie’s 28 career starts with the Irish include several noteworthy outings, led by a pair of key complete-game wins in 2001 (plus one in the ’01 NCAAs) and two more clutch CGs in the 2002 BIG EAST season before drawing three starts in the 2002 NCAAs … here’s a look at some of his more noteworthy starts (see PDF):

QUICK NOTES – The Irish are 16-12 in NCAA games during the Mainieri era (8-4 in the last 12), including 8-9 vs. higher seeds … all five of ND’s postseason wins have come from senior RHPs (also J.P. Gagne, Kalita and Matt Laird in the BIG EAST Tournament) … Javi Sanchez has caught 467 of 536 innings (87%) in 2003 … ND is nearly +100 (144-48) during the past three seasons … middle IFs Steve Sollmann (51) and Matt Macri (46) have combined for 97 error-free games this season and are the first ND teammates ever to post 170-plus fielding assists in the same season (Macri 181, Sollmann 178) … ND is a combined 14-6 in the 2002 and ’03 postseason … the Irish were 9-1 in 1-run games before yesterday’s 4-3 loss to CSF … ND is hitting .368 in seven postseason games (six double-digit hit games) … ND now has been shut out just once in its last 312 games … … the current seniors (190-66-1) have totaled the most wins in a four-year period in the ND baseball program’s 110-year history … ND now owns a 73-15 scoring edge in the 2nd inning … the Irish now have totaled eight home runs in the last 14 games, after going seven games without a single HR (ND has three HRs in seven postseason games) … ND has posted 22 error-free games, 20 one-error games and just eight games with three-plus Es … unearned runs have provided the margin of defeat for the Irish just three times this season, including yesterday’s 4-3 loss to CSF.

FAMILIAR TERRITORY – Notre Dame has plenty of history when it comes to posting upset NCAA wins on the opponent’s home field – many times in some of college baseball’s most hostile environments – doing so six times in the previous 11 seasons: at Miami (6-3, in ’92), at Florida State (4-3 in ’93, 10-4 and 3-1 in ’02), at Clemson (8-1, ’94) and at Mississippi State (7-0, in ’00).

RECORD BOOK UPDATES – Juniors 2B Steve Sollmann already ranks 7th in ND history for career hits (252, five behind Dan Peltier’s ’87-’89 total), 5th in career batting avg. (.368), 6th in stolen bases (67, one back of 5th) and 11th in runs (172, two shy of 10th) … Sollmann’s brother Scott had 239 hits, a .372 batting avg., 116 SBs and 187 runs in his 3-year career (’87-’89) … Steve Sollmann’s 95 hits this season rank 5th in ND history (one behind Eric Danapilis’ 1993 total) … Kris Billmaier (216) needs two more games played to crack that ND career top-10 list … Cody Rizzo’s 52 runs scored are the 4th-most ever by an ND freshman (his 28 HBP are tied for 8th in NCAA history) … Matt Edwards’ 69 RBI are 9th in the ND record book and the most by an ND player since Mike Amrhein had 71 and Jeff Wagner 69 in 1997 … ND’s 473 strikeouts thrown rank 3rd in team history (478 in ’99, 483 in ’02) … ND’s 26 triples are 5th-most in team history while the 74 HBPs are one shy of the team record (’93). And the 55 double plays turned are 5th.

NCAA GAMES IN THE MAINIERI ERA – Notre Dame has posted a 16-12 record in NCAA Tournament games during nine seasons of the Paul Mainieri era (’95-’03), including an 8-4 mark in the last 12 … the Irish are 8-9 in Mainieri-era NCAA games when facing a higher seed, with wins over Virginia (12-1, ’96), Tulane (8-4 and 10-6, ’00), South Alabama (25-1, in ’02), Florida State (10-4 and 3-1 in ’02), Rice (5-3, ’02) and Arizona (13-5, ’03).

UPDATED CAREER NCAA TOURNAMENT STATS FOR ND VETERANS (see PDF)

UPDATED CAREER STATS FOR ND VETERANS (see PDF)

Inside The Notre Dame Bullpen (stats for relief appearances only, updated after USD game; see PDF)

NOTRE DAME 2003 POSTSEASON STATS (3-1 BIG EAST TOURNAMENT, 2-1 FULLERTON REGIONAL; see

NOTRE DAME 2003 FULLERTON REGIONAL STATS (see PDF)

NOTRE DAME 2003 STATS FOR ALL ROAD GAMES (22-12; includes 9-9 on opponent’s field; see PDF)

NOTRE DAME 2003 STATS FOR GAMES ON OPPONENT’S FIELD (9-9; see PDF)

TAKING 28 FOR THE TEAM – Freshman RF Cody Rizzo (Temecula, Calif.) has been hit-by-pitch 28 times this season … just seven previous Div. I players have totaled more HBPs in a season, including Fullerton’s David Bacani in 1998 (30) … others with 29-plus HBPs include: Richmond’s Andrew Slater (33, ’97), Fairleigh Dickinson’s Steve Dembowski (32, ’79), Southern Utah’s Chris Nelson (29, ’02), ASU’s Jonah Martin (29, ’00) and Nevada’s Corky Miller (29, ’98).

THE FIREMAN – Senior setup man Brandon Viloria owns the ND record for lowest career walk average (1.63 BB per 9 IP), just below the standing record of 1.64 set by Alan Walania from 1990-93 … Viloria also owns the 5th-best career ERA in the ND record book (2.61), among pitchers with 60-plus IP … Viloria owns a staff-best 1.64 ERA with a 1.64 walk avg. (2nd behind Chris Niesel’s 1.49), 4.2 K-to-walk ratio (4th-best) and a .218 opponent batting avg. (2nd-best) … teams are batting just .152 vs. Viloria with runners on base and .185 with 2 outs (both tops on the staff) while he has yet to allow a home run in 22 IP … he also leads the team in “WHIP” (9.6 walks and hits allowed per 9 IP) and is averaging a team-best 34.2 batters faced per 9 IP.