May 2, 2009
Notre Dame vs. Connecticut
May 2, 2009
- Sophomore Brian Dupra (Rochester, N.Y.) worked 4.1 innings in the start, allowing six earned runs on six hits. It marked the fourth consecutive start in which Dupra has given up at least five earned runs. Since his complete game-shutout against Villanova, Dupra has a 7.76 ERA over four starts, yielding 36 hits in 26.2 innings.
- After yielding two home runs to the Huskies on Saturday, Dupra has now given up six home runs in his past three starts after allowing just two long balls in his first eight starts. In fact, Dupra has allowed 15 extra-base hits in his last four starts, compared to 12 in his first seven starts.
- Dupra retired eight batters in a row and 12 of 13 after four of the first five batters of the game reached base.
- In the first inning, three straight hits by A.J. Pollock, Golden Tate, and Jeremy Barnes loaded bases with nobody out, but two strikeouts and a groundout to shortstop ended the inning without a run crossing the plate. The same situation occurred in the second game of the doubleheader versus Michigan on April 22; the Irish loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning and failed to score, with two strikeouts and a groundout to shortstop ending that threat as well. Notre Dame is hitting just .250 (4-for-16) with the bases loaded in BIG EAST play.
- In the fifth inning, Pollock, Tate, and Barnes all reached base again to load the bases with no outs. The Irish were one strike away from coming away empty again, but senior Evan Sharpley (Marshall, Mich.) lined a pinch-hit, two-run single to left to plate Pollock and Tate.
- Sharpley is now 2-for-3 with 3 RBI in his last three pinch-hit appearances. Sharpley also had a pinch-hit, game-tying single in the sixth inning in the first game of the doubleheader against Michigan on April 22.
- Sophomore Cameron McConnell (Bannockburn, Ill.) is batting just .107 (3-for-28) over his last eight games.
- McConnell threw out his 22nd and 23rd runners of the season on Saturday. On the season, McConnell has thrown out 39.0% (23 of 59) of attempted base stealers on the season, which would be the second highest percentage for an Irish catcher since 1996. Paul O’Toole threw out 40.7% (24 of 59) of runners in 2001. O’Toole’s 24 runners thrown out that season is also the most since 1996.
- On Friday night, Connecticut’s first three hitters went a combined 1-for-14, while the 6-8 batters went 8-for-11. On Saturday, the story was the opposite, as the top three batters for the Huskies went 7-for-15, while the 6-8 hitters went 2-for-11.
- Senior Jeremy Barnes (Garland, Texas) is now eighth all-time in career at bats at Notre Dame with 797, passing Craig Counsell (1989-92).
- With his two-out RBI single in the sixth inning, sophomore Golden Tate (Hendersonville, Tenn.) has now driven in a run in four of his last five games.
- Junior left-hander David Mills (Battle Creek, Mich.) tossed 3.0 innings in relief, the longest outing of his career, and also matched a career-high with a pair of strikeouts. Mills stranded a pair of inherited runners, entering the game with two on and one out in the fifth and inducing a groundout and a pop out to end the inning. Mills has now stranded 10 of 13 inherited runners on the season.
- The Connecticut bullpen has now tossed 7.1 innings in the series without allowing an earned run, yielding five hits and notching 11 strikeouts with just one walk.
- Sophomore Mick Doyle (LaGrange Park, Ill.) saw his 11-game hitting streak end after an 0-for-4 day.
— ND —