NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The 12th-ranked Notre Dame baseball team is back on the road this weekend as they head east for a ranked series in Pittsburgh. The Irish are set to square off with No. 17 Pitt this weekend starting Saturday afternoon as the series has shifted back two days due to inclement weather. This will be the fourth ranked series the Irish play this season and they are 2-0-1 in those weekends after wins over No. 16 Wake Forest, No. 21 Virginia and a two-game split against No. 6 Louisville.
Back to the Road
- After finishing off the first of three homestands on the season, the Irish hit the road for a quick three game series at Pitt before returning to Frank Eck Stadium.
- This will be the fourth of six conference series on the road for the Irish as they began the season with three consecutive road ACC series.
- Another ranked series is on deck for the Irish as Pitt enters the weekend ranked as high as No. 17 in the polls.
- The Irish lead the all-time series with Pitt 47-23 but the Panthers have a 16-15 edge in games held in Pittsburgh.
- The last time the two teams faced off was in April of 2019 in Pittsburgh and the Irish took two out of three to win the series.
- The Irish have won the last three overall series against the Panthers and they have also won the last three series down in Pittsburgh.
- The 17th-ranked Panthers enter the series with a 12-8 record and an 8-7 mark in the ACC.
- So far this season, they have series wins over No. 9 Florida State, No. 7 Georgia Tech and Virginia, all of them coming on the road.
- Head coach Link Jarret has a number of ties with the Pitt coaching staff as he was teammates with Mike Bell at Florida State during the 1994 run to the College World Series.
- Jarrett was also an assistant coach at Mercer when Pitt assistant Ty Megahee transferred to the Bears and played his final two seasons of collegiate ball in 2004 and 2005.
- Heading into the weekend for the Irish, they currently rank No. 1 in the NCAA in fielding percentage. They have committed just five errors in 15 games for a .991 fielding percentage.
Big Moment Ryan Cole Strikes Again
- After dropping the series opener to No. 6 Louisville, the Irish went into a pivotal Saturday game in hopes of knotting the series at 1-1.
- As he has the last three starts, John Michael Bertrand put together another great performance on the mound.
- He tossed seven innings of work and allowed just two runs while striking out four. It was his fourth-consecutive start that he has thrown seven innings or more.
- The Irish trailed 2-0 heading into the seventh before the bats came alive.
- Notre Dame put three runs on the board in the seventh, capped off by the go-ahead RBI double from Jack Brannigan that scored Brooks Coetzee on the play.
- Louisville tied it up in the ninth with a lead off solo home run from Alex Binelas but Brannigan moved from third to the mound to get the Irish out of a jam and keep the score tied.
- In the bottom of the ninth, Ryan Cole had his magic once again with a two-run walk-off home run to give the Irish a 5-3 win.
- It is Cole’s third home run in an eight-day span, and his second walk-off home run, after coming into the season without a home run in his career.
- With the win for the Irish, they ended a 20-game losing streak against Louisville.
Top-25, Here Come The Irish
- Following four-consecutive ACC series wins, with three on the road and a sweep to begin the 2021 season, people are starting to take note of the Irish.
- The Irish continued to rise in the polls after a midweek win over Valpo and then a split of a two-game set against No. 6 Louisville last week.
- The Irish have cracked the Top-15 in five of the six polls with the highest ranking being No. 12 by Baseball America followed by No. 13 from D1Baseball, No. 14 from the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 15 from Perfect Game and NCBWA.
- The Irish highest ranking is No. 12 for the second straight week. It is the highest the Irish have been in any poll since April 24, 2006 when they were also ranked No. 12 by Baseball America.
- A week after cracking two of the polls after the series win against Clemson, the Irish appeared in all six polls after the road sweep of Virginia.
- In the final week of the 2020 regular season, Notre Dame made their first appearance in the Top-25 when they were selected No. 24 by Collegiate Baseball News.
- It was the first time the Irish were ranked in the Top-25 since the 2015 season, the last time Notre Dame made an NCAA Regional.
Road Less Traveled
- With the 12-4 series-clinching win over Virginia on March 13, the Irish won their fourth-consecutive ACC series dating back to the 2020 season, all of them coming on the road.
- It is the longest road series winning streak for the Irish since they have joined the ACC back in 2014.
- The last time the Irish won four straight conference road series was back in 2008 when they defeated Georgetown, Villanova, West Virginia and UConn.
- The Irish have been dubbed the road warriors as they have won seven of their last nine ACC road series dating back to the 2019 season.
- In the shortened 2020 season the Irish finished 9-1 on the road, it was their most road wins since the 2015 season.
- During his two year tenure as head coach for the Irish, Link Jarrett’s squad has a 16-3 record on the road.
- The Irish opened ACC play with a 9-2 start through the first 11 games this season, the best start to conference play since joining the ACC. It is the best start to a conference slate for the Irish since 2008 when they opener BIG EAST play with an 11-2 mark.
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