https://fightingirish.com/notre-dame-baseball-game-notes/
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame baseball team is looking to keep the momentum going with the final series of the road trip this weekend. The 25th-ranked Irish travel to Charlottesville for the first time since 2017 to take on the 21st-ranked Cavaliers. Both teams are one of eight ACC teams to be ranked in the Top 25 this week. The series kicks off Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. on the ACC Network Extra.
Irish Close Road Trip Down in Charlottesville
- Notre Dame will close out the early season road trip with a three-game series against Virginia.
- This will be Notre Dame’s third ever trip to Charlottesville, with the Cavaliers winning the previous two series.
- Virginia leads the all-time series 10-5 and are 4-2 in games down in Charlottesville.
- The last time these two teams squared off, Virginia took two games out of three from the Irish at Frank Eck Stadium in April of 2019.
- In game one of that series, Notre Dame won 5-2 on the heels of Tommy Sheehan’s second-career complete game.
- The 21st-ranked Cavaliers entered the series with a 7-5 overall record and 2-4 in ACC play.
- They are coming off a 7-0 midweek win over Richmond after dropping two of three games on the road against Florida State the previous weekend.
Road Less Traveled
- With the 3-2 series clinching win over Clemson on March 7, the Irish won their third-consecutive ACC road series dating back to the 2020 season.
- It is the first time since joining the ACC in 2014 that the Irish have won three consecutive conference road series.
- The last time the Irish won three straight road conference series was back in 2008 when they defeated Villanova, West Virginia and UConn all on the road.
- The Irish have been dubbed the road warriors as they have won six of their last eight 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.
Top-25, Here Come The Irish
- Following two consecutive ACC road series to begin the 2021 season, people are starting to take note of the Irish.
- Notre Dame appeared in two of the rankings this week as they were tabbed No. 25 by D1Baseball and the USA Today Coaches Poll.
- In the final week of the 2020 regular season, Notre Dame cracked 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.
Bullpen Provides Series Win Over Clemson
- The Irish needed a big game from their bullpen in the rubber match against the Clemson Tigers and got it to clinch their second straight series win to begin the season.
- Link Jarrett went to the pen with two outs in the second inning and the Tigers threatened for more runs with a 1-0 lead.
- Joe Sheridan stepped to the mound for the first time in an Irish uniform and got Notre Dame out of the inning.
- Sheridan tossed three shutout innings allowing just one hit before handing the ball to Liam Simon.
- Simon tossed a career-high four innings of relief, yielding just one run and two hits into the ninth inning with a career-high eight strikeouts.
- The Irish tied the game in the fifth with an RBI single from David LaManna and took the lead in the sixth with a two-run double from Carter Putz.
- In the ninth with two outs, the Tigers got the tying run 90 feet away when Jack Brannigan made the move from third base to the mound.
- Brannigan induced a pop up to short for the final out and the series win for the Irish.
- After giving up 13 runs in the first game of the series, the Irish limited the Tigers to just three runs over the last two games.
Bertrand Befuddles Clemson Bats
- Graduate student John Michael Bertrand grew up a little over 100 miles away from Clemson and after playing at Furman, he knew a thing or two about the Tigers.
- The Irish needed a big outing from him on Saturday to even the series and he did just that.
- Bertrand was dominant on the mound over seven innings, constantly having Clemson hitters guess while at the plate.
- The day after Clemson scored 13 runs in the opener, Bertrand limited them to just one run and three hits over his seven innings of work.
- Bertrand struck out eight batters which tied a career high.
- The Irish took the lead in the first inning when Niko Kavadas blasted his third home run of the season to dead center, putting the Irish up 2-0.
- Bertrand gave way to another lefty, Will Mercer, and he allowed just one hit over the final two innings to earn his first career save.
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