Notre Dame baseball spent its offseason working on the issues that plagued the team throughout its inconsistent 2023 season, one that ended short of the NCAA Tournament one year after the team reached the College World Series. They felt like they were in good position entering the new campaign, but ultimately, all that matters is the results.
A series loss to Lipscomb set the tone for last year's underwhelming season. This time, the Irish began their journey in much stronger fashion, sweeping their opening weekend series against Rice.
It wasn't necessarily the prettiest beginning to the season offensively for the Irish. It took Notre Dame 17 innings to score their first run that came on a base hit. After falling behind four batters into Friday's opener, the Irish clawed out a run on two walks and two hit by pitches, all coming with two outs. Graduate student outfielder David Glancy took a 3-2 pitch in his first at-bat with the Irish after transferring from St. John's.
Notre Dame loaded the bases again in the fifth by taking advantage of mistakes by the Owls. Glancy reached on an error, junior infielder Jack Penney worked a walk and graduate student outfielder Tito Flores reached on an infield single to load the bags. Another run was forced home when graduate student infielder Simon Baumgardt was plunked and the Irish doubled their lead when a run scored through the backdoor on a 6-4-3 double play.
The Flores hit was Notre Dame's third and final hit of the series opener. However, the Irish pitching staff had more than enough support. Sophomore Caden Spivey and junior Radek Birkholz each delivered 3 quality innings, recording as many strikeouts (4) as hits allowed. Graduate student Bennett Flynn was just as stellar, allowing just 1 hit while punching out 3 over 2 innings. Graduate student Nate Hardman shut the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, finishing off the 3-1 Irish victory. Hardman picked up the save and Birkholz got the win.
Saturday once again saw the Irish push across several early runs by doing anything but tear the cover off of the ball. Glancy crossed the plate with Penney providing a distraction on an unsuccessful attempt to steal second. Rice immediately countered with 2 runs in the bottom of the frame on a home run and an RBI single. Yet another unearned run came in for the Irish when Glancy drove in sophomore infielder Estevan Moreno on a third-inning sac fly after Moreno reached on an error to start the inning.
The scoring continued going back and forth. Jack Riedel drove in his second run of the game with a fourth-inning sac fly. Junior outfielder DM Jefferson scored another equalizing run on a wild pitch, then the Owls went back ahead on Brendan Cumming's RBI triple in the bottom of the inning.
But Notre Dame finally found its power stroke in the game's late stages. Glancy connected on the team's first home run of the season to lead off the eighth, tying the score at 4. After graduate student infielder Josh Hahn earned a two-out free pass, Baumgardt launched a two-run shot to center, giving the Irish their first lead since the top of the first.
The Irish tacked on three more runs in the ninth despite managing just one hit (and a single at that). The Owls put one more across themselves but never threatened to comeback. Graduate student Tobey McDonough was credited with the win, his first in an Irish uniform after transferring from Brown.
However, Notre Dame's pitching faltered a bit in the series finale. This time, it was the Irish making a costly error. Treyton Rank reached on an error to lead off for the Owls, then scored two batters later on a round-tripper by Pierce Gallo to start the scoring. Rank drove in a run for Rice himself on a sacrifice fly the next inning, giving the Owls their largest lead of the weekend.
Notre Dame would chip away on a couple of occasions, cutting the lead to one twice. A three-run blast by Rice's Riedel in the sixth seemingly put the game out of reach. But the Irish bats had a rally in them. Glancy's second home run of the season started the seventh with a bang and was immediately followed by three straight free passes. Small ball got the Irish within one, with run scoring on a groundout and another on a wild pitch. Junior catcher Joey Spence delivered a clutch two-out double to knot the score at 7, then scored the go-ahead run when senior outfielder T.J. Williams followed his hit with an RBI single.
Rice wouldn't go away quietly. They failed to score after loading the bases with one out in the seventh but evened the score at 8 in the following frame. But the Irish made a statement with their swings in the ninth. Another lead-off shot, this time coming from freshman catcher Carson Tinney, restored the Irish edge. More misadventures by Rice (two walks — one intentional — and an error) juiced the bases for Flores, who delivered the knockout blow with a towering grand slam to left. The Irish won by a final of 13-10, with senior Ryan Lynch getting the win.
The Irish will head south next weekend for a four-game series against FIU. The Irish and Panthers play on Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. and again Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
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