Over the break, Notre Dame baseball went 3-0 in a series against Stanford, dominating 9-3 and 11-0 in the first two. The series was capped off as the Irish earned a thrilling 10-9 win over the Stanford Cardinals and now look to face off against Purdue Fort Wayne. The Irish now sit at 20-17 overall and 7-14 in the ACC.
Stanford
Game 1
The team took a quick 9-3win to kick off the series. Starting the first inning, the Irish were unable to score but in the bottom half of the first, Stanford added on their first run of the day to take the early lead after facing sophomore right-hander, Jack Radel, at the mound. In the second inning, Notre Dame made their comeback as they sent in a run of their own thanks to sophomore catcher Davis Johnson and freshman infielder Parker Brzustewicz who each made it on base. A sacrifice fly from junior infielder Estevan Moreno allowed Johnson to score and tie up the game 1-1 as Stanford went scoreless at the bottom of the inning.
Graduate student outfielder Brady Gumpf started off the third inning strong for Notre Dame as he hit a single up the middle. Sophomore catcher Carson Tinney followed the start by knocking one over the fence to pull the Irish ahead 3-1. Neither team scored any runs in the fourth or fifth inning, but in the sixth, Stanford closed the margin to one run at 3-2. The Irish came alive in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning totaling six points over these three to take the 9-3 win.
Game 2
It was a similar story for the Irish as they pulled off a run-ruled 11-0 win. Tinney nailed a double to start off the first inning followed by Brzustewicz who walked to put runners on the corners. This was followed by graduate student infielder Connor Hincks who hit a line drive to centerfield to allow Tinney to score and put the Irish up 1-0. In the second inning, freshman outfielder Jayce Lee led off for the Irish knocked a line drive to center followed by a walk from senior Nick DeMarco put the runners in scoring position. A sacrifice bunt from Gumpf and a hardline drive from graduate student outfielder Jared Zimbardo drove in Lee to keep the Irish ahead 2-0.
Johnson began the third with a single followed by Hincks who hit a triple to the outfield to let Johnson score for Notre Dame's third run of the day. Neither team scored in the fourth inning but the Notre Dame offense continued their momentum into the fifth inning as a home-run from Tinney kept them ahead 4-0. Notre Dame continued to hold the Cardinal offense in the bottom of the fifth. In the top of the sixth, the Irish scored four more runs putting them ahead 8-0. Finally in the seventh, Notre Dame run-ruled the Cardinals 11-0 as they put three more runs on the board to earn their second win.
Game 3
Hitting at the start of the first inning, Notre Dame was unable to score against a tough Stanford defense. On the other side, the Cardinals went scoreless against graduate right hander Jackson Dennies who took the mound for the Irish. Moreno knocked one over the left-field fence to put the Irish on the board in the top of inning two and Notre Dame held the Cardinal offense empty in the bottom of the second.
Zimbardo and Tinney each tallied a single to put runners on the corners to start the top of the third inning. Freshman infielder Bino Watters followed with a fielder’s choice to allow Zimbardo to score. Brzustewicz followed with a hit to the right side allowing Tinney to score. Dennies continued to find success on the mound, holding the Cardinals at bay on the back end of the third inning and striking out two to help the Irish lead 3-0.
At the plate, Moreno hit a down-the-line double to get on base, but the Irish were unable to bring him in and the score stuck at 3-0. Two freshmen saw the circle in the bottom of the fourth. Right hand pitcher Kellan Klosterman started on the mound and halfway through the inning, right hander Chase Van Amedye took over as Stanford added two runs to close in on the lead.
Zimbardo led the fifth inning with a single and a stolen base to put himself in scoring position. Tinney followed with a single to the outfield to put runners on first and third and a walk from Brzustewicz loaded the bases for the Irish. Hincks drilled a triple down the right-field line to clear the bases as the Irish took a 6-2 lead. Moreno used a sacrifice fly to drive Hincks in and give the Irish the 7-2 lead. Stanford combated this by adding one run in the bottom of the inning to bring the score to 7-3.
Notre Dame could not keep their offensive momentum in the top of the sixth inning, but Stanford made their comeback knocking in four runs to tie up the score. In the top of the seventh, Notre Dame managed one run, but Stanford came back with two more to take the 9-8 lead.
Trailing in the ninth, Tinney led off the hitting with a single to left field. Next up, Bino Watters sent a huge home run opposite field, which would be the go-ahead hit for the Irish to regain control 10-9. In the down-to-the-wire game, McDonough held two runners on base from scoring by inducing a grounder and fly ball to end the contest from the defensive side. This thrilling 10-9 win capped off a critical conference sweep for the Irish.
Tinney had a massive game 3 to cap off an unbelievable series. The sophomore went 5-5 in the third game for the first time for an Irish player since 2011 with a double, home run, RBI and four runs scored. He hit .750 for the weekend with 9 hits overall, 2 doubles, 4 home runs, 7 RBI and 10 runs scored.
Purdue Fort Wayne
Currently 6-13 in the season and 5-12 in conference, Purdue Fort Wayne is next up for the Irish. Purdue Fort Wayne is coming off of a three-game series loss against Northern Kentucky, losing the first game 4-7, the second 14-19 and the third 4-10. The team faces off against Michigan State before heading to Notre Dame to face the Irish.
Offensively, Purdue Fort Wayne has two game leaders in Camden Karczewski and Justin Osterhouse. Karczewski leads the team with a batting average of .308 and Osterhouse follows with an average of .286. In the on-base slugging category, Osterhouse leads with a .881 percentage.
The first pitch at home against Purdue Fort Wayne will be at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 23.
