The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team played their final four home games of the season this week. They began the stretch with a midweek win over the Western Michigan Broncos before taking the weekend series from the Pittsburgh Panthers.
The Irish, now just two games below .500, take to the road for their final four games of the regular season.
Notre Dame 7 (22-24, 11-14) - Pittsburgh 4 (25-18, 10-12)
Pittsburgh jumped out to an early lead in the first game. After a lead off walk, a one out double and single gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead. In the third, a two run home run from Liam Sabino extended the lead to 4-0.
In the bottom of the fourth, with runners on the corners, a wild pitch from Pittsburgh starter Dan Hammer scored Nick Podkul and allowed Niko Kavadas to advance to second. Daniel Jung followed with and RBI double that scored Kavadas and cut the Irish deficit to 4-2.
Take another look at Daniel Jung's RBI-double that started the Irish rally!#PasstheShillelagh ☘️ pic.twitter.com/SpPMLUbv4t
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) May 4, 2018
The next inning, Podkul reached with a base hit before Matt Vierling connected for his eighth home run of the season to tie the game at 4. Kavadas hit a solo home run in the sixth to give Notre Dame a 5-4 lead.
Vierling's eighth homer of the year was CRUSHED. ☘️⚾️ pic.twitter.com/bCnZKEcrNn
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) May 4, 2018
Hometown favorite @nikkavadas22' homer was his third in the last five games! ☘️⚾️ pic.twitter.com/RZUYkpo1Oy
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) May 5, 2018
The Irish added some insurance in the eighth when Vierling and Kavadas reached to start the inning. Eric Gilgenbach singled home Vierling and Daniel Jung laid down a squeeze bunt to score Kavadas and give Notre Dame a 7-4 lead.
Scott Tully threw 7.0 innings for the Irish with 7 strikeouts. He earned his fifth win of the season in the final home start of his career.
W: Scott Tully, ND (5-1)
L: Dan Hammer, PITT (2-3)
S: Zack Martin, ND (1)
In his final start at the Eck, Scott Tully struck out 7️⃣ en route to an Irish win!
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) May 5, 2018
Catch all the highlights before @NDBaseball takes the field in Game ✌️ at 2:05 p.m. ET.#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/7nN8nUTl9H
Notre Dame 7 (23-24, 12-14) - Pittsburgh 5 (25-19, 10-13)
Pittsburgh opened the scoring for the day in the fourth inning, where they did all of their damage. Irish starter Cameron Brown surrendered a bases loaded walk for the first run and then a grand slam that gave the Panthers a 5-0 lead.
As seen at No. 3⃣ on @SportsCenter #SCtop10...@EricGilgenbach showing why he is one of the best outfielders in @ACCBaseball! ☘️ pic.twitter.com/hB32PkPAbP
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) May 6, 2018
Notre Dame started their comeback in the bottom of the fifth. Daniel Jung doubled home Eric Gilgenbach to cut the deficit to 5-1.
In the sixth, Matt Vierling and Niko Kavadas opened up with singles for Notre Dame. An error on Kavadas’ single allowed Vierling to score and make it a 5-2 game. Alex Kerschner followed that up with his first career home run to make it a 5-4 game.
SENIOR MOMENT
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) May 5, 2018
Walk-on Alex Kerschner hit his first career home run on #SeniorDay! ☘️ pic.twitter.com/hQFzCNIVnS
The Irish continued the comeback in the bottom of the seventh. Cole Daily and Jake Johnson opened the inning with a single each. Vierling and Kavadas followed that up with back-to-back singles of their own to put the Irish up 6-5. Kerschner followed with his third RBI of the game for a 7-5 Notre Dame lead.
W: Cameron Junker, ND (1-4)
L: Peyton Reesman, PITT (0-1)
S: Andrew Belcik, ND (3)
New Career High Alert!
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) May 6, 2018
Niko Kavadas earned a career-high four hits as he continued his six-game hitting streak as @NDBaseball downed Pitt for the series win!
Catch the Irish in the final regular-season home game of the year at 1 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra!#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/l6WPvdBiVL
Pittsburgh 8 (26-19, 11-13) - Notre Dame 7 (23-25, 12-15)
Notre Dame opened the scoring in game three in the second inning. Niko Kavadas was hit by a pitch and Alex Kerschner singled before Eric Gilgenbach homered for a 3-0 lead.
In the top of the third, Pittsburgh struck back right away. A double and two singles brought in the first Panther run before Ron Washington Jr. singled to bring home two and tie the game.
In the fifth inning, Caleb Parry singled home a run to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead. Nick Banman followed with a three run home run for a 7-3 lead.
The Irish came right back in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own. Eric Gilgenbach singled with the bases loaded to bring in two and Daniel Jung followed with his own RBI single to cut the deficit to 7-6. In the sixth, an RBI single from Nick Podkul tied the game at 7.
In the top of the ninth, Nick Banman hit his second home run of the game for Pittsburgh to give them a 8-7 lead. Notre Dame was unable to score in the bottom half of the inning.
W: TJ Pagan, PITT (3-0)
L: Cole Kmet, ND (2-5)
Up Next
Notre Dame now has a week off before heading out on the road for their final four games of the season. They play the Northwestern Wildcats on Tuesday May 15 followed up by a weekend series against the Louisville Cardinals.
Niko Kavadas Named Player of the Week
For his performances over the four games, Niko Kavadas was named ACC Player of the Week. Kavadas hit .667 with a .765 on base percentage and two home runs in four games.
@ACCBaseball Player of the Week@nikkavadas22 hit .667 with two homers and a .765 on-base percentage, leading the Irish to three wins! #GoIrish #PasstheShillelagh ☘️
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) May 7, 2018
➡️ MORE: https://t.co/zCdLdx4iAa pic.twitter.com/DhLpSuY47O