Notre Dame Baseball Drops Series to Florida State In ACC Action

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team finally returned to South Bend to open their home schedule with a weekend series against the Florida State Seminoles, who entered the matchup ranked #19 in the country.

After the opening game was postponed due to weather, the two teams played and split a doubleheader on Saturday before the Seminoles come out on top in extra innings of the rubber match on Sunday.

Game 1: Notre Dame 1 (8-11, 4-3) - Florida State 7 (16-5, 4-3)

The opening game started out slow, as neither team was able to break the deadlock through the first three innings. Florida State finally opened things up by scoring three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth.

Notre Dame finally brought a run across in the seventh when David LaManna singled down the right field line to score Niko Kavadas. That was all the Irish would get though and Florida State scored a run in each of the eighth and ninth for the 7-1 win.

W: Drew Parrish, FSU (3-1)

L: Tommy Sheehan, ND (3-2)

Game 2: Notre Dame 12 (9-11, 5-3) - Florida State 3 (16-6, 4-4)

Notre Dame opened the scoring up early in game 2 of the doubleheader after managing only one run in game 1. With runners on second and third in the bottom of the first, Niko Kavadas hit a sacrifice fly to score the first run of the game. Eric Gilgenbach followed with a double down the left field line for a 2-0 Irish lead.

Florida State cu the lead in half in the second inning, but Notre Dame was back at it in the third. Carter Putz hit an RBI single in the third inning and an RBI in the fourth. Jared Miller followed in the fourth and drove in two runs with a single of his own for a 7-1 lead.

Daniel Jung got the Irish on the board again in the fifth with a bunt single that drove in one. Putz was at it again after that when he singled home the ninth Irish run of the game. Notre Dame put up three more runs in the seventh inning to bring their total to twelve.

Cameron Brown started the game for the Irish and threw a complete game, holding Florida State to three runs while striking out 12 batters. It was Brown’s first career complete game and the 12 strikeouts were not only a career high, but the most for an Irish pitcher since 2012.

W: Cameron Brown, ND (1-2)

L: CJ Van Eyk, FSU (3-2)

Game 3: Notre Dame 1 (9-12, 5-4) - Florida State 3 (17-6, 5-4)

The rubber game turned out to be another pitchers duel on Sunday. Florida State finally took the lead in the top of the sixth, stringing together back-to-back hits to score one run. Notre Dame answered in the bottom half of the inning when Niko Kavadas hit a sacrifice fly to score Carter Putz.

The 1-1 score held all the way until the top of the tenth inning. After two Irish errors extended the inning, the Seminoles were able to bring two runs across for the 3-1 lead. Notre Dame was unable to answer in the bottom half and lost their first series in the last three.

Camerin Junker started the game on the mound for Notre Dame. He threw six innings and tied a career high by recording eight strikeouts for the second consecutive game.

W: Conor Grady, FSU (4-1)

L: Joe Boyle, ND (1-1)

S: J.C. Flowers (5)

Up Next

The Irish have a midweek game against the Chicago State Cougars on Tuesday, March 26 before heading on the road to Atlanta where they face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in a weekend series.