Notre Dame Baseball Sweeps Big Ten Opponents in the Cambria College Classic

The #3 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team was in Minneapolis, MN this weekend for three games against Big Ten opponents in the Cambria College Classic. Notre Dame played a a game each against the Illinois Fighting Illini, Michigan State Spartans, and Minnesota Gophers, winning all three for a weekend sweep.

Game 1: Notre Dame 6 (6-1) - Illinois 1 (2-5)

Win: Aidan Tyrell, ND (3-0)

Loss: Cole Kirschsieper, UI (1-1)

Notre Dame opened the scoring in the third inning, leading off with singles from Brooks Coetzee and David LaManna. Both players advanced to second and third on an error from the shortstop and Jared Miller came up a few batters later to bring in two runs on a single. In the fourth inning the Irish doubled the lead on another two RBI hit. This time it was Spencer Myers singling to drive in TJ Williams and Zack Prajzner.

Illinois managed to bring a run across in the bottom half of the fourth inning, but Notre Dame was on the board again to extend their lead in the sixth inning. Brooks Coetzee was ahead in the count 2-0 when he managed to pull a fastball over the left field wall for his third home run of the season. In the eighth inning it was TJ Williams turn for a home run. It was his first career home run and came the inning after he ended the Illinois seventh inning with a double play.

That was all the scoring for the game and Notre Dame held on for the 6-1 win. Aidan Tyrell started the game on the mound for Notre Dame and was strong again. He allowed only one run in 5.0 innings before giving way to the bullpen Alex Rao threw three scoreless innings, striking out three, and Jack Brannigan finished the game with a scoreless ninth inning.

Game 2: Notre Dame 2 (7-1) - Michigan State 1 (4-5)

Win: John Michael Bertrand, ND (3-0)

Loss: Zach Iverson, MSU (0-2)

Save: Ryan McLinskey, ND (2)

Game two was a pitcher’s duel right from the very beginning with Notre Dame not even getting their first hit until the fifth inning. Their first hit and first run came in the same inning though when TJ Williams broke the no hitter with a double to left field before advancing to third base on an error. Brooks Coetzee followed him with a sacrifice fly to drive in the first run of the game.

Michigan State managed to tie the game in the top of the seventh inning, stringing together a series of hits and plating their only run against John Michael Bertrand. In the bottom of the seventh though, Jack Brannigan played the hero, driving a solo home run to left field for the 2-1 lead and final score.

Bertrand, as has been the case so far this season, was on the mound for Notre Dame for the second game of the series. He threw 7.0 innings and allowed only the one run before giving way to Ryan McLinskey, who threw the final two innings with four strikeouts and no runs.

Game 3: Notre Dame 3 (8-1) - Minnesota 1

Win: Austin temple, ND (2-0)

Loss: George Klassen, MINN (0-1)

Save: Wil Mercer, ND (1)

Pitching was the name of the game again in the final game of the weekend, but Notre Dame managed to get things started early on. Carter Putz doubled with Ryan Cole on base to bring him around to score for the 1-0 lead early. From there Austin Temple went to work and kept the Minnesota bats quiet.

In the sixth inning Notre Dame extended the lead with another run when Danny Neri singled to left field to drive in Jack Brannigan. The Irish added another run in the seventh inning when Brooks Coetzee scored on a suicide squeeze from Spencer Myers. Minnesota managed their first run and first hit of the game in the bottom of the seventh but would get nothing more. Temple managed to finish the inning before coming out of the game, finishing with 7.0 innings pitched and nine strikeouts.

Up Next

Notre Dame has a midweek game against the Elon Phoenix in Elon, NC before traveling to Raleigh, NC to open ACC play with a weekend series against the NC State Wolfpack.