Notre Dame Baseball Rebounds With Sweep of Florida State

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team was back on the road over the weekend, after a rough stretch that saw them lose four straight games and have three more cancelled. The 13th-ranked Irish travelled to Tallahassee for a conference series with the #5 Florida State Seminoles, coming away with all three wins.

Game 1: Notre Dame 2 (14-5, 3-4) - Florida State 0 (16-9, 6-4)

Win: Alex Rao, ND (1-0)

Loss: Jonah Scolaro, FSU (1-2)

The opening game of the series was a pitcher’s duel from the very beginning, staying that way until the Irish broke the deadlock in extra innings. John Michael Bertrand started for the Irish and threw 7.2 innings of shutout baseball, striking out 12 Seminoles and allowing only 4 hits. The Irish bullpen, a combination of Ryan McLinskey, Aidan Tyrell, and Alex Rao, threw 4.1 innings without allowing a hit and kept Florida State off the scoreboard.

Notre Dame’s offense was just as quiet as Florida State for most of the game as well, managing only four hits of their own. The only score of the game came in the top of the 12th inning when Ryan Cole hit a two run go ahead home run with two outs. That was all the scoring there would be as Notre Dame completed the shutout.

Game 2: Notre Dame 5 (15-5, 4-4) - Florida State 4 (16-10, 6-5)

Win: Roman Kimball, ND (2-0)

Loss: Jonah Scolaro, FSU (1-3)

Notre Dame scored first in game 2 in the top of the second inning when Carter Putz scored on a groundout off the bat of Brooks Coetzee. Florida State answered right back though in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game at one. The Irish took the lead back in the fourth inning though, when Putz hit a solo home run.

Florida State came back to take a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning, scoring three runs. Putz was back at work at the plate in the eighth inning though, doubling off the wall to score Jack Brannigan. Notre Dame took the lead for good in the ninth inning, with runners on second and third and trailing by one, Jared Miller hit a ball up the middle that brought home Brooks Coetzee with pinch runner Jack Penney beating the throw home.

Game 3: Notre Dame 9 (16-5, 5-4) - Florida State 7 (16-11, 6-6)

Win: Aidan Tyrell, ND (4-0)

Loss: Ross Dunn, FSU (1-2)

Save: Jack Brannigan, ND (1)

Notre Dame scored first again in the final game of the series, bringing home three in the top of the first inning when Ryan Cole hit a three run home run. Florida State answered right back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the first to tie the game. Notre Dame took the lead back in the third inning when Carter Putz hit a two run home run, followed by a Florida State run in the fourth inning to cut the lead to one.

The Irish got back on the board with two more runs in the sixth inning off a Seminole error and a sacrifice fly. They added two more insurance runs in the eighth inning, including an RBI double from David LaManna, to put the game away. Florida State was able to score three in the eighth inning but otherwise the Irish bullpen held strong for the win.

Up Next

Notre Dame returns home for five straight games, weather pending of course, with a weekend series against the Clemson Tigers sandwiched by midweek games with the Butler Bulldogs and Michigan Wolverines.