ACC play
It’s still weird to think that Stanford is an ACC series for Notre Dame, but here we are. The Irish are on the road this Holy Week and on Good Friday, Notre Dame took down Stanford, 9-3.
From the ND press release:
Irish Take Series-Opener Against Cardinal
STANFORD, Calif. – The Notre Dame baseball game erased an early deficit and battled their way to a 9-3 win at Stanford in the series opener on Friday night.
The Cardinal plated a run in the bottom of the first before Carson Tinney cut down a runner trying to steal third for the second out of the inning. An easy grounder was fielded by Estevan Moreno as the Irish limited Stanford to one run in the inning.
Davis Johnson led off the top of the second with a single to center field. Parker Brzustewicz put a ball in play, and an error on the throw allowed Johnson to move to third while Brzustewicz moved to second. Two batters later, Estevan Moreno used a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Johnson to tie the game at 1-1.
Jack Radel retired the side in order in the bottom half of the inning to flip the game to the third. Brady Gumpf started the top of the third with a bouncer single up the middle. Carson Tinney then drilled a two-out opposite-field home run to right field to put Notre Dame ahead 3-1.
Gumpf made a highlight-reel diving catch in right field in the bottom of the third, and Tinney closed out the inning by cutting down the second runner of the game trying to steal for the third out to maintain the 3-1 lead. Tinney repeated that effort with another perfect throw to second to catch a third Stanford runner trying to steal in the bottom of the fourth as Notre Dame continued to lead 3-1.
Jack Radel rang up a pair of batters with strikeouts in the bottom of the fifth to keep the two-run advantage intact. The bottom of the sixth saw the Cardinal put a pair of runners on base with no one out. Connor Hincks tracked down a pop up in shallow right field for the first out, but a double down the left field line plated a run and put two runners into scoring position. Radel dialed up his fourth strikeout of the game to put two away, and Radel induced a warning track fly out to center field to limit the Cardinal to one run in the inning.
Connor Hincks led off the top of the seventh with a double to the left-center gap. Estevan Moreno punched a single up the middle as Hincks came around from second to score on the play. Brady Gumpf had a laser down the left field line to drive in Moreno, and the Irish went ahead 5-2.
Ricky Reeth came on in relief in the bottom of the seventh for the Irish after the quality start by Jack Radel. After the lead-off man reached on a hit, Reeth induced a ground out before getting the next two outs with a strikeout and a fly ball.
Carson Tinney and Davis Johnson drew back-to-back walks to start the eighth inning, and Parker Brzustewicz was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Estevan Moreno was hit by a pitch with one out to push a run across for a 6-2 lead. Brady Gumpf delivered a big two-RBI single to push the advantage to 8-2.
Ricky Reeth retired the side in order in the eighth as the game moved to its final frame.
DM Jefferson led off the ninth with a single before stealing both second and third to get into scoring position quickly. Carson Tinney drew a walk, and a wild pitch allowed Jefferson to score while Tinney moved to second for a 9-2 lead.
The Cardinal plated a run in the bottom of the ninth, but the Irish closed the door on Stanford for a 9-3 victory.
Jack Radel earned his third-consecutive win on the mound after going 6.0 with four strikeouts and scattering three hits with one earned run. Ricky Reeth picked up his second save of the season by closing out the final 3.0 innings and striking out a pair.
Brady Gumpf went 3-for-4 at the dish with three RBI and a run. Estevan Moreno was 2-for-2 with three RBI and a run. Carson Tinney belted a home run, walked twice, and drove in two while scoring twice. DM Jefferson had a hit, two stolen bases, and scored a run, and Davis Johnson had a hit, scored twice, and walked twice. Connor Hincks added a double and scored a run, and Parker Brzustewicz scored once.
The Irish (18-17, 5-14 ACC) take on the Cardinal for game two of the three-game series on Saturday. The game begins at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET.