CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The No. 4 seed Notre Dame baseball team (35-13) continued its strong pitching performance in pool play with a 3-0 win over No. 5 seed Virginia (38-17). The Irish concluded pool play with a 2-0 record and only allowed two earned runs over the two games.
Liam Simon got the Irish started on the mound and he set a career-high with 5.0 innings pitched. He allowed just two hits and two walks and tied a career high with eight strikeouts. Matt Bedford added 2.2 innings of relief and Aidan Tyrell earned the save after closing the door in the ninth.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish got the scoring started in the bottom of the second. David LaManna doubled down the left field line to get the inning started. Then Zack Prajzner drove him in from second with an RBI single. After the first two innings, the Irish led 2-0.
Notre Dame added to its lead in the fourth with another run. Jack Brannigan beat out an infield single and came around to score on a double off the wall in left from Jack Penney. Brannigan’s run doubled the Irish lead to 2-0 after four.
The Cavaliers were threatening in the top of the sixth with two runners on and nobody out. Bedford induced a double play to get two outs in the frame and one more ground out ended the inning without any damage.
In the bottom half of the sixth, the Irish continued to add to their lead. Two singles got runners on the corners for Prajzner and he drove in his second run of the game. He hit a sacrifice fly to right that scored LaManna from third. After six full frames, the Irish led 3-0.
Virginia loaded the bases in the top of the eighth and brought the go-ahead ahead run to the plate with two outs. Sammy Cooper came on from the bullpen and induced a ground ball to Penney to end the inning and end the threat.
UP NEXT
The Irish are on to the semifinals on Saturday from Truist Field. Notre Dame will play the winner of Pool A, which will be decided in the night game between Virginia Tech and North Carolina Friday night. The semifinal will start at 1 p.m. ET and it will be aired nationally on ACC Network.
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