SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish take down No. 8 Virginia in game one of the series on Friday, April 21 at Frank Eck Stadium. An electric night at the plate for the Irish would give them the 10-7 win with a season-high six home runs on the night. The Irish advance to 21-15 and 9-10 in the ACC.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cavalier offense struck first as they scored in the first inning to take the 1-0 lead. While the Irish were scoreless through the first inning, Jack Penney homered in his first at bat as he sent it deep over the fence in center field to make it even 1-1 after two. Penney continues to lead the Irish in home runs this season as he recorded his eighth homer of the year in the second inning.
A four-run inning lifted UVA to a 5-1 advantage in the top of the fourth, but the Irish weren’t going anywhere. Two runs were scored in the bottom frame as DM Jefferson notched his first career home run, scoring Penny and closing the gap to two with a score of 5-3.
It was three up, three down for Virginia in the top of the fifth and the Irish offense continued to surge as Notre Dame tacked on another three runs in the bottom frame to take the lead. Estevan Moreno led off with his first home run of the day as his solo homer made it a 5-4 ballgame. Zack Prajzner and Carter Putz tallied back-to-back singles as the Putz base hit would score Prajzner to tie it up at 5-5. Vinny Martinez would send it down the left field line for his second hit of the day as his RBI double sent home Putz to give Notre Dame the first lead of the day at 6-5.
The Irish had another strong defensive frame as the Cavalier offense went three up, three down again in the top of the sixth. Aidan Tyrell recorded his eighth strikeout of the day in the sixth frame as he pitched 6.0 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits.
Moreno tallied his second homer of the day in the bottom of the sixth as he sent it to deep left field to give the Irish the 7-5 advantage.
Radek Birkholz took the mound to start the seventh for the Irish, recording his first strikeout of the day as both the Irish and the Cavaliers hung zeros in the inning.
Virginia closed the gap to one after scoring another run in the top of the eighth to make it a 7-6 ballgame. The Irish bats were at it again though in the bottom frame as the Notre Dame home run derby continued. Martinez led off with a single up the middle as Casey Kmet came in to pinch run for the designated hitter. He was scored by a Brady Gumpf home run to left field, which was the fifth Irish home run of the game. Gumpf’s first homer of the season extended the Irish lead 9-6. The freshman second baseman was back up to plate and did it again. Moreno crushed it to deep left field for his third home run of the night. This is the first time an Irish player has recorded three home runs in a game since Jake Shepski did it on March 24, 2016 at Virginia Tech.
Leading 10-6 heading into the ninth, Virginia would homer to right center field, but the Irish would close out the game with a 10-7 victory over the No. 8 team in the country. Tyrell advanced to 7-1 on the year and Birkholz took home his first save.