Irish Face Off With No. 7 Louisville in Final ACC Home Series

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame baseball team closes out its home conference slate this weekend when two of the hotter teams in the ACC face off at Frank Eck Stadium. The Irish, winners of seven of their last nine, will welcome the 7th-ranked Louisville Cardinals for a three-game series. The Cardinals have won their last six and 13 of their last 14, currently sit in first place in the Atlantic Division while the Irish are in a tie for fourth.

Know the Opponent: Louisville Cardinals

• The ACC home schedule will conclude with a three-game series against the Louisville Cardinals, an NCAA Tournament participant from a year ago.
• The two teams concluded the ACC regular season in Louisville with the Cardinals edging the Irish over the three games.
• In the first game of the series, the Irish rallied with a three-run eighth inning to tie the game before losing in the ninth.
• The Irish head into this weekend’s series winners in seven of their last nine and have won each of their last two ACC series.
• Louisville, the preseason ACC favorite, has won 13 of its last 14 heading into the weekend and currently holds the best record (15-6) in conference play.

Irish Pitchers Own Top Ranks in ACC

• With just two weeks remaining in conference play, the Irish have a number of pitchers that rank among the ACC’s best.
• As a team, the Irish rank first in the ACC in pitching with a 4.29 ERA during conference play.
• Notre Dame has had three complete games (Tommy Sheehan 2, Cameron Brown 1) during conference play while the rest of the 13 teams just have two complete games combined in ACC play.
• The Irish are the only team to have the entire weekend rotation ranked in the top-10 for innings pitched during conference games. Tommy Sheehan is second with 53.2 IP, Cameron Brown is fourth with 47.1 IP and Cameron Junker is eighth with 46.0 IP.
• Cameron Brown also ranks fourth in strikeouts during ACC play with 50 and has struck out six or more batters five times against ACC opponents.
• Cameron Junker ranks 10th in the conference with a .219 opponent batting average against and 11th in ERA with a 3.72.

Brown Dominates to Clinch Series No. 14 NC State

• Over the past two weeks, the Irish have had strong performances on the mound and that continued in the series finale against the Wolfpack.
• Cameron Brown took the mound in the rubber match and shutdown the Wolfpack offense.
• After allowing a run in the first inning, Brown kept NC State off the scoreboard over the final five innings of his outing and allowed just two more hits.
• It was Brown’s second straight quality start and he struck out six, the eighth time this season he struck out six or more and he leads the team with 72 K’s.
• At the plate, the Irish tied the game in the fifth and used a three-run sixth to take the lead for good.
• Zack Prajzner singled in the fifth to score Jared Miller and Eric Gilgenbach gave the Irish the lead in the sixth with a RBI single with the bases loaded.
• Joe Boyle and Tommy Vail combined for the final nine outs of the game to clinch the series win.
• The pair allowed just one hit over the final three innings and Vail struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save of the season.

Irish Rally to Beat No. 14 NC State in Series Opener

• In the series opener against the 14th-ranked Wolfpack, both teams traded punches in a back-and-forth affair at Frank Eck Stadium.
• The Wolfpack scored first in the second but the Irish answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead after a RBI single from David LaManna and a bases-loaded walk from Spencer Myers.
• NC State tied the game in the fourth with a solo home run but the Irish answered again in the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run from Jared Miller.
• The Wolfpack had an answer of their own with a 2-run shot to take a 4-3 lead in the fifth that they had heading into the final three innings.
• In the seventh, Jack Zyska came up with the clutch two-RBI double to left center to retake the lead for the Irish.
• Tommy Vail came on for the final two innings and he did not allow a hit to pick up his fourth save of the season.