SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame baseball team took a 5-3 win over No. 13 Virginia on Saturday to set up a Sunday rubber match for the series at Frank Eck Stadium.
Drew Berkland helped keep the Cavaliers off the scoreboard early with a catch at the base of the wall in left-center field to end the top of the third.
Mark Quatrani had a one-out single to left field before moving to second on a wild pitch. Bino Watters then used an opposite-field single to left field to drive in Quatrani for the first run of the game. Drew Berkland drew a walk, and Watters tagged up to third on a foul fly out to put runners on the corners. Berkland stole second, and Jayce Lee drove both men in with a single to left field for a 3-0 Irish lead.
Jack Radel continued his quality start with a three-up, three down inning, which was capped off by a stellar catch by Brandon Logan in the left-center gap at the wall.
The Irish added to their advantage in the bottom of the fourth. Jamie Zee reached on a fielder’s choice before Noah Coy Drew a walk. The pair executed the double-steal, and Mark Quatrani went the opposite way with a single to right field to drive in the duo to make it 5-0.
Radel again retired the side in order in the top of the fifth and added a one-two-three effort in the top of the sixth.
The Cavaliers got on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh with a two-run home run. Radel, however, forced Virginia into stranding runners on first and second with two huge back-to-back strikeouts to maintain the 5-2 lead.
Virginia got a run in the top of the eighth and had bases loaded before Will Jaisle had a three-pitch strikeout to shut the door on the inning. Jaisle then retired the side in order in the top of the ninth to secure the 5-3 Irish win with the first save of his career.
Mark Quatrani went 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run, and Bino Watters was 2-for-4 at the dish with an RBI and a run in the win. Jayce Lee had a hit and drove in two, and Drew Berkland hit a double and scored a run. Noah Coy and Jamie Zee each scored once for the Irish.
Jack Radel had a quality start and earned the win after going 7.0 with five strikeouts on the mound. The junior righty had four hitless innings from the third through the sixth and needed just 88 pitches to earn the win. Eli Thurmond and Caden Crowell each made an appearance in relief. Will Jaisle closed out the final 1.2 innings of the contest with zero hits allowed, zero runs surrendered and two strikeouts for the save.
The Irish (16-14, 7-10 ACC) face the Cavaliers in the series rubber match starting at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday at Frank Eck Stadium.