STATESBORO, Ga. — The No. 2 seed Notre Dame baseball team outlasted the elements and the No. 3 seed Texas Tech in the 3-2 victory on Friday night at J.I. Clements Field. In a game that originally started at 2 p.m. and had a six-hour rain delay, was finally finished off at 11:32 p.m. as Aidan Tyrell recorded the 19th strikeout of the game for the Irish pitching staff.
“I am so proud of our guys,” said head coach Link Jarrett. “I have said since I’ve been at Notre Dame, how tough these guys are and today was a great example of that.”
After the rain delay, the Irish turned to Liam Simon out of the bullpen and he shined in his second-straight outing. He tossed three innings of scoreless relief and tied a career high with eight strikeouts. It was his second-straight appearance with eight punchouts.
Rao followed Simon and continued the strong work on the mound. He also tossed three innings of work and recorded seven of his nine outs via the strikeout. He only allowed one hit and one walk during his outing.
The Irish regained the lead in the eighth after Jared Miller pinch-ran for David LaManna and came home on a wild pitch. In the ninth, Tyrell came on to get the final out and secure the regional opening win for the Irish. The 19 strikeouts ties the program record for most in a single game, a record that was set in 1958 against Indiana.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Texas Tech was threatening in the first inning as they loaded the bases with just one out. John Michael Bertrand got his second strikeout for the second out of the inning and then forced a full count grounder to Jack Brannigan that he flipped over to Carter Putz to end the inning and end the threat.
The Irish immediately got on the board in the bottom half of the inning. The Irish loaded the bases with just one out and LaManna sliced a ball down the right field line that just fell in fair territory and jumped over the wall for a ground-rule double. Two runs scored on the play to give the Irish the early lead. Right after the hit, the game went into a weather delay as a thunderstorm came through the area.
After a nearly six-hour plus delay, Simon came on for the Irish in the second and was dealing from his first batter. He recorded his first eight outs via the strikeout as he tied his career high against the Red Raiders.
Rao entered in the fifth and continued the strikeout trend for the Irish. He collected seven punch outs in over three innings pitched.
Texas Tech battled back in the eighth and scored two in the frame to tie the game at 2-2.
The Irish did not flinch and regained the lead in the bottom half of the inning. After reaching on a catcher’s interference, LaManna stole second to get into scoring position. Then Miller came in and he stole third to move within 90 feet of home. The next pitch was in the dirt and got away from the catcher and allowed Miller to come home for the go-ahead run.
In the ninth, the Red Raiders got the go-ahead run to the plate but the combo of Will Mercer, Jackson Dennies and Tyrell got the final three outs to advance the Irish in the winner’s bracket.
UP NEXT
The Irish will be back in action on Saturday but do not know the time or their opponent just yet. With the delay, the Georgia Southern and UNC Greensboro game was postponed to Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. 55 minutes after the conclusion of that game, the first elimination game of the regional is up between Texas Tech and the loser of the first game. 55 minutes after that game, the Irish will take on the winner of the GSU/UNCG game. Stay tuned to social channels for all details for game time and opponent.
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