March 24, 2018
By Megan Golden
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame baseball team rallied from behind to defeat Wake Forest, 7-6, courtesy of a Daniel Jung walk-off walk in the 10th inning on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Irish (10-11, 4-4) secured their first Atlantic Coast Conference series win with their second straight victory over Wake Forest (10-13, 4-4) at Frank Eck Stadium.
How It Happened
Wake Forest took an early 1-0 lead after drawing a walk off Tommy Sheehan and singling in its first run in the first inning.
The Demon Deacons had a runner reach base on a fielder’s choice in the fourth, and Shane Muntz homered to extend their lead to 3-0 in the fourth. Sheehan then issued back-to-back two-out walks, and Christian Long drove in his ninth run of the season to put Wake Forest ahead, 4-0.
Alex Kerschner lined a lead-off double to the left field wall in the fifth. Eric Gilgenbach and Cole Daily walked to load the bases, and Jake Johnson delivered a two-run single to left field to cut the Demon Deacons’ lead to 4-2.
In the bottom of the sixth, Alex Kerschner walked, and David LaManna reached first after a dropped foul ball and being hit by a pitch. John Arndorfer, making his Irish debut, ran for LaManna. Niko Kavadas walked, and Cole Daily‘s infield single drove in Kerschner to make it a 4-3 ballgame.
Wake Forest’s Jake Mueller and Johnny Aiello connected for back-to-back singles with nobody out in the eighth. Bobby Seymour hit a deep single to right that scored Mueller, and a single from Muntz drove in the second run in the frame, making the score 6-3.
Bryce Gray reached on an error by the Wake Forest shortstop in the eighth, and Kavadas and Daily drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with two outs in the inning. Johnson came up and belted a three-run triple to the wall to tie the game at 6-6.
Kavadas was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the 10th inning, and Ryan Cole came on to pinch run. Jake Johnson singled to center with one out, moving Cole to third base, and Podkul was intentionally walked to load the bases for Vierling. The center fielder hit into a fielder’s choice that caught Cole out at home for the second out. Daniel Jung drew a walk-off walk to end the game and give the Irish their third walk-off win of the season.
Player of the Game
Jake Johnson collected a career-high five RBI against the Demon Deacons on Saturday, coming through twice with the bases loaded. In his second at-bat with the bases loaded, Johnson hit his first triple of the season that drove in three runs and brought him to 50 career RBI.
Game Notes
- The Irish own a 7-13 record against Wake Forest all-time and have gone 5-6 at home.
- Notre Dame moves to 2-1 at home in 2018.
- Notre Dame has recorded three walk-off wins in 2018 (David LaManna, Eric Gilgenbach and Daniel Jung), including two walk-off walks.
- The series win gives Notre Dame its second of the season (also versus LSU) and first ACC series win of 2018. The conference series win marks the team’s first since defeating Duke in two of three games from April 28-29, 2017, at Frank Eck Stadium.
- Tommy Sheehan made his sixth start of the season and allowed four runs in 4.0 innings.
- Matt Vierling has recorded six multi-hit games in the month of March. Vierling is batting .352 (19-54) this month.
- Jake Johnson‘s three-run triple in the eighth gives him 50 career RBI.
- Cole Daily stole his team-high 10th base of the season in the third inning.
- John Arndorfer made his collegiate debut as a pinch runner in the sixth inning.
Up Next
The Irish return to Frank Eck Stadium at 11:30 a.m. ET on Sunday for the finale of the three-game series versus Wake Forest.
For a behind-the-scenes look at the Irish baseball program, follow @NDBaseball on Twitter and @NotreDameBaseball on Instagram. For tickets to an Irish baseball game, click here.
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Megan Golden, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since August of 2016. In her role, she coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame baseball and women’s soccer programs. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Golden is a 2014 graduate of Saint Mary’s College and former Irish women’s basketball manager. Prior to arriving at Notre Dame, she worked in public relations with the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox.