Sept. 20, 2004
The Notre Dame baseball team has finalized the remainder of its fall practice and intrasquad scrimmage schedule, with the annual three-game Blue-Gold intrasquad series to be held Sept. 28-30 (Tues.-Thur.) while the final day of practice will be Friday, Oct. 1. Recaps of each Blue-Gold game again will be provided at und.com.
Notre Dame assistant coach David Grewe will be stopping by und.com on Tuesday (Sept. 21) to discuss the progress of the Notre Dame position players while assistant Terry Rooney will provide an update on the Irish pitchers later in the week. Also look for upcoming stories featuring the six members of the freshman class, in addition to a complete rundown of the ND veteran players’ summer-league performances and an update of the former Irish players who are active in pro ball.
Here’s a schedule of the team’s remaining 2004 fall workouts (times are approximate and all outdoor sessions are open to the public):
Mon., Sept. 20 – simulated games (3:30-6:30)
Tues., Sept. 21 – simulated games (4:00-7:00)
Wed., Sept. 22 – simulated games (3:30-6:30)
Thur., Sept. 23 – simulated games (4:00-7:00)
Fri., Sept. 24 – short workout prior to football pep rally (3:30-5:00)
Sat. Sept. 25 – off-day
Sun., Sept. 26 – simulated games (1:00-4:00)
Mon., Sept. 27 – “4-Man/3-Man” competition (3:30-6:30), Blue-Gold rosters announced
Tues., Sept. 28 – Blue and Gold Series Game 1 (4:00 start time, 7 innings)
Wed., Sept. 29 – Blue and Gold Series Game 2 (4:00 start time, 7 innings)
Thur., Sept. 30 – Blue and Gold Series Game 3 (4:00 start time, 7 innings) Fri., Oct. 1 – final fall workout (3:30-6:30)
Notre Dame returns 24 players from the 2004 roster while six signees also have joined the program and several walk-ons ultimately could be added to the official roster. The current 30-player roster includes 13 position players, 15 pitchers and a pair of two-way players (sophomore 1B/LHP Mike Dury and freshman RHP/IF Tony Langford). Several of the veteran players are participating in a limited role during fall ball while a group of walk-ons are still in the mix for possible roster spots.
Six players graduated from the 2004 squad – 2B Steve Sollmann, C Javi Sanchez, LHPs Joe Thaman and Cody Wilkins and infielders Zach Sisko and Tim Murray – while three others signed professional contracts following their junior seasons in ’04 (3B Matt Macri and RHPs Grant Johnson and Chris Niesel).
Notre Dame’s veteran position players include senior corner infielder Matt Edwards, senior DH Brent Weiss (who played sparingly in ’04 while returning from injury) and seven members of the junior class: LF/C Steve Andres, DH/C/corner IF Matt Bransfield, SS Greg Lopez, C Nick Mainieri and the OF trio of Craig Cooper, Alex Nettey and Cody Rizzo. Returning sophomore position players include C Sean Gaston, OF Danny Dressman and Dury. The newcomers in the field are promising middle-infield candidates Ross Brezovsky, Brett Lilley and Langford.
Dury is the only experienced switch-hitter on the team (Nettey is attempting to add a lefthanded swing this fall) while the current roster includes five lefthanded batters: Andres, Dressman, Gaston, Brezovsky and Lilley.
Three senior pitchers return for the Irish in the form of RHPs John Axford and Tyler Jones and LHP Scott Bickford. The junior class includes just two pitchers but the lofty duo of 7-foot-1 RHP Ryan Doherty and 6-6 LHP Tom Thornton tower nearly 14 feet in combined height. Seven sophomores round out the returning group of pitchers: RHPs Jeff Manship, Derik Olvey, Dan Kapala, Jeff Samardzija, Jess Stewart and Rico Bertucci and LHP Matt Whittington (Axford and Manship both missed the 2004 season due to injury). Three freshman pitchers also have joined the Notre Dame staff for 2004-05: LHPs David Gruener and Wade Korpi and RHP Joey Williamson.