SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 23 Notre Dame baseball team fell 6-5 in game one and 13-7 in game two against No. 13 North Carolina in an ACC doubleheader at Frank Eck Stadium on Saturday.
GAME ONE
The Tar Heels pushed a run across in the top of the first for a 1-0 lead, and the Irish responded right away in the bottom half of the inning. Noah Coy laced a one-out triple to right-center field. Mark Quatrani used a deep fly ball on the first pitch of his at-bat to use a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Coy. North Carolina got the lead-off man on with a single before Mark Quatrani cut the runner down trying to steal second base. Radel added back-to-back strikeouts to retire the side in the second.
North Carolina regained the lead with a solo home run in the top of the third inning. Radel ended the frame with a strikeout, a flyout and another strikeout to strand a Tar Heel at first. Radel needed just five pitches to retire the Tar Heels in the top of the fourth.
Davis Johnson drilled the first pitch of his at-bat 413 feet to left-center field for a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to knot the game at 1-1. The Tar Heels had a lead-off home run in the fifth and added a double with no one out. Jack Radel got a strikeout before a walk put a pair on base for North Carolina. Radel dialed up back-to-back strikeouts to force the Tar Heels into stranding two runners in scoring position while keeping it a one-run game.
Radel continued to be strong on the mound as he closed out the top of the sixth inning with his tenth strikeout of the day. Noah Coy led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo shot to right-center on the first pitch of his at-bat to tie things up at 3-3. Noah Rooney then came on in relief and retired the Tar Heels in the top of seventh inning.
Jayce Lee led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run to center field to put the Irish ahead. Parker Brzustewicz added a single to center field, and Brandon Logan came in to run. Logan tagged up on a foul pop up along the right field fence. Jamie Zee pushed a fly ball to right field, and Logan tagged up on the sacrifice fly to put the Irish ahead 5-3.
North Carolina regained the lead with three runs in the top of the eighth to make it 6-5.
Mason Barth hit a one-out ground-rule double to right-center field in the ninth. A wild pitch with two outs gone put Barth on third, but the Irish were unable to push the tying run across as game one ended 6-5.
Noah Coy went 3-for-4 at the dish with a home run, a triple, two runs and an RBI. Davis Johnson and Jayce Lee each belted a home run for the Irish. Mason Barth was 2-for-4 with a double. Parker Brzustewicz and Drew Berkland each added a hit.
Jack Radel struck out 10 over 6.0 innings of work in a no-decision start. Noah Rooney suffered the decision on the mound after going 1.2 with a strikeout. Eli Thurmond closed out the final 1.1 with a strikeout.
GAME TWO
North Carolina scored a run in the top of the first inning of game two. Drew Berkland led off the bottom half of the inning with an infield single and moved to third on a single by Noah Coy. A wild pitch allowed Berkland to score, and Bino Watters went opposite field with a 353-foot home run to left field to put the Irish up 3-1.
The Tar Heels put two runs up in the top of the second to tie the game 3-3 and added two in the fourth for a 5-3 lead.
Xavier Hirsch retired the side in order in the top of the fifth and capped off the inning with a strikeout looking. Mark Quatrani gave the Irish a spark with a rocket of a home run down the left field line to make it 5-4. Bino Watters kept it going with a triple off the top of the fence, and David Johnson drilled a double off the right-center wall to drive in Watters and tie things up 5-5.
The Tar Heels scored six runs in the top of the sixth and a pair in the seventh to gain a 13-5 lead.
The Irish continued to battle down the stretch. Andrew Graham drew a full-count walk with two outs, and Dylan Passo laced a double to put a pair of runners into scoring position. Noah Coy then drove in the pair with a single to make it 13-7. The rally was halted for the Irish, however, with a flyout in the eighth. Neither team put any runs on the board in the ninth in the 13-7 final in game two.
Bino Watters went 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and a home run. Watters added a walk, two RBI and two runs. Mark Quatrani was 2-for-5 with a home run, and Noah Coy added a 2-for-5 effort with two RBI and a run. Drew Berkland and Dylan Passo each had a hit and scored once, and Davis Johnson had a double and drove in a run.
Caden Crowell struck out a pair after earning the start. Xavier Hirsch shouldered the loss on the mound and had two strikeouts. Will Jaisle, Garrett Snyder, Aiden Zerr and Evan Clark all made appearances in game two. Zerr went 1.2 with two strikeouts while Clark went 1.0 as the pair combined to allow zero runs in relief.
Game three of the series is set to start at 1:00 p.m. ET on Sunday at Frank Eck Stadium.