SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish came out swinging as they took down the No. 2 Louisville Cardinals in the series opener at Frank Eck on Friday, March 24 by a score of 4-3.
The Irish advance to 11-8 on the year and 3-4 in the conference as the Cardinals drop to 18-3 on the year and 2-2 in ACC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was three up, three down for both the Irish and the Cardinals to start the game, as Jackson Dennies recorded his first strikeout of the day to close the top of the first.
The Louisville offense struck first, recording two runs in the second. Danny Neri recorded a base hit in the bottom of the inning, but the Irish would trail 2-0 heading into the third.
A scoreless third kept it within two in the top of the fourth, where Dennies recorded his third and fourth strikeout of the day before Caden Spivey came on in relief to close out the top of the inning.
The bats started to get going for Notre Dame as the bottom of the fourth was started with back-to-back singles from Jack Zyska and Carter Putz. Both would advance to scoring position after a sac bunt from Brooks Coetzee, but the Irish were unable to capitalize, as the threat was ended with a strikeout and a pop up to first base.
Notre Dame held Louisville scoreless in the top of the fifth, while the Irish offense really started to get hot in the bottom of the frame. The Irish led off with singles from DM Jefferson and TJ Williams, and a sac bunt from Jack Penney would put runners on second and third for Notre Dame. Zack Prajzner scored both as he doubled down the left field line to add two Irish runs to the board and make it an even 2-2 ballgame. Zyska followed with a double of his own as he sent it to the wall in the left field gap to score Prajzner and take the lead 3-2.
The Cardinals added another run to the board in the top of the sixth to tie it up at 3-3 as Aidan Tyrell came out of the pen to record the final out of the inning. The Irish immediately responded as Estevan Moreno ripped a home run to deep left, his second of the season, to put the Irish back on top at 4-3.
Both pitching staffs tossed scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth innings, giving the Irish a one-run lead heading into the ninth. Tyrell completed his great relief outing by slamming the door on the Louisville bats in the ninth, handing the Cardinals their first loss on the road this season and giving Notre Dame its third straight win.
UP NEXT
The Irish and Cardinals are back in action tomorrow at 3:00 pm and on Sunday at 1:00 pm at Frank Eck.