April 13, 2018
By Megan Golden
RALEIGH, N.C. — The University of Notre Dame baseball team travels to Raleigh for a three-game weekend series against No. 2 NC State. The series begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday, when southpaw Scott Tully faces right-hander Johnny Piedmonte at Doak Field at Dail Park.
Notre Dame (14-19, 5-10) is looking for its fifth win against the top 10 this season. The Irish will turn to Tully to continue his dominance on the mound, as he works to record his fifth straight quality start versus NC State (26-6, 11-4).
“It’s still right in front of us. We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole, but if you’re able to go three out of the next four, you can get rolling. That’s what we’re looking for,” Irish head coach Mik Aoki said. “It’s just a matter of a young team learning to finish. NC State is going to be a tough place to learn that, but at some point or another, this is how you learn it. We’ve done a good job of putting ourselves in these positions; they’ve played well to get there.”
WHAT: Notre Dame at No. 2 NC State
WHEN: Friday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, April 14 at 6:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, April 15 at noon ET
WHERE: Doak Field at Dail Park
LIVE STREAM: ACC Network Extra
RADIO: 103.1 FM (South Bend)/WatchNDSeries History: NC State
The Irish own a 5-9 mark all-time against the Wolfpack and a 1-5 record on the road. Notre Dame has won three of the last five games and five of the last 10 games in the all-time series.
Talking Tully
Notre Dame’s Friday starter Scott Tully has turned in four straight quality outings, going 3-0 with an ERA of 2.33 (7 ER/27.0 IP) and 12 strikeouts during that span. Opposing teams’ starters (FSU’s Cole Sands, Wake Forest’s Griffin Roberts, Duke’s Adam Laskey and Clemson’s Jacob Hennessy) combined to go 0-3 with an ERA of 6.23 (18 ER/26.0 IP) in those games.
Tully ranks first in the ACC in opponents’ batting average (.183) and ninth in ERA (3.02).
Reliable Relief
Since allowing 15 earned runs in a 16-4 loss at No. 19 Duke on April 1, the Irish bullpen has recorded an ERA of 1.07 (3 ER/25.1 IP) over its last six games.
Andrew Belcik has not allowed an earned run in his last seven outings (7.2 IP). In addition, Cole Kmet‘s 3.0 innings and two saves leads a freshman class that has contributed 6.2 scoreless innings over the last six games.
Notes
- Notre Dame’s three-game set at NC State kicks off a stretch of four straight games versus top-10 opponents (also versus No. 10 Indiana on Tuesday).
- Jake Johnson owns a modest six-game hitting streak during which he is batting .500 (11-22) with six walks, three runs scored and four RBI.
- Cole Daily is three hits away from 100 in his career, and Matt Vierling is four RBI away from 100 in his career.
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.