May 26, 2001

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BEEN THERE –
ND opened NCAA play with wins in 1999 (8-1 vs. Creighton) and 2000 (8-4 vs. Tulane) but lost their next games to Cal State Fullerton (3-6) and Mississippi State (1-8).

UNBEATEN SERIES –
FIU swept ND in a 1999 three-game series and is one of just five all-time opponents that have not lost to ND with a minimum of three games played (Miami of Ohio was on that list, at 11-0, before losing to ND this season at the Fresno State Classic) … others on that list include St. Edward’s (Texas) at 6-0, Tulsa (5-0, program discontinued), Arizona (5-0) and Auburn (4-0).

WAKE UP BATS –
ND hit just .252 in three BIG EAST Tournament games before erupting for a 15-hit attack vs. UWM … junior CF Steve Stanley’s 5-for-5 game followed his dismal 2-for-13 showing at the BET.

PORZEL’S LATE PUSH –
Senior SS Alec Porzel continues to make his late run at the ND career RBI record, with his four RBI last night yielding 214 for his career (’94 grad. Eric Danapilis holds the record, with 221) … Porzel had totaled just 20 RBI in the first 33 games of the season but has racked up 37 RBI in the last 26 games … he has at least one RBI in 10 of the last 13 games, including an eight-game RBI streak and 20 total RBI in that 13-game stretch (he has seven RBI in four 2001 postseason games).

SOLID D –
The Irish have yet to make an error in four postseason games and have posted 17 total error-free games, 20 with one error and just eight with more than two Es … errors have led to just 37 unearned runs by the opponents, who have combined to average just 3.7 total runs per nine innings vs. ND this season.

WARM-WEATHER FOES –
Today’s game marks the ninth time that a southern team has played against Notre Dame at Eck Stadium, which opened in 1994 … Miami swept a three-game set vs. ND at The Eck on April 2-3 in 1994 while Alabama came calling for a pair of games on April 25-26, 1995 (ND won 5-3 and lost 9-1) … Miami returned to ND on May 11-12, 1999, and faced an upstart Irish team that nearly won the first game (3-5) before coming one strike shy of no-hitting the Canes in a 1-0 Irish win … Cal State Fullerton was the top seed of the 1999 South Bend Regional and beat the Irish 6-3 in Game 4 of that regional. K-CLUB – Senior RHP Danny Tamayo’s 103 strikeouts this season rank 4th in ND history but one player-his classmate Aaron Heilman-holds the top three spots on that list (118 in 1999 and 2000, 113 this season).

RIGHT ON TRACK –
Aaron Heilman recorded 20 of his 27 outs last night via the strikeout (8) or groundout (12), which puts him right on track with his nine-inning season averages of 8.8 Ks and 11.7 GOs.

WONDER KID –
Freshman 1B Joe Thaman has dazzled with his defensive skills all season and his 509 putouts are the most ever by an ND freshman, besting the 410 posted by C Paul O’Toole in 1999.

UWM GAME NOTES –
ND is now 4-0 in NCAA tournament openers under head coach Paul Mainieri (4-8 in pre-Mainieri era) … the 12 runs are the most for ND in its last 11 NCAA tournament games-dating back to the 12-1 win over Virginia in 1996 … ND is 21-3 this season vs. teams that beat the Irish in 2000.

FOUR-YEAR ALL-AMERICAN –
With his selection to the Collegiate Baseball first team All-America squad, ND senior RHP Aaron Heilman becomes the 17th all-time ND student-athlete to be a four-year All-American in the same sport and just the 5th to do so in a team-oriented sport (the others include women’s soccer’s Holly Manthei, Jen Grubb and Anne Makinen and Kevin O’Shea from men’s basketball) … the other 12 include two former cross country runners and 10 former fencers.

1ST-INNING FRENZY –
ND yesterday extended its 1st-inning scoring edge to 55-8-including 52-3 in the last 45 games and 32-2 overall at Eck Stadium-while pushing its 4th-inning advantage to 61-20 … 5-HIT CLUB – ND junior CF Steve Stanley-who owns seven career 4-hit games-posted his 30th multi-hit game of 2001 vs. UWM and became the 22rd ND player to collect five hits in a game (twice by Tom Sheehan, in ’43 and ’44, twice by Randall Brooks in ’97) … aside from Alec Porzel’s ND record 6-for-6 game vs. Pittsburgh last season, Stanley is the first ND player with a 5-hit game since Brant Ust and Dan Leatherman did it in ’98.

POWER SURGE –
ND has 12 home runs in the last 10 games, after hitting just 25 in the first 49 games) … Brian Stavisky has two HRs in his last three games after hitting one in the previous 20 … all eight of Alec Porzel’s HRs have come in the last 27 games (5 in the last 13) … Porzel’s 37 career HRs tie him with Frank Jacobs (`89-’91) and Mike Amrhein (`94-’97) for 3rd in ND history.

PICK TO CLICK –
Brian Stavisky’s 3-for-4 game vs. UWM improved his team-best batting avg. in games started by Aaron Heilman (.455, 20-for-44) and his team-best avg. at Eck Stadium (.476, 40-for-84).

DOMINATING DUO –
Seniors Aaron Heilman and Alec Porzel are nearing the end of their accomplished four-year careers that qualify them as one of the top pitcher/position player combinations ever among Notre Dame classmates (particularly when looking at career statistics) … one other tandem that jumps to mind is LHP Chris Michalak and OF Eric Danapilis (1990-93) … Michalak’s career stats at ND included a 34-13 record, 12 saves and a 3.21 ERA in 372.2 IP, plus 263 strikeouts, 92 appearances, 43 starts, 20 complete games and 7 shutouts … Danapilis hit .405 with 221 RBI and 29 home runs in 729 at-bats, plus 212 games played, 209 starts, 295 hits, 61 doubles, 205 runs scored, 131 walks, 32 times hit-by-pitch, 46 stolen bases and 35 total sacrifices … here’s a look at where Heilman and Porzel rank in the ND record books.

Heilman
1st in career wins (43-7)
1st, 4th and 8th in season wins (15-0 in ’01, 11-2 in ’99, 10-2 in ’00)
1st in career Ks (425)
1st in consecutive season wins (15 in ’01)
Top 3 season K totals (118, 118, 113 from ’99-’01)
1st in career innings (393.2)
1st in season complete games (12)

2nd in career ERA (2.49)
2nd in career appearances (83)
2nd in career saves (12)
2nd in career CGs (24, most since 1900)
2nd in season appearances (31 in ’98)
2nd, 3rd and 7th in season opp. batting (.172 in ’01, .198 in ’98, .217 in ’99)
2nd in Ks in a game (18 in ’00)

3rd in career winning pct. (.860)
3rd in season saves (9 in ’98)
3rd in consecutive career wins (15)

4th in career shutouts (6)
4th in career starts (44)
4th, 6th and 9th in season IP (114 in ’01, 109 in ’99, 103.2 in ’00)

6th and 8th in season ERA (1.61 in ’98, 1.64 in ’01)

7th in season starts (15 in ’01)

Porzel

1st in career doubles (76)
1st in career at-bats (877)
1st in hits in a game (6 in ’00)

2nd in career RBI (214)
2nd in career starts (230)
2nd and 3rd in season doubles (26 in ’01, 24 in 200)

3rd in career games played (245)
T-3rd in career home runs (37)

4th in career hits (270)
4th and 9th in season ABs (243 in 2000, 234 in ’01)

7th in career runs (179)

8th in career triples (12)