May 4, 2006

The Notre Dame baseball team has finalized and adjusted its pitching rotation for the final regular-season home games of the 2006 season. Jeff Manship now will throw the series opener versus Loiusville on Friday night, May 5 (6:05 p.m. EDT) while fellow junior righthander Jeff Samardzija will start on Saturday, May 6 (1:05). Samardzija originally was slated to throw the opener but the decision was made late Wednesday night to flip the order due to a minor illness that has affected Samardzija’s weekly preparation schedule. The Irish also have announced that senior lefthander Tom Thornton will return to the rotation on Sunday versus the Cardinals (12:05) – with Louisville just releasing its rotation for the series as well.

Here’s a look at the probable starting pitchers for both teams:

Game 1 (Fri., May 5, 6:05) – ND junior RHP Jeff Manship (2.42 ERA, 6-1 record, 77 strikeouts, 17 walks, 50 hits allowed/.202 opp. avg., 10 games started, 67.0 innings pitched) and Louisville sr. RHP Brian Halford (5.40, 3-3, 51 Ks, 16 BB, 80 H/.285, 13 GP/12 GS, 76.2 IP)

Game 2 (Sat., May 6, 1:05) – ND jr. RHP Jeff Samardzija (4.06, 6-1, 37 Ks, 29 BB, 66 H/.276, 10 GS, 64.1 IP) and Louisville soph. LHP Jake Smith (5.62, 1-2, 24 Ks, 23 BB, 35 H/.250, 11 GP/8 GS, 40 IP)

Game 3 (Sun., May 7, 12:05) – ND senior LHP Tom Thornton (4.22, 5-1, 43 Ks, 4 BB, 58 H/.283, 10 GP/9 GS, 53.1 IP) and Louisville jr. RHP B.J. Rosenberg (4.34, 5-5, 46 Ks, 22 BB, 80 H/.285, 13 GP/12 GS, 76.2 IP)