May 27, 2001
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Steve Stanley wasn’t ready for the record-setting Notre Dame baseball season to come to an end. Even with his team down to its last out in an NCAA tournament elimination game versus UC Santa Barbara-several hours after losing in heartbreaking fashion to Florida International-the sparkplug of the Irish squad still had plenty of fight left in him.
So the junior centerfielder worked ahead in the count versus All-American James Garcia-UCSB’s starter in Friday’s game who pitched the final 1.1 innings on Sunday-before driving a 2-1 pitch into center field, with classmate Paul O’Toole motoring home from second base as the Notre Dame bench erupted with the game-tying score (10-10).
Sophomore rightfielder Brian Stavisky then launched a towering home run over the rightfield fence in the top of the 10th and his own classmate Matt Laird (5-1) finished off his solid 2.2-inning relief stint-sending the Irish on to Monday’s championship round of the South Bend Regional.
Notre Dame (48-12-1)-which tied the team record for wins in a season-next will look to make even more memories on Memorial Day, with the Irish needing to defeat Florida International (42-18) twice in order to advance to the superregional round (FIU needs just one win in the double-elimination format). Monday’s first pitch is slated for 11:00 a.m. EST (equivalent to Chicago time), with the Irish still yet to decide on their starting pitcher.
Stanley and Stavisky (who also hit a two-run shot to open the scoring vs. UCSB) showed signs of excitement and exhaustion-mixed in with a strong sense of belief-when meeting with members of the media after the game.
” I live for times like this,” said Stanley, in reference to his game-tying hit. “I wanted to be that person up there in that situation. I just hoped that Joe (Thaman) would either walk or get a hit to give me a chance. When I got the 2-and-1 count, I smiled at the plate because I knew that I was going to do it.”
Irish fans won’t soon forget Stavisky’s booming home run in the 10th, as the 6-3, 225-pound lefthander launched a full-count offering from Garcia (10-4) into the night sky and well over the rightfield fence (his team-leading ninth homer of the season).
“It was a really good pitch, a slider, down and in,” said Stavisky, who has four home runs in his last five games while his gaudy stats in the regional include 9-for-15 batting, nine RBI and 21 totals bases (with three home runs and three doubles).
“I had just been swinging the bat really well and luckily I stayed on it and just launched it out there. It felt really good.”
There were plenty of heroes throughout the Irish lineup in both games-with sophomore leftfielder Kris Billmaier and freshman second baseman Steve Sollmann again making major impacts as they ease back into the lineup (Billmaier missed seven games prior to the regional with a back injury while Sollmann suffered a fracture in his left hand during the BIG EAST Tournament).
Sollmann hit 3-for-4 and scored a run in the opener (he also made a dazzling play in the field vs. UCSB) while Billmaier’s 6-for-9 day included four RBI, two walks and a career-best four hits to lead a 20-hit attack vs. UCSB.
“This team has gone too far and it has been too much of an overall effort for this to end,” said Stanley. “I can’t take much more credit for that than to say that (the hit) fell for me. What can you say about our team that has just done such an incredible job?”
Notre Dame faced the unusual challenge of playing as the visiting team on the scoreboard in both games-and consequently occupied the unfamiliar first-base dugout. As luck would have it, both games saw the opponent stride to the plate with a chance to win the game … and once it happened, in highly unusual fashion.
Gus Alfonso led off the bottom of the 10th by drawing a full-count walk versus his former 8th-grade teammate Danny Tamayo (8-3), the Irish senior righthander whose gutty complete-game effort included 154 pitches, 14 hits, three walks and five strikeouts. Alfonso was erased on a fielder’s choice but Tino Burgos then was awarded first base when O’Toole was called for catchers interference-on what at first appeared to be a foul ball for an 0-2 count (the plate umpire asked for help, with the first-base umpire making the unusual CI call from his distance).
The Irish coaching staff contested the call while pinchrunner Todd Sherbinsky trotted to second base and Barry Paulk ended the game by sending the next pitch inside the first-base bag and down the line for the 7-6 final.
The ND-UCSB game featured six lead changes and five ties, with the Irish holding leads of 2-0, 7-4 and 9-8 before claiming the final 11-10 margin.
“This game is amazingly similar to the game we played in Starkville (Mississippi) last year in the championship game [of that regional], when we lost on a last-inning homerun [after tying the game four times],” said seventh-year Irish head coach Paul Mainieri. “The difference is that tonight we hit the home run and we found a way to hang on. It was just an unbelievable effort by our kids.”
Stavisky opened the scoring by going with a Matt Vasquez pitch on the outside of the plate and drilling an opposite-field shot over the fence in left-center field. UCSB then jumped all over J.P. Gagne-scoring three times on five hits in the bottom of the first-before adding a run in the second versus Matt Buchmeier.
The Irish answered in the third-when singles from Billmaier and O’Toole brought home Alec Porzel and Stavisky-before claiming the 7-4 lead with three runs in the fourth. Stavisky doubled home Stanley and Thaman, and Billmaier followed with a run-scoring single to left, ending the night for the starter Vasquez.
The Gauchos retook the lead with one run in the fourth, two in the fifth and another in the sixth but the hosts again answered with two runs in the top of the seventh, for a 9-8 Irish lead. Billmaier ignited the rally by sending a full-count pitch from Jim Bullard into left field for a leadoff double. O’Toole then was thrown out trying to stretch a single but Andrew Bushey plated Billmaier with a hit up the middle.
Ben Cooke’s infield single kept the rally going and Bushey moved up on a two-out passed ball before scoring the go-ahead run on Stanley’s 2-2 single to left.
UCSB-down to its final six outs-kept producing in its18-hit attack, with John Schumaker’s leadoff double chasing Brandon Viloria from the game. Lefthander Mike Naumann took the hill and Blair Varnes bunted the runner to third before Chad Peshke sent an RBI single to left versus Laird, tying the game. Laird’s balk and Tyler Von Schell’s two-out single to center then suddenly left the Irish three outs away from elimination.
O’Toole worked Garcia to a full count before drawing a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth, but Garcia induced a pair of flyouts from the next two batters. Thaman-the freshman first baseman-then showed the composure of a veteran by coaxing a walk on five pitches. Stanley took the first pitch for a strike and watched the next two land out of the zone before tying the game in dramatic fashion.
In the earlier game, ND and FIU teams traded a pair of three-run flurries over the span of four innings (including three straight). FIU struck first with three runs and walk in the bottom of the third, with Michael Quintana providing the big hit on a two-out, two-run double to the left-center gap. The Irish then answered with four hits in the top of the fourth, with Stavisky plating Sollmann on a single through the right side before Billmaier brought home Porzel and Stavisky with a double to left-center.
The Panthers answered moments later, with three hits and an uncharacteristic throwing error from Porzel producing a 6-3 lead. Paulk’s two-out double plated the second of two unearned runs in the inning.
Notre Dame forged a 6-6 tie with three more runs in the seventh, sparked by Joe Thaman’s one-out single up the middle and Stanley’s hit through the right side. Porzel then delivered a clutch two-out double to the popular gap in left-center (scoring both runners) and Stavisky ripped his own RBI double down the rightfield line, ending the day for righthanded starter Paul Zervas. Reliever Michael Mendez then walked Billmaier and O’Toole to load the bases but Alex Santos (3-1) took the hill and rolled up a groundball from Andrew Bushey to end the rally.
FIU was poised to take the lead in the bottom of the 7th, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and one out. But the lefthanded-throwing Stanley made a big-league play, sprinting to make a catch in right-center and throwing in the same motion to hold Hector Nunez at third base.
#8 NOTRE DAME (47-12-1) 0-0-0 3-0-0 3-0-0 0 – 6 12 3
FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL (42-18) 0-0-3 3-0-0 0-0-0 1 – 7 14 0
Danny Tamayo (L, 8-3) and Paul O’Toole.
Paul Zervas, Michael Mendez (7), Arthur Santos (7, W, 3-1) and Michael New.
Doubles: Alec Porzel (ND), Brian Stavisky (ND), Kris Billmaier (ND), Barry Paulk (FIU), Mike Quintana (FIU), Daniel Bustamante (FIU), Michael New (FIU), Tino Burgos (FIU).
#8 NOTRE DAME (48-12-1) 2-0-2 3-0-0 2-0-1 1 – 11 20 0
#21 UC SANTA BARBARA (40-17) 3-1-0 1-2-1 0-2-0 0 – 10 18 1
J.P. Gagne, Matt Buchmeier (2), Brandon Viloria (5), Mike Naumann (8), Matt Laird (8, W, 5-1) and Paul O’Toole.
Matt Vasquez, Jim Bullard (4), Jamie Gonzales (7), James Garcia (9, L, 10-4) and Donovan Warrecker.
Home Runs: Brian Stavisky, ND (one on in 1st, 8th of season, solo in 10th, 9th of season)
Doubles: Stavisky (ND), Kris Billmaier (ND), Jared Schumaker )UCSB), Mike Kolbach (UCSB), Dave Molidor (UCSB), Jeff Bannon (UCSB), Donovan Warrecker (UCSB).