Up 10-8 over North Carolina in the top of the seventh on Sunday, Notre Dame had the bases loaded with two outs and cleanup hitter Niko Kavadas at the plate — the team leader in home runs with six.
While a grand slam would have given the Irish a substantial six-run advantage, head coach Link Jarrett had a trick up his sleeve. As soon as right-handed Tar Heel pitcher Max Alba began his windup, freshman Jack Brannigan took off from third base.
By the time the pitch crossed the plate, it was too late for North Carolina.
Brannigan had stolen home.
Notre Dame would go onto score three more runs in the final two innings to make it 14-8, but the game felt over as soon as Brannigan slid into home, taking all the momentum out of a North Carolina team that was still surging after it scored five runs in the fourth inning to tie the game 7-7.
In the final three innings of the game, the Tar Heels had just one baserunner.
The victory completed the series-sweep over North Carolina (10-7, 0-3) and improved Notre Dame to 10-2 on the season and 3-0 in the ACC — an excellent start for a team picked to finish last in the ACC's Atlantic Division before the season. It is the program's first conference sweep since April of 2017 and first on the road since March of 2016.
The Tar Heels did not lead at any point in the series and this is the second year in a row that they were swept in their opening ACC series of the season.
“Very proud of the way we played today, I thought our preparation going into the game was really good,” Jarrett said. “Offensively from top to bottom, the quality of the at-bats was excellent. I thought we were tough and did a lot of things well throughout the lineup.”
The 14 runs scored by the Irish were the most they've scored in a single game all season.
In addition to stealing home, Brannigan also led the team in hitting by going 3-4 at the plate with five RBIs.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Liam Simon picked up the win for the Irish, the first of his collegiate career, after entering the game in relief in the fourth inning. He threw 2.1 innings, allowing one run by issuing three walks and zero hits, but it was left-handed sophomore pitcher Aidan Tyrell that came in for the last 3.2 innings of the game — the longest outing of his collegiate career.
Tyrell shut down the Tar Heels by giving up just one hit and zero runs.
“Everybody was involved, it was not just one person. It was the entire lineup, the bullpen and guys that came into the game," Jarrett said. "We were asking some guys to do things that they haven't had a lot of experience doing and they responded well this weekend.”
Other key contributors included designated hitter Carter Putz and shortstop Zack Prajzner, who each hit home runs.
Notre Dame will travel to Radford (8-7) on Wednesday, March 11, at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN+ before heading to Louisville (11-4, 2-1) for a three-game series against the No. 3 Cardinals, by far the biggest test of the season for the Fight Irish.
Does Jarrett have a few more tricks up his sleeve to take a game or two away from a Louisville team projected to win the ACC and contend for a College World Series title? Game 1 is Friday, March 13, at 6 p.m. ET.
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