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Baseball Roundup: No. 9 Miami bounces No. 8 Irish, 16-7, to take key series

Miami took two of three from Notre Dame this weekend to deny the Irish an ACC Atlantic Division title.
Miami took two of three from Notre Dame this weekend to deny the Irish an ACC Atlantic Division title. (University of Miami Athletics)

A day after sustaining its first shutout loss of the season, No. 9 Miami’s bats woke up — early and often.

The Hurricanes feasted on Notre Dame freshman lefty Jack Findlay in a seven-run first inning and never relented against the eight relievers who followed him in a 16-7 rout of the No. 8 Irish Saturday at Coral Gables, Fla., in the rubber game of a key ACC baseball series.

Combined with Louisville’s 11-3 victory over Virginia, the loss knocked Notre Dame (33-13, 16-11 ACC) out of first place in the Atlantic Division on the final day of the regular season. It also cost the Irish a couple of spots in the seeding for next week’s ACC Baseball Championship in Charlotte, N.C.— falling from No. 2 to No. 4.

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More consequently, it further differentiated the Irish from the top three teams in the ACC when it comes to national seeding in the NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame finished a combined 1-6 against Virginia Tech, Miami and Louisville.

Selection day is May 30, the day after the ACC Championships come to a close.

Findlay (5-2) lasted two-thirds of an inning, giving way to third baseman Jack Brannigan and then Roman Kimball. Maxwell Romero Jr., Zach Levinson and Ariel Garcia all hit two-run homers in the opening frame.

Gaby Gutierrez added a two-run shot in the third for a 9-0 Miami lead. The Hurricanes (39-16, 20-10) hit six home runs in the game, including two from Romero.

Brannigan answered with a three-run homer in the top of the fourth, but the Irish couldn’t get closer than six runs the rest of the way.

Freshmen Jack Penney and Nick DeMarco hit solo shots for the Irish, DeMarco's being the first of his college career. Carter Putz went 3-for-5 and scored two runs.

BOX SCORE

The Irish next play Thursday and Friday in the pool-play phase of the ACC Baseball Championship. The bottom two teams in the standings — defending ACC tourney champ Duke and Boston College — are excluded. The other 12 teams are divided into four three-team pools.

The four winners in pool play advance to a single-elimination, semifinal bracket.

No. 4 seed Notre Dame (33-13, 16-11) will be joined in its pool by No. 5 Virginia (38-15, 17-13) and No. 9 Florida State (32-22, 15-15). All three of those teams were ranked in the top 12 nationally this week by Baseball America, though the Seminoles were swept this weekend by North Carolina.

The Irish will play Florida State Thursday at 3 p.m., then Virginia Friday at 11 a.m. Florida State and the Cavaliers will play each other Wednesday at 3 p.m.

2022 ACC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEEDS

Truist Field, Charlotte, N.C.

POOL A – 1 Virginia Tech, 8 North Carolina, 12 Clemson

POOL B – 2 Louisville, 7 Georgia Tech, 11 Pitt

POOL C – 3 Miami, 6 Wake Forest, 10 NC State

POOL D – 4 Notre Dame, 5 Virginia, 9 Florida State

Game times Tuesday through Friday are set for 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. EDT. Saturday’s semifinals are scheduled for 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., while Sunday’s championship will begin at noon.

Friday: Temple dooms Hurricanes  

Austin Temple pitched one-hit ball over six innings and Alex Rao struck out Dominic Pitelli with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to end the game as No. 8 Notre Dame handed ninth-ranked Miami its first shutout of the season, 5-0, Friday in Coral Gables, Fla.

With the help of a Virginia 16-7 victory over 14th-ranked Louisville on Friday, the Irish (33-12, 16-10 ACC) moved back in front of the Cardinals by 12 percentage points to top the Atlantic Division standings.

Jack Zyska, Jack Penney and Jack Brannigan all homered for the Irish. Carter Putz went 2-for-4 and drove in a run in the top of the ninth with a single.

Temple, (4-1), a grad senior and transfer from Jacksonville, struck out the side in the bottom of the first to begin perhaps his most impressive outing of the season.

Sophomore Matt Bedford, who became academically eligible earlier this month, relieved to start the seventh, but left after a third of an inning with runners at the corners. Lefty Will Mercer got the Irish out of the jam with an inning-ending double-play.

But in the ninth Mercer loaded the bases with two outs. In came Rao to get Pitelli to strike out swinging as he picked up his second save of the season.

BOX SCORE

Thursday: Gutierrez stings Irish

Light-hitting freshman left field Gaby Gutierrez homered twice and drove in five runs as No. 9 Miami won the opening game of a key ACC baseball series, 6-4, Thursday night over visiting and eighth-ranked Notre Dame.

The No. 9 hitter in the Hurricanes’ lineup, batting .208 with one home run and eight RBIs on the season coming in, broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth with a three-run shot off Irish ace John Michael Bertrand (7-2). He then hit a two-out, two-run homer off Radek Birkholtz in the seventh for a 6-1 Hurricanes lead.

Ryan Cole homered twice for the Irish — including a two-out. three-run shot in the ninth — but Brooks Coetzee fouled out to the catcher to end the rally. Cole’s home runs were his eighth and ninth of the season.

Miami sophomore lefty Carson Palmquist (9-3), an All-America closer last season, started for the Hurricanes and picked up the win. Miami managed just five hits, but three of them were home runs.

Yohandy Morales hit a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth after Cole led off the top of the fourth with a solo shot of his own.

BOX SCORE

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