Bruises and home run blasts advance Irish to Statesboro Regional Final
Notre Dame showed it can hit and take a hit – two hits, actually, as the 14th-ranked Irish were plunked twice with the bases loaded to take the lead and beat Georgia Southern 6-4 on Saturday to take control of the Statesboro, Ga., Regional.
Georgia Southern reliever Jaylen Paden hit Zach Prajzner in the hip in the seventh inning with the bases loaded to give the Irish a 5-4 lead. Paden then hit the next batter, Jack Penney, in the knee.
The Irish (37-14) also hit three home runs, two solo shots in the fourth inning by Jack Zyska and Jack Brannigan to take a 2-1 lead, and Zach Prajzner added a two-run shot in the sixth to tie the game at 4-4.
The game was exciting throughout, as the teams traded leads and both squandered chances in an emotionally charged game before a record crowd of 3,533 fans at J.I. Clements Stadium. Despite hosting the regional and being the top seed, the Eagles were the road team.
“A great game. The atmosphere was fantastic, the crowd into it, both teams clearly into it,” Notre Dame coach Link Jarrett said. “Just proud of the way our guys continued to grind through.”
Notre Dame will face the winner of No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 1 Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. on Sunday. If Notre Dame wins, it moves on to the Super Regional. If the Irish lose, those two teams meet again Monday, with the winner advancing to play the winner of the Knoxville Regional.
Four Irish pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts, with starter Austin Temple striking out eight in 5 2/3 innings and reliever Jack Findlay striking out four in two innings. Reliever Matt Bedford (1-0) earned the win.
Jarrett said the Irish needed a strong start by Temple because the Irish had used so many pitchers in the opener.
“When you come into this, and your starting pitcher throws one inning, it was critical for us today to try to shorten the back end of the game,” he said.
The Eagles (41-19), a member of the Sun Belt, threatened in the top of the eighth when Sam Blancato and Parker Biederer both singled off Bedford, putting runners at first and third with no outs. But Findlay struck out Kyler Hultgren and Jesse Sherrill and got Jason Swan to ground out to end the inning.
Jarrett praised Findlay.
“That’s as good as his fastball has been,” Jarrett said. “He’s pitched well for us. You can look at the numbers. He’s been effective. But for a freshman to go in that situation, it’s what we needed to do. He was comfortable with it.”
Noah Ledford hit a long homer to right field in the third inning to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. It was his 17th homer and fifth home run in the past seven games.
Temple had his first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, striking out two.
That’s when Zyska homered to left, his 11th of the season, to tie the score at 1-1. Zyska appeared to have words for Georgia Southern starter Ben Johnson after hitting the homer. He also motioned to the crowd after touching home.
The Irish players say there were no bad feelings between the teams, just a lot of excitement.
“I think in a game that’s this intense and the crowd like this, the emotion is going to come out a little more,” Prajzner said. “I don’t think that had anything to do with the teams at all, just general emotion and a really intense game.”
After Johnson struck out David LaManna, Jack Brannigan hit a homer that just barely made it over the right-centerfield fence to give the Irish a 2-1 lead.
The Irish threatened to blow the game open, loading the bases when Prajzner reached first after striking out when catcher Kyler Hultgren couldn’t find the ball. Penney then singled, and reliever Thomas Higgins walked Myers. Then reliever Jake Martin got Cole to pop up to shallow left field to end the threat.
The Irish loaded the bases in the seventh inning on a walk to Carter Putz, a single to center by Zyska, and Brannigan reached first on an infield hit, beating out a throw by shortstop Austin Thompson to set up the two hit-by-pitches.
Georgia Southern right-hander Ben Johnson, an emergency starter when Hayden Harris tweaked his back while warming up before the game, struggled a bit at first but managed to keep the Irish off the board until the homers in the fourth.
The game was originally scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Saturday, but the start time was pushed up to 5:20 p.m. because of concerns about the weather. But because of rain, the game didn’t start until 8:10 p.m. The game Friday had a weather delay that lasted nearly six hours.
Georgia Southern and Texas Tech (38-21) square off at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Red Raiders eliminated North Carolina-Greensboro with a 2-0 victory earlier Saturday.
NCAA TOURNAMENT
Statesboro Regional Schedule
At. J.I. Clements Stadium; Statesboro, Ga.
(All Times Eastern)
Friday, June 3
Game 1: No. 2 Notre Dame 3, No. 3 Texas Tech 2
Game 2: No. 1 Georgia Southern vs. No. 4 UNCG, postponed
Saturday, June 4
Game 2: No. 1 Georgia Southern 8, No. 4 UNCG, 0
Game 3: No. 3 Texas Tech 2, No. 4 UNCG 0
Game 4: No. 2 Notre Dame 6, No. 1 Georgia Southern 4
Sunday, June 5
Game 5: No. 3 Texas Tech vs. No. 1 Georgia Southern, 2 p.m.
Game 6: Game 5 Winner vs. No. 2 Notre Dame, 7 p.m.
Monday, June 6
Game 7: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser, 6 p.m.
(if necessary)
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