‘Determined’ Notre Dame Opens NCAA Tournament With 10-0 Dusting Of CMU
SOUTH BEND – A week off gave Notre Dame baseball plenty to stir over.
It had to wait seven days to play again after a 14-1 ACC tournament loss in pool play to Virginia, an eye-popping outlier on a shiny season. It didn’t receive the top-eight NCAA tournament seed most projected brackets and the team itself thought it would earn. Its star hitter, senior first baseman Niko Kavadas, had ample time to mull over a 2-for-22 slump that featured 18 strikeouts.
All of it was on the Irish’s minds entering Friday’s NCAA tournament opener vs. Central Michigan.
“There wasn’t a lot of crazy stuff that needed to be said or done with these guys,” head coach Link Jarrett said. “We just needed to play another game.”
The result felt like one big cathartic experience where the Irish played with an entire Pringles can on their collective shoulders.
Notre Dame dusted Central Michigan 10-0 Friday in the South Bend Regional of the NCAA Tournament, advancing to a Saturday game (6 p.m. ET, ESPN3) against the winner of Michigan and UConn. A get-right opportunity for the No. 10 overall seed Irish (31-11) provided the necessary lift and served as a robust reminder of their capabilities.
“If you had to bottle up what our team has been able to do this year, I think you saw most of it in this game,” Jarrett said.
Kavadas popped a pair of two-run home runs over the center field batters-eye, while left fielder Ryan Cole and catcher David LaManna each hit a two-run shot. Pitching staff ace John Michael Bertrand, who surrendered five runs in one-plus inning a week ago, threw a complete-game shutout. One of Notre Dame’s best games coming right after its worst was no coincidence.
“To be honest, we anticipated being a national seed, a top-eight team,” Kavadas said. “When that didn’t end up being the case, a lot of these guys took that to heart, and we had an awesome week of practice.”
Perhaps no one was more eager to play than Kavadas, whom Jarrett slid down to the No. 6 spot in the order, down from the usual No. 3 hole.
Jarrett had mulled over the move for a few days and did it with a few reasons in mind. It put Notre Dame’s best three baserunners – center fielder Spencer Myers, Cole and second baseman Jared Miller – in the top three spots. Jarrett thought it would take some pressure off Kavadas. He had “been pressing a little bit,” Jarrett said.
Kavadas responded loudly.
With old high school teammates and family in the stands, the native of nearby Granger, Ind. delivered his third multi-homer game of the year. The home runs were his 17th and 18th of the season. After each one, he pointed toward his right-field fan club as he rounded first base. He greeted third baseman Jack Brannigan, whom he drove in with both homers, at home with a mighty chest bump.
“He pulled the right strings today,” Kavadas said of Jarrett.
One of those other strings was leaving Bertrand in to finish a 108-pitch masterpiece. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out six. It was his first career shutout and the first postseason shutout from a Notre Dame pitcher since Danny Tamayo tossed one in 2000.
All game, Bertrand peppered Central Michigan’s lineup with fastballs and pitched to weak contact. He induced two double-play groundouts and retired 10 of the final 11 hitters he faced. All five hits he surrendered were singles.
“He’s a resilient kid,” Kavadas said. “He’s in year five. He knows what he’s doing and he has been there before. We believe in him and he believes in himself. There was never a doubt he was going to go dominate today.”
As the game progressed, Bertrand appeared more locked in. Though he never allowed multiple baserunners in the same frame, he didn’t set down the Chippewas in order until the seventh inning. An eight-inning single was erased on a double play, and he struck out the side in the ninth to ice the game. Jarrett said no reliever ever had to warm up.
“It’s just his ability to manage what he’s doing and pitch. He pitches,” Jarrett said. “You saw the recipe for him to be successful.”
Central Michigan starter Andrew Taylor, meanwhile, ran in to trouble the second time through Notre Dame’s order. He allowed a leadoff triple to Miller in the fourth inning. Miller scored on Carter Putz’s groundout one play later. Brannigan singled ahead of Kavadas, who launched his first homer on an 0-2 pitch.
Notre Dame began the sixth inning with four straight hits, the first one a Brannigan triple. Kavadas sent an 0-1 offering near the exact same spot his first one landed. LaManna homered two batters later, and Cole capped a six-run inning with his blast.
Notre Dame can advance to the super regional with wins Saturday and Sunday. Regionals are double-elimination brackets, and if Notre Dame takes a loss in one of its next two games, it will play Monday afternoon to determine the regional winner.
“It’s not going to be easy with who we have to play, but the bracket lines up for you much better if you go 1-0,” Jarrett said. “The guys knew that. They know.”
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