Vinny Martinez’s fifth-inning double put Notre Dame ahead for good, and freshman reliever Caden Spivey shut out No. 8 Virginia for the final 4 ⅓ innings as the host Irish swept a three-game ACC baseball series with a 5-4 victory in the second game of a Sunday double-header at Eck Stadium.
In Sunday’s opener, grad transfer pitcher Blake Hely slowed down one of college baseball’s top offensive teams and the Notre Dame bats backed him with 17 hits, including four home runs, as the host Irish took down Virginia, 10-2.
Notre Dame (23-15, 11-10 ACC) takes a season-best five-game winning streak into a non-conference road game at Michigan State on Tuesday night, then returns home to welcome back at familiar face, former ND head coach Link Jarrett, for a three-game ACC weekend series at Eck Stadium, beginning Friday night.
Jarrett left the Irish to coach his alma mater, Florida State, after leading Notre Dame to just its third-ever College World Series appearance last June.
The Seminoles began the season 11-3, but have gone 3-22 since and head into the week 14-25 overall and with an ACC-worst 5-16 league mark.
Notre Dame’s weekend sweep of Virginia (32-9, 12-9) is all the more remarkable, because the Irish were without sophomore ace left Jack Findlay, who’s out with an undisclosed arm injury.
Georgetown transfer Carter Bosch made his first start in an Irish uniform in Sunday’s nightcap after 12 relief appearances. The Cavs chased him in the top of the fifth, when the ACC’s leading hitter coming into the weekend, catcher Kyle Teel, doubled home a run for a 4-2 Virginia advantage.
Spivey got the final out of that inning and then four more scoreless frames to run his record to 3-0 and lower his ERA to 1.44. Dating back to a 6-4 loss last Sunday at Clemson, Notre Dame’s bullpen has allowed one earned run in its last 23 ⅓ innings.
Carter Putz had a run-scoring single and DM Jefferson a sac fly to account for the first two Irish runs of the game. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth and the Irish trailing by two runs, freshman second baseman Estevan Moreno stole home to cut the ND deficit to 4-3.
Jack Penney was then hit by a pitch, to put runners on first and second. And Martinez brought him and Zack Prajzner home with one of two doubles he hit in the game.
Martinez was a central figure in Sunday’s first game as well. So was Hely.
Since transferring from Davidson, Hely had only gone past four innings in one of his previous 10 starts and had never pitched into the sixth inning. On Sunday, the right-hander threw 116 pitches in 7 ⅓ innings, giving up six hits and two earned runs with three walks and eight strikeouts against the nation’s leading team in batting average.
Hely came into the game with a 1-1 record and 5.26 ERA.
The Irish offense came alive for the second game in a row against the nation’s No. 4 team in ERA. With Prajzner, Putz, Penney and Martinez all homering, Notre Dame had 10 total in its first two games of the series.
Penney went 4-for-5 and scored four runs. Prajzner was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Jefferson reached base all five times he went to the plate, with three hits, a walk and a hit by pitch.
Martinez’s three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth broke the game open after Virginia scored two in the top of the frame to close to within 4-2. Reliever Will Mercer finished with 1 ⅔ hitless innings, striking out .394 hitter Luke Hanson to end the game.
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