Advertisement
baseball Edit

No. 14 Irish walk off with baseball sweep of Wake Forest

Notre Dame left fielder Jack Zyska hit two home runs Sunday to help the Irish rally past Wake Forest, 13-12.
Notre Dame left fielder Jack Zyska hit two home runs Sunday to help the Irish rally past Wake Forest, 13-12. (Notre Dame Athletics)

Notre Dame was running out of pitching against the nation’s ninth-highest-scoring team, but was never short on resilience Sunday at Frank Eck Stadium.

Carter Putz’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth gave No. 14 Notre Dame its first lead of the day and a three-game ACC baseball sweep of visiting Wake Forest with a 13-12 victory. Irish coach Link Jarrett had to watch the drama unfold remotely after being ejected by the umpiring crew during the game.

Jack Zyska homered twice and drove in four runs for the Irish (26-8, 11-7 ACC), winners of five straight after getting swept on the road last weekend at Duke. Zyska’s second homer, a three-run shot in the bottom of the seventh, tied the game at 12-12 after Notre Dame had trailed 8-2 and 12-8.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE TO INSIDE ND SPORTS TO STAY IN THE KNOW ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS

JOIN THE CONVERSATION ON THE INSIDER LOUNGE MESSAGE BOARD

Aidan Tyrell (5-0), the seventh Notre Dame pitcher to see action Sunday, hurled three scoreless innings of one-hit ball to get the win. Each of the first six ND pitchers yielded at last one run to the Demon Deacons (28-12, 10-11), who came into the series eighth nationally in batting average (.317), slugging percentage (.533) and home runs per game (1.78), and fifth in on-base percentage (.429).

Brooks Coetzee led off the ninth with an infield single and advanced to second on an errant throw. Putz followed with a single to center field that easily scored Coetzee.

Putz, Danny Neri, Coetzee and Zack Prajzner each drove in two runs. Neri homered. Ryan Cole, Coetzee and Prajzner had three hits apiece, with Coetzee and Prazjner each scoring three runs.

Next up for Notre Dame is a non-conference matchup with Michigan State, Tuesday night at Comerica Park in Detroit (6:35 ET), before returning home for a three-game ACC series with Boston College.

BOX SCORE

Saturday: LaManna, Irish wallop Wake, 21-3 with record-setting output  

David LaManna homered for the first time this season and drove in five runs as No. 14 Notre Dame walloped visiting Wake Forest, 21-3, Saturday at Frank Eck Stadium to move into a tie with Louisville for first place in the ACC Atlantic Division baseball standings.

NC State (25-12, 11-8) is percentage points behind.

The Irish (25-8, 10-7) scored four runs in the first and had a 12-1 lead after four innings in running up their highest run total in an ACC game since joining the league in 2014.

Jack Brannigan, Zack Prazjmer and pinch-hitter Brady Gumph all homered, with Gumph’s the first of his college career.

Carter Putz went 4-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Notre Dame amassed 19 hits and drew eight walks from Wake Forest (28-11, 10-10).

Freshman lefty Jack Findlay (4-0) got the win in relief, striking out three in 3 ⅓ innings and allowing an unearned run.

BOX SCORE

Friday: Bertrand sets table for another Notre Dame victory  

Notre Dame ace John Michael Bertrand ran into trouble in the seventh inning, but the Irish offense had its starting pitcher's back in an 8-3 victory over Wake Forest on Friday in the opener of a three-game series at Frank Eck Stadium in South Bend, Ind.

The left-handed Bertrand (6-0) pitched six scoreless innings before leaving the seventh inning with the bases loaded, no outs and one run already scored. The end of Bertrand's night coincided with a 70-minute weather delay.

After the storm cleared out of South Bend, right-handed reliever Alex Rao retired the next three batters with only one more run scoring to cut No. 14 Notre Dame's lead to 4-2.The Irish (24-8, 9-7 ACC) responded with three more runs in the bottom of the seventh.

An RBI triple by designated hitter Nick Juaire plated center fielder Ryan Cole. Juaire scored on sacrifice fly by right fielder Brooks Coetzee III. Then an RBI single from left fielder Jack Zyska brought home first baseman Carter Putz, who reached on an error.

A bases-loaded walk by Putz in the eighth inning scored Notre Dame's final run.Rao was unable to finish the game on the mound for the Irish. He gave up two singles and one walk in the ninth inning before being replaced by righty Jackson Dennies.

Wake Forest's Danny Corona knocked in one run with a sacrifice fly off Dennies. Then Dennies forced a pop fly to shortstop Zack Prajzner to end the game.

Bertrand, whose season-long ERA moved up to 1.80, finished his sixth victory with a final line of six innings pitched, five hits, two earned runs, one walk and four strikeouts.

Zyska led the Irish offense with a 3-for-4 day at the plate, scoring twice and knocking in one run. Third baseman Jack Brannigan finished with a team-high two RBIs on a fly out and a ground out.

Wake Forest (29-9, 10-9) committed four errors on a sloppy night.

BOX SCORE

---------------------------------------------------------------

• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.

• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND, @TJamesND and @ByKyleKelly.

• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports

• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports

• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.

Advertisement