No. 14 Notre Dame baseball completes 3-game sweep at No. 5 Florida State
The once-skidding Notre Dame baseball team may have started a new hot streak.
The No. 14 Irish completed a three-game sweep at No. 5 Florida State with a 9-7 victory over the Seminoles on Sunday.
Notre Dame (16-5, 5-4 ACC) didn't need the late-inning heroics from its victories Friday and Saturday in the series finale. The Irish never lost the lead after jumping ahead 5-3 in the third inning with first baseman Carter Putz's two-run homer.
Neither starting pitcher started strong. Florida State lefty Ross Dunn allowed a three-run home run in the first inning to left fielder Ryan Cole, who hit the game-winning homer Friday night.
The Seminoles (16-11, 6-6) matched with three runs of their own in the first inning off right-handed Austin Temple, who was pulled after facing only five hitters. Temple walked three, struck out one and allowed an RBI single to Brett Roberts before being replaced by lefty Aidan Tyrell.
Florida State's final two runs in the first inning scored on a fielder's choice and a passed ball.
The Seminoles threatened to tie the game in the fourth inning. Jordan Carrion cut Notre Dame's lead to one with an RBI fielder's choice. With two outs and runners on the corners, Jack Brannigan made a diving stop at third base and threw out Jaime Ferrer attempting to reach base.
Notre Dame extended its lead to 7-4 in the sixth inning with some sloppy defense by Florida State. Florida State attempted to throw out Cole advancing to third on a single by designated hitter Nick Juaire, but the ball bounced off Cole and was ruled out of play in Florida State's dugout. The umpires awarded Cole home and Juaire to third. Then right fielder Brooks Coetzee III brought Juaire home on a sacrifice fly.
The Irish added a pair of crucial insurance runs in the eighth inning. An RBI groundout by Coetzee scored Putz, and and RBI double by catcher David LaManna scored Cole to give the Irish a 9-4 lead.
Florida State added three runs in the bottom of the eight. Alex Rao allowed a walk and single to start the inning. Roman Kimball allowed three baserunners with an RBI single, a walk and an RBI fielder's choice. Then Brannigan came in to finish the inning.
Brannigan struck out his first batter, gave up an RBI single to Logan Lacey and forced cleanup hitter Alex Toral into a flyout to end the threat with two runners stranded. Brannigan finished his first save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.
Tyrell (4-0) picked up the victory for Notre Dame by allowing one unearned run and five hits in 4.2 innings of work. He struck out two and walked one of his 19 batters faced.
Dunn (1-2) surrendered six earned runs on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts for the Seminoles.
Cole and Putz powered the Irish offense. Cole finished 3-for-3 with his three-run homer, a double, one walk and three runs scored. Putz went 2-for-3 with his two-run homer, a double, one walk and three runs scored.
Notre Dame started its latest winning streak Tuesday with an 11-2 home win over Northern Illinois before heading to Tallahasee, Fla. The Irish had lost four-straight ACC games with three at Louisville and one against Virginia Tech. Weather wiped out the final two games of the home series with the Hokies.
That four-game skid knocked Notre Dame out of its No. 1 spot in the Baseball America Top 25. The Irish rose to the top of the poll with the help of a 10-game winning streak that included two wins at then-No. 17 NC State to open conference play.
The three-game sweep of Florida State was Notre Dame's first series sweep of a Top-10 team since 2015. The Irish moved to 5-0 against teams ranked in the Baseball America at the time played.
Saturday: Irish rally past FSU, 5-4, to take Game 2 in series
Jared Miller’s two-out dribbler up the middle plated a pair of runs in the top of the ninth as No. 14 Notre Dame rallied past fifth-ranked Florida State, 5-4, in an ACC baseball matchup Saturday night in Tallahassee, Fla.
Roman Kimball (2-0), the sixth Irish pitcher to see action in the game, picked up the win with two hitless innings, including a 1-2-3 ninth. Notre Dame pinned a loss on FSU closer Jonah Scolaro for the second night in a row.
In a game delayed four hours by the weather, Carter Putz accounted for three of ND’s five hits and scored two of the runs, including on his third home run of the year in the fourth that gave the Irish a 2-1 lead.
Liam Simon escaped a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, but Ryan McLinskey couldn’t do the same in the seventh, as the Seminoles scored three times for a 4-2 lead.
ND got one back in the top of the eighth, when Jack Brannigan took third on a Putz double and scored on an error. That set the stage for Miller’s heroics in the ninth.
Friday: Ryan Cole's two-run homer helps Irish outlast FSU in 12 innings
Ryan Cole crushed a towering two-out, two-run homer in the top of the 12th inning as No. 14 Notre Dame outlasted fifth-ranked Florida State, 2-0 in 12 innings, Friday night in Tallahassee, Fla., in the opener of a three-game ACC baseball series.
In the return of Irish head coach Link Jarrett to the school where he starred as a second baseman, a scuffling Notre Dame bullpen found itself after starter John Michael Bertrand pitched a masterpiece for 7 ⅔ innings.
The sixth-year lefty allowed four hits and a walk, while striking out a career-high 12. Ryan McLinskey, Aidan Tyrell and Alex Rao combined for 4 ⅓ innings of hitless relief, with Rao (1-0) picking up the victory.
Through 11 innings neither team had advanced a runner past second base. Carter Putz hustled for a one-out double in top of the 12th. He moved to third base with two outs on a wild pitch. Cole then took FSU closer Jonah Scolaro deep to left field for his second home run of the season.
Putz and Cole accounted for all four of Notre Dame’s hits.
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