The first player Link Jarrett scouted and signed as Notre Dame’s baseball coach, on Wednesday, reinforced Jarrett’s reputation for spotting talent and developing it.
Along with the player’s own ability to learn from adversity.
Lefty pitcher Jack Findlay was named a freshman All-American as a starting pitcher by Collegiate Baseball, ND’s first freshman All-American since third baseman Jack Brannigan in 2020.
Findlay has been even more impressive as a reliever as of late, earning saves in two of 14th-ranked Notre Dame’s three victories in the NCAA Tournament’s Statesboro Regional this past weekend in Statesboro, Ga.
The Irish (38-15) next take on No. 1 Tennessee (56-7) in a best-of-three Super Regional in Knoxville, Tenn., beginning Friday at 6 p.m. (ESPN2). The survivor moves on to the College World Series, June 17-27 in Omaha, Neb.
"Findlay has been so unselfish as he performed in virtually every role possible as a pitcher,” Jarrett said. “To handle that as a freshman is really exceptional.
“I was just named coach at Notre Dame, and Jack was in the camp that was going on. I will always remember thinking, as I watched him pitch, that this will be the first player I end up landing at Notre Dame.
“He is a poised competitor with a tremendous future, and we are proud of his well-deserved award.”
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Ledgewood, N.J., product is 5-2 record with two saves and a 2.11 ERA over 38.1 innings. He has made 16 appearances and eight starts with 44 strikeouts and just 12 walks.
Take out his final start of the regular season — an outing at Miami that lasted two-thirds of an inning with six earned runs allowed, Findlay’s ERA shrinks to 0.71. More importantly, it’s what he did after the Miami game.
He pitched a scoreless inning of relief May 28 in the ACC tourney semis against eventual tourney champ North Carolina, then got a six-out save Saturday in a 6-4 NCAA Tournament win over host Georgia Southern.
In that game, he came on in the eighth with the bases loaded and no outs, and struck out two and coaxed a groundout. He then pitched a clean ninth.
The next night, in a 2-1 win over Texas Tech, Findlay came on in the eighth with the bases loaded and two outs and got a strikeout. In the ninth, he loaded the bases with two outs, but got Tech All-American Jace Jung to bounce out to first to end the game.
NATIONAL SUPER REGIONAL SCHEDULE
SERIES THAT BEGIN FRIDAY, JUNE 10
All times are Eastern
Note: Game times and ESPN Network subject to change
The following four super regionals will be played Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11 with Sunday, June 12 for if necessary or weather-delayed games.
► Notre Dame (38-14) at No. 1 Tennessee (56-7)
Friday at 6 p.m. (ESPN2); Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN); Sunday at TBD (TBD).
► No. 9 Texas (45-19) at No. 8 East Carolina (45-19)
Friday at noon (ESPN2); Saturday at Noon (ESPN2); Sunday at TBD (TBD)
► No. 12 Louisville (42-19-1) at No. 5 Texas A&M (40-18)
Friday at 8:30 p.m. (ESPNU); Saturday at 3 p.m. (ESPN2), Sunday at TBD (TBD)
► Oklahoma (40-21) at No. 4 Virginia Tech (44-12)
Friday at 3 p.m. (ESPN2); Saturday at Noon (ESPNU); Sunday at TBD (TBD)
SERIES THAT BEGIN SATURDAY, JUNE 11
The following four super regionals will be played Saturday, June 11 and Sunday, June 12, with Monday, June 13 for if necessary or weather-delayed games.
► UConn (49-14) at No. 2 Stanford (45-15)
Saturday at 10:30 p.m. (ESPNU); Sunday at 7 p.m. (ESPN2/ESPNU); Monday at TBD (TBD)
► Arkansas (41-19) at No. 10 North Carolina (42-20)
Saturday at 11 a.m. (ESPN); Sunday at 1 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2), Monday at TBD (TBD)
► Ole Miss (35-22) at No. 11 Southern Mississippi (47-17)
Saturday at 4 p.m. (ESPNU); Sunday at 4 p.m. (ESPN2/ESPNU); Monday at TBD (TBD)
► No. 14 Auburn (40-19) at No. 3 Oregon State (47-16)
Saturday at 10:30 p.m. (ESPN2); Sunday at 10 p.m. (ESPN2), Monday at TBD (TBD)
The determination of the Men’s College World Series order of first-round games both Friday, June 17, and Saturday, June 18, will be announced Monday, June 13. The ESPN family of networks and http://www.ncaa.com/mcws will release the MCWS game dates and times as soon as they are available.The Men’s College World Series begins play Friday, June 17, at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.
---------------------------------------------------------------
• 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.
