It's Miller time for Notre Dame as Irish advance in NCAA regional
Notre Dame baseball coach Link Jarrett promised a player with a convalescing dislocated shoulder he’d somehow find a way to get him into the biggest game of the year for the Irish to date.
And Jared Miller found a way to pay him back.
Inserted as a pinch-runner at second base in the bottom of the eighth inning of a 2-2 game, Miller stole third base, then scored the winning run on a wild pitch as 14th-ranked Notre Dame edged 22nd-ranked Texas Tech, 3-2, Friday in ND’s NCAA Baseball Tournament opener in Statesboro, Ga.
A nearly six-hour weather delay at J.I. Clements Stadium resulted in starting pitchers John Michael Bertrand for Notre Dame and Tech’s Andrew Morris combining for just four outs. The bullpens, though, shined for both teams, with lefty Aidan Tyrell freezing Owen Washburn on a 1-2 pitch to strike him out looking and strand a runner on third to end the game.
It was the 19th strikeout from the Irish staff on the day/evening, and it sent the Statesboro Regional’s second-seeded Irish (36-14) into a winners’ bracket game against the winner of Saturday morning’s 10 o’clock matchup between host and 1 seed Georgia Southern (40-18) and 4 seed UNC-Greensboro.
“No one’s scared of coming into a big spot,” said Irish reliever Alex Rao, who came on in the top of the fifth with two runners on and no outs and struck out the side. “Everyone wants that. And a lot of guys did that and executed pitches when we needed to.”
Just when they’ll be called to execute them next is anybody’s guess.
The Georgia Southern-UNCG was originally supposed to be played Friday night. The game will start Saturday’s now scheduled triple-header. The loser of that game will play an elimination game against Texas Tech (37-21) 55 minutes after the completion of game 1.
And the winners’ bracket game, originally scheduled for 7 p.m., has been pushed up to start 55 minutes after the competition of the elimination game — or not at all, given the forecast for rain from mid-afternoon to around 9 p.m.
Whenever it’s played, grad senior right-hander Austin Temple (4-1, 3.19 ERA) will take the mound for the Irish. The one serendipitous benefit from only getting one inning out of ace Bertrand is that he should be able to make a second start in the four-day, double-elimination tournament.
“Bertrand threw 26 pitches,” Jarrett said. “That’s a heavy, hard bullpen session when you think about warming up and (then) the 26 game pitches. They were all stressful. It was not a clean inning. At some point, he’s going to be back in play. We just want to do it logically and safely for him.”
Bertrand had to work out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the top of the first inning against the nation’s No. 10 scoring team, and the ACC’s leader in ERA did so by striking out Kurt Wilson and getting Washburn to roll into a groundout to third.
The Irish then loaded the bases with one out against Morris, when David LaManna hit the only extra-base hit of the game — a ground-rule double to right that scored Ryan Cole and Brooks Coetzee — for a 2-0 Irish lead.
Before Jack Penney could get comfortable in the batter’s box, the game was halted for what was initially supposed to be a 30-minute lightning delay.
Five hours and 59 minutes later play finally resumed. And the bullpens took over.
“It was a very tough situation for everybody that was involved,” Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock said. “It’s not tough sitting around waiting. It’s tough, though, coming back facing that type of pitching for anybody for both teams and I think you saw it on both sides. Some maybe not as good at-bats as you’d see if you’re in the flow of the game.
“Not taking anything away from Notre Dame at all. Their guys are great. You haven’t seen a ball moving in six hours. You’ve been eating sandwiches, taking naps, playing games. And all of a sudden you’re seeing 97 (mph) under the lights that you hadn’t hit under. It's just a little bit different deal.”
Both Liam Simon and Rao delivered the mid- to upper-90s velocity and each delivered three scoreless innings. Simon struck out eight, though he plucked three Red Raider batters. Rao fanned seven.
Jarrett used four relievers to cover the final two innings. Texas Tech finally broke through offensively on a two-out single by Easton Murrell off lefty Will Mercer in the top of the eighth to tie the game.
The Irish scored the winning run without the benefit of a hit. LaManna led off the inning by reaching base via catcher’s interference. That was the last batter Chase Hampton would face. The right-hander was brilliant over six innings, allowing three hits and two walks while striking out 12.
Freshman lefty Mason Molina relieved. Penney, who replaced Miller at second base when he separated his shoulder back on May 14 against Pitt, moved LaManna to second on a sacrifice bunt.
In came grad senior Miller to pinch run after eight games on the sidelines. And on the first pitch to Jack Brannigan he took off for third.
“Miller likes to do things like that, and he’s a gifted, intuitive player,” Jarrett said. “He had the green light to run. And he’s got enough sense and poise in that situation to make sure that it lines up and works and that he’s not overly aggressive. And it did line up and he did it.”
Miller then raced home and scored without a play at the plate after a Molina pitch bounced wildly in the dirt in front of home plate.
The Irish still had to hold off a dangerous part of the Red Raiders’ batting order in the ninth. Mercer got All-American Jace Jung, with a .487 on-base percentage, to strike out swinging. Ty Coleman then singled to right and was replaced by pinch-runner Cooper Swanson.
Righty Jackson Dennies then came in to match up with Wilson, Tech’s RBI leader, and he got him to fly out.
Tyrell then became the seventh Irish pitcher, brought in to face left-hand-hitting Washburn. Swanson stole second and went to third on a throwing error, but Tyrell finished Tech off for his second save of the year.
“I think it’s characteristic of our staff,” Rao said. “We train to come in, in any situation. Doesn't really matter if we’ve been there before or not.
“We're just expected to come in and have our best stuff. Just execute pitches, and I think that throughout the entire staff that’s our mindset. And I think tonight we did a really good job of it.”
NCAA TOURNAMENT
Statesboro Regional Schedule
At. J.I. Clements Stadium; Statesboro, Ga.
(All Times Eastern)
Friday, June 3
Game 1: No. 2 Notre Dame 3, No. 3 Texas Tech 2
Game 2: No. 1 Georgia Southern vs. No. 4 UNCG, postponed
Saturday, June 4
Game 2: No. 1 Georgia Southern vs. No. 4 UNCG, 10 a.m.
Game 3: No. 3 Texas Tech vs. Game 2 Loser, 55 mins. after the completion of game 2.
Game 4: No. 4 Notre Dame vs. Game 2 Winner, 55 mins. after the completion of game 3.
Sunday, June 5
Game 5: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 4 Loser, 2 p.m.
Game 6: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 4 Winner, 7 p.m.
Monday, June 6
Game 7: Game 6 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser, 6 p.m.
(if necessary)
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