Zack Prazjner’s solo home run in the top of the 12th inning broke a 4-4 tie as No. 3 Notre Dame rallied from a four-run deficit to take down 25th-ranked NC State, 8-4, Friday night at Raleigh, N.C.
Sunday's Game: Notre Dame 11, NC State 4
Third baseman Jack Brannigan went 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI, then closed out the Wolfpack (9-5, 0-1 ACC) with 1 ⅔ hitless innings on the mound in the first game of a scheduled three-game series to open ACC play.
Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, though there is rain in the forecast. Friday’s game was moved up two hours because of a similar forecast and finished in the rain.
Notre Dame’s bullpen combined for eight scoreless innings after the Irish (10-1, 1-0) fell behind 4-0. Seton Hall transfer Ryan McLinskey continued to make himself at home with Notre Dame, hurling 3 ⅓ innings of one-hit relief with six strikeouts.
On the season, he’s yielded five hits and three walks in 10 innings with 20 Ks and a 0.00 ERA.
Notre Dame coach Link Jarrett’s son, NC State second baseman JT Jarrett, led off the bottom of the first with a single. The Wolfpack ended up scoring twice in the inning off Irish lefty starter Aidan Tyrell.
They added two more in the third for a 4-0 lead that would hold until the seventh inning. In the top of the seventh, Carter Putz’s solo home run got the Irish on the board. Brannigan later scored on a wild pitch and Prajzner, the No. 9 hitter, singled home a run.
The Irish tied it in the eighth on a Brannigan RBI single.
In the 12th, the Irish went ahead 5-4 on Prajzner’s one-out home run. TJ Williams later scored on a wild pitch and Jared Miller scored on an error. Danny Neri capped the scoring with an RBI double.
---------------------------------------------------------------
• 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
