The Road More Traveled: No. 25 Notre Dame visits No. 21 UVA
Say this for Notre Dame baseball in its early-season road travels: The Fighting Irish don't lack … well, fight.
Despite having less than a full year a year ago under first-year head coach Link Jarrett in 2020, Notre Dame on yet another less-than-ideal setting due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has shown the kind of tenacious grit in a pair of weekend Atlantic Coast Conference road series for which Jarrett's scrappy squads long have been known.
The Fighting Irish (4-2, 4-2 ACC) have exited each of their first two series, at Wake Forest and Clemson, respectively, carrying a two-game winning streak.
Any success this weekend would be the program's largest statement to date under Jarrett.
The 25th-ranked Fighting Irish visit No. 21 Virginia, which debuted this season as a consensus top-10 team, to conclude their scheduled nine-game sojourn before hosting Duke next weekend in their home debut.
The Cavaliers, after dropping four of their first five league games against North Carolina and Florida State, enter the weekend set on a two-game winning streak after avoiding being swept by the Seminoles and then battering Richmond 7-0 in a Tuesday tilt.
Notre Dame is shaking up its starting pitching rotation this weekend against Virginia, headed by former Irish coach Brian O'Connor. He has four College World Series berths, including the 2015 national championship, during his stellar run in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Probable Pitchers:
GAME 1 FRIDAY: ND LHP Will Mercer (0-0, 7.20 ERA) vs. UVA LHP Andrew Abbott (1-2, 1.96 ERA) 3 p.m., ACC NET EXTRA
GAME 2 SATURDAY: ND LHP John Michael Bertrand (1-0, 4.22 ERA) vs. UVA RHP Griff McGarry (0-2, 6.00 ERA) 1 p.m., ACC NET EXTRA
GAME 3 SUNDAY: ND TBD vs. UVA RHP Mike Vasil (3-0, .49 ERA) 1 p.m., ACC NET EXTRA
MIXING IN MERCER
Both Tommy Sheehan and Christian Scafidi were fixtures in the Irish's starting rotations through their first two road ventures, and both also had been expected to start games in the scheduled season-opening tournament at LSU, which was cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols.
Now Notre Dame is giving Mercer the opening assignment. Mercer made four starts a year ago before the season was halted at the onset of the pandemic. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound southpaw had missed all of the 2019 season due to injury. Mercer's worked two games and five total innings, allowing four earned runs, so far this year; he recorded the save in Notre Dame's 3-1 win last Saturday at Clemson.
TIMELY DELIVERIES
Notre Dame stranded too many men on base last weekend at Clemson, despite finding a way to take two of three. The Irish left 32 men on base in the series, but even though they had just seven hits apiece in the Saturday and Sunday wins, they had players step up at pivotal moments to continue their impressive start.
STILL SWINGING BIG
Niko Kavadas has scored six runs and rapped out six hits in the early going, three of his knocks home runs. His nine RBIs lead Notre Dame.
Alex Brait has five RBIS – four of them on one swing from his pivotal grand slam against Wake Forest in the season-opening series.
Spencer Myers has yet to record a steal this season for Notre Dame, after he paced the team and ranked among the nation's best with 15 on 18 tries in just 12 games a year ago.
