Link Jarrett Notebook | Comeback Win
It was a special night at Frank Eck Stadium on Friday as No. 14 Notre Dame rallied from a 7-0 hole in the 4th inning to win 10-9 over No. 16 Georgia Tech.
Irish head coach Link Jarrett spoke following the game.
On the win:
"That's one of the greatest team wins I've ever been a part of. I've been in this as a coach for a while, played for a while - I can't remember anything like that and the number of guys - I think we had 22 players involved in this game. Eight pitchers. Some of which that made their first-ever appearance and others their first appearance this year. Some of our position guys got in there for the first time. You're juggling everything you know how to juggle to have a chance at the end.
"I can't say enough about how the guys responded. You're down 7-0 and probably as bad of a three innings that we've played this year. Like I've told you guys numerous times, this is the toughest team I've been around. They find ways to hang in there and grind through it. Some of the big swings late and the big at-bats made up for some of the slop early.
"(Brian) Huerter is a really, really good pitcher. They know what they're doing. Their bullpen arms - their velocity is really good and stuff. I can't say enough about our guys. I really can't."
On message to the team down 7-0:
"It's frustrating for Friday night like this to start that way. Everybody is on their heels. We didn't have a good pace. We didn't have a good tempo.
"My message to the team was we're going to use every resource we have on the team to hang in there and try to match the bullpen piece up and give guys some short stints to try to maybe conserve. Obviously, if you get to the right people like Joe (Sheridan) at the end, you're going to let him roll a little bit more.
"I guess my message was more of I'm going to continue to push the buttons - all that I know how to push - to give us a chance. We're going to keep coaching, pressing along and moving the pieces around the best we can. I just need them to keep playing. We talked about hanging in there and if you can get it to 7-2. Can we get it to 7-4. When it's 7-4, they start feeling it a little bit and you get it to 7-6. We started delivering some big blows in the second half of the game.
"I didn't have a rallying point other than I was going to use every one of these players available to play in the game to give us a chance and let their skills showcase themselves in the setting that best suits them at the time. That's what we did."
On message to the team after the game:
"The best part of it is 22 people were involved. The bulk of our team that was available to play in that game was involved. Not everybody had a flawless performance, but every one of those moves, you try to get one move closer to being in position to win the game.
"I'm just so proud of the toughness. To be down like that, the game could have gotten away from you in the early part of the game and it felt like it was, but they're tough. I just told them that was a big gut-check win to the level of which you rarely see in our sport."
On offense:
"We battled. We struck out five times, so when you're facing a guy like that's that good out of the gate, he really pitches and has the ability to strike you out. There's ground balls that worked the way through. There were balls that found the gap. There were balls that eventually went over the fence. It was just the tenacity of the offensive side that gave you some chances. And the walks. We walked four times and there were some big ones at the end.
"We still haven't found our bunting game and our base running stuff wasn't in play tonight when you're down like that and the guys really quick to the plate. It's hard to force the running game. I would just say putting the ball in play at some critical times and some key two-out type hits. The wind was blowing out and you saw both teams benefit from that a little bit.
"When you put it in play and swing at good pitches, good things happen. You saw it throughout the course of the game for both teams. We came out with the upper hand."
On it being reassuring to see the tenacity of the team not giving up:
"It's probably the biggest character trait you can ask for intangible wise. You have to have talented players in order to compete at this level, so I think you kind of take that and understand that's in play everybody we play. The mental toughness, physical toughness, sure, but the mental toughness to not get overly distracted or frustrated. I've seen it from this group over and over. Today was the biggest example and the country can watch if they choose. Really impressive.
"That is the biggest character trait in any sport, any team is that mental toughness and the ability to execute at those critical moments and just hang in there. They sure did."
On what he's most proud of from Friday:
"You're proud of the offense and some of the swings and home runs. That's pretty obvious. I've got a guy that's a grad transfer, Christian Scafidi, that's injured right now, and he was on that walkie-talkie with me for four hours. We're trying to get certain pitchers ready and maybe other pitchers that are not as ready as pitcher A. Pitcher B is at one level of preparation and Pitcher A is maybe at a higher level. To look at (Will) Mercer, (Tanner) Kohlhepp, (Ryan) Lynch, Dom (Cancellieri), Jack Sheehan, (James) Hulbert, (Micah) Megias and (Joe) Sheridan - all to come in the game and function. I know some guys didn't have great outings, but the preparation in the bullpen is what you don't see on TV and it's not going to show up in the box score.
"The guy that was helping me run that, he came here to pitch and he's injured. He's not backing down from helping our team. That's what I'll remember is those guys in the bullpen for four hours trying to stay sharp and not overcook. Scafidi down there heling navigate it. Really a unique night."