Link Jarrett Notebook | Virginia Loss

Notre Dame baseball coach Link Jarrett spoke following the 14-1 loss to Virginia in the ACC Baseball Championship. 

On pitcher Andrew Abbott: 
"That's what people are hunting for in the sport right now - the velocity, especially a lefty with that spinning, riding fastball. Our guys have seen it and it's so hard to adapt to. You think it's going to be down and it's not. You think it's hittable and it's up. It plays tricks on you a little bit. You saw it. That guy was really good today. He threw his changeup in any count and every count. He was really good and it was tough. 

"He played to the way we were swinging at it. I faced guys like that a long time ago before you knew what the spin and metrics and why that ball looked like it was climbing on you. It's just one of the more difficult things to deal with in our sport right now. 

"He was very, very good. We had some sporadic good at-bats and hit a few balls hard, but obviously didn't match what they did today offensively." 

On LHP John Michael Bertrand:
"I need to watch it because I was from the side, but when you leave pitches in the middle of the plate and up a little bit - that's what can happen. 

"Their guy benefited. It was a zone where there weren't a lot of corners to it. It was a tight zone. I think their lefty was able to kind of throw some pitches out of the zone that we couldn't lay off. Bertrand was trying to feel his way through it and he left balls in the middle of the plate and up. I think you could see that if you watched the game. 

"He's got to be a feel guy. He pitches to contact. You can look at the strikeout numbers of Abbott and he's almost striking out two guys - not an inning, but it's closer to that than you normally see. Bertrand pitches to contact, sinks it and mixes. The ball is in play with Bertrand, but when the ball is up, it was in play where you couldn't play it. 

"It's tough for him. He works so hard and he was waiting for this. He knew this was a good opportunity and it just wasn't his best performance." 

On 1B Niko Kavadas struggling from the plate:
”Pitch selection-wise, he's been a little out of sorts. That's what happens, especially to some of your power-type guys. Sometimes you're chasing pitches that might be a little out of the zone and get yourself mentally in a state where you're taking some pitches that you should hit. I think that's what's happening.”

On message to team with bigger games ahead:
"I told them in a regional, you might see the same type of arm. Everybody we're going to see in this tournament and every tournament will have something that's a tick above average, or they wouldn't be in the conversation to play right now. 

"Learn from this. We didn't play offensively well and we didn't execute pitches. We didn't record an out on not necessarily a lead off guy, but Bertrand didn't get the lead off out and then anyone out of the bullpen; every one of those guys reached base. We have to execute pitches better. It doesn't have to result in a strikeout, but the quality of their contact today was good, so learn from that, but also understand what you have done for 40 games to put yourself in a position where you're in the discussion to host a regional. 

"This was brutal and not one person in our program enjoyed one second of that game, but there are more important things coming. You have to learn from it and let that frustration help fuel you the next time the scoreboard is on and counts again. 

"It's a tough one to shake off, but there are worse ones to shake off if this ends your season. That's the silver lining in the mess that was today." 

On defense:
"I'm proud of our defense. There were points in that game where there was exceptional - (Jared) MIller's plays and (Brooks) Coetzee - there was some exceptional defense. (David) LaManna caught as good as I've seen him catch, quite frankly. 

"The preparation and readiness to play were there, but the execution of some of the pitching and offensive stuff wasn't good." 

On the mood in the locker room:
"Just like it was when we had some other tough losses. We had a tough loss at Boston College. We've had some that just didn't feel like you gave yourself a chance. They're really frustrated, but we talked about what is coming and the season has allowed you to accomplish at this point where you get to potentially play a regional at home. 

"We need to play better than we did today, but I could see their disgust. I don't think it was disgust to the point of no bounce-back capability.  

"These are tough guys. They dealt with everything. Boston College, the first night was a tough one and felt like this. They came out and played two remarkable games. They'll be fine." 

On Monday's Selection Show:
"You hope that we're a host site. That's a reward. You host something like this and everyone in the country knows how consistent and how well you've played. That's what I hope to hear. 

"Beyond that, I don't know. I hope there are three teams we can find a way to beat. That's what I hope.

"Everybody that's in this thing has a distinct personality to their team and something that's allowed them to be a winning baseball team. Some of the conference tournaments require far more innings than it would take to win this. You're going to get some people that can play. They will all be different, but I feel like we've earned the right to have the regional at Notre Dame. They deserve it." 

On Paul Mainieri retiring:
"He's a legend. He's a good person. His son, Nick, is our academic coordinator and that's a tall task at Notre Dame to manage everything we do. It's a great family. Nick has helped me navigate not only the academics, but Nick played at Notre Dame and he gets it. 

"If I went back in my phone log and looked at the calls I had with Paul early on and he tried to help me figure out a way to be successful as a coach at Notre Dame. We're talking 30-40 minute phone calls. He's remarkable. He texts me to congratulate me when we clinched the regular season. 

"He became a mentor to me to guide me and help me learn what it takes to be successful at Notre Dame. 

"Competing against his teams when I was at Auburn for three years in the SEC West - you recognized how complete and disciplined and talented their teams were. He's a phenomenal human being and a great championship coach. He's a mentor and I'm going to call him when we get out of here. I didn't know that happened today."