Game Thread | (12) Pitt vs. (8) Notre Dame

(12) Pitt (23-30, 10-18) vs. (8) Notre Dame (30-22, 15-15) 

When: May 24th

Time: 11:00 AM ET

Where: Durham Bulls Athletic Park | Durham, N.C.

Watch: ACC Network 

QUICK FACTS

- Notre Dame leads the overall series 53-26. 

- The Irish took the series from Pitt 2-1 earlier this year by winning the first two games (10-8, 11-2) before losing game three (9-5). 

-  At least one ACC team has reached the College World Series each of the last 16 years in which the event has been held, and multiple ACC teams reached the CWS 10 times during that span.

- 99 ACC teams have earned NCAA bids in the last 13 tournament years. The 14 current ACC teams have a combined 99 College World Series appearances.

- Notre Dame is projected as a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament by D1Baseball and Baseball America.

- LHP Aidan Tyrell was named All-ACC second team earlier this week. 

PROBABLE STARTERS

OFFENSIVE STATS (Entering the week)

PITCHING STATS (Entering the week) 

- LHP Aidan Tyrell will start on Wednesday and it will be one of the most important starts of his career. The graduate student came out of the pen in April when he pitched against Pitt and went 4.1 innings giving up three hits, two runs while striking out three and giving up two home runs. 

Notre Dame head coach Shawn Stiffler believes Tyrell has had his best collegiate season to date and it starts with being the same player every day. 

”Aidan’s consistent,” said Stiffler. “His temper is consistent. The way he goes about his work is consistent. He has a consistent mentality to start. It probably begins with that. Him and Coach (Seth) Voltz really seemed to hit it off. They have an understanding of his stuff, understanding of the zones in which he needs to pitch to.” 

Pitt RHP Jack Sokol started game one against Notre Dame, but he was lit up by the Irish and made it just 3.1 innings. Notre Dame recorded nine hits and 10 runs while sending just 20 batters to the plate against Sokol. In fact, Notre Dame scored six first inning runs against Pitt, including a three-run home run by Danny Neri. 

- As one would expect, Notre Dame’s offense was solid against the Panthers, which was expected as Pitt’s pitching staff has the highest ERA in the ACC at 7.16. Notre Dame scored 26 runs in the three game series and the Irish could use that effort at the plate to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive after scoring 16 runs total last weekend against Boston College. 

Vinny Martinez could be the boost Notre Dame needs as he’s the hottest bat in the lineup as the Stanford grad transfer is batting .304 on the year and is tied for the team lead in home runs with 10. That said, Martinez hasn’t homered since May 4th despite bringing in seven runs and tallying 12 hits in the same time period. A long ball could do wonders for momentum on Wednesday. 

Outfielder Brooks Coetzee has shown his grit over the last month as he’s played through a broken hand and Stiffler believes his veteran bat could be on the verge of returning to his normal self. 

”Today was the best I’d seen him in probably over a month. His hand looks to be as strong as I’ve seen it. His round of BP today - his bat looked as fast as I’ve seen it in the last 6-8 weeks. He was in a lot of pain.” 

- A win for Notre Dame would not only keep the Irish alive for the Field of 64, but also provide momentum into Friday’s game against the nation’s No. 1 team in Wake Forest. 

“Look, we’re one of the 50 teams in the country that are still playing for something,” said Stiffler. “That’s something to be said. We’re still playing for an at-large bid. We’re still playing for a championship. There’s a lot of teams that can’t say that right now. 

“You can look at that as pressure or you can look at that as an opportunity. If you see the obstacles as being the thing that frees you up and why you do this, then I think you have the right attitude and you should play free and you should play loose. We’re not going to lose anything by playing in this tournament. We can only gain something. 

“The other thing is I don’t think Zack Prajzner is going to play tight. There is nothing he hasn’t been through that a college baseball player could go through. These guys have seen it all. They’ve done it all. I believe they’ll be free.” 

Notre Dame Lineup

Pitt Lineup

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