There must be some Irish magic that new coach Link Jarrett has injected to his team as they continued their hot start to the season beating Toledo 9-2 in the first game of a double-header. The offense has been the story early, as Notre Dame plated 9 runs after scoring 12 in yesterday’s win.
FINAL: Notre Dame 9, Toledo 2
Tommy Vail retired 11 in a row and set career highs in strikeouts (9) and innings pitched (5.1) to lift the Irish to the win! Notre Dame was active on the base paths, totaling 6 steals!
#GoIrish ☘️ pic.twitter.com/rckP3M5tf9— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) February 23, 2020
The offense started early as CF Spencer Myers scored on a wild pitch in the first, but starter Will Mercer gave up two runs in the top of the 3rd. That would be Toledo’s final lead of the game as the Irish tied it in the bottom of the 4th with 2B Jared Miller’s Sac-Fly, then in the bottom of the 5th the offense came alive again scoring 3 more runs highlighted by 3B Jack Brannigan’s RBI double. Two more runs in the 6th and then yet another score in the 8th concluded the scoring for the Irish.
MID 8 | Make it 1️⃣1️⃣ in a row retired by Vail!!
He sets a career high with 9️⃣ strikeouts and 5.1 inning pitched!
📹 https://t.co/ouOWfdzNq8
📊 https://t.co/LDuN3W1geA#GoIrish ☘️ pic.twitter.com/TN7DG1sLPD— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) February 23, 2020
Although Meyers didn’t get out of the 3rd, reliever Tommy Vail came to the rescue. Vail went 5.1 masterful innings recording 9 strikeouts. Liam Simon finished off the Rockets as he struck out two in his lone inning. The win gives Jarrett his 4th in just 5 games and have an opporutinity for the 5th win later this evening when the Irish conclude their double header by facing University of Texas-San Antonio. The win would give Notre Dame a sweep in the Alamo Irish Classic.