“Don’t call it a comeback!” – LL Cool J
Trailing 7-0 after 3 1/2 innings of play on Friday evening at Eck Stadium it sure looked like No. 12 Notre Dame was headed towards a series-opening loss to No. 14 Georgia Tech.
Kind of like the fight song goes though, “what tho the odds be great or small, old Notre Dame will win overall”.
And that’s exactly what wound up happening in a wild one to open the series against the Yellow Jackets.
“That is one of the greatest team wins I have ever been a part of,” said head coach Link Jarrett. “I have coached for a while and played for a while, I can’t remember anything like that.”
Trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh the Irish used a pair of home runs from Jack Branniagan (solo) and Niko Kavadas (two-run) to get Notre Dame back within one.
Georgia Tech came back with two more of their own in the top-half of the eighth but the Irish again rallied in the bottom half of the inning, capping it with a Carter Putz walk with the bases loaded to give Notre Dame their first lead at 10-9.
Joe Sheridan then pitched his second inning of work to finish of the Yellow Jackets in the ninth. Sheridan was one of eight pitchers the Irish used in their epic victory.
Notre Dame improves to 14-5 overall and 13-5 in ACC play while Georgia Tech falls to 14-11 overall and 11-8 in the conference.