Tag: acc baseball

Notre Dame baseball adds Houston graduate transfer pitcher

Another arm in the fold for ND baseball

Matt Lazzaro is on the move once again. The Georgia native started his baseball career at Furman, where he was a teammate of current Notre Dame pitching John Michael Bertrand, pitched last year for Houston and now finds himself reuniting with Bertrand once again.

Lazzaro has announced that he will transfer out of Houston and enroll as a graduate transfer for Notre Dame, as Link Jarrett will look to find a replacement for recently drafted Tanner Kohlhepp.

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Even though Lazzaro wasn’t used much for the Cougars last year, just over 19 innings pitched, he was highly effective. He registered a 3.66 ERA with an impressive 24 strikeouts. Lazzaro kept the ball in the park as well, not allowing a homer last year.

Although we don’t know what Lazzaro’s role will be for Jarrett, his addition will be more added depth to a pitching staff that was very this past season.

ACC baseball tournament game 13 recap: Duke heads to title game

The Dukies continue their red-hot streak as they win yet again and head to Sunday’s championship game.

Duke baseball stayed red-hot as the No. 9 Blue Devils are headed to the ACC baseball championship game on Sunday after getting by No. 8 Virginia in Satruday’s first semi-final game.

Centerfielder Joey Loperfido got things started quickly for Duke by homering to start the game and give an early 1-0 lead.  He then followed it up with another solo home run in the third inning to to give the Devils a 2-0 advantage.

Shortstop Ethan Murray’s solo blast a batter later then put Duke up 3-0 which would end up being enough thanks to some great pitching the Blue Devils received as Luke Fox went seven innings, allowing just two runs and Jimmy Loper and Marcus Johnson pitched the eighth and ninth innings respectively to close out the Cavaliers.

Duke now advances to the ACC baseball tournament championship game on Sunday where they’ll face the winner of the No. 2 Georiga Tech vs. No. 3 NC State game later today.

ACC baseball tournament: Wolfpack outlast Panthers, head to semi-finals

NC State is moving on in Charlotte…

In the third and final game of Thursday’s ACC baseball tournament action, it was the third-seeded NC State Wolfpack getting by No. 10 Pitt to earn a spot in the conference semi-finals.

Pitt struck first as Ron Washington, Jr.’s RBI double in the bottom of the first gave the Panthers an early 1-0 lead, but that would be short-lived as NC State’s number-nine hitter J.T. Jarrett ripped a two-run double to give the Wolfpack the lead before he’d score on a throwing error to stretch the lead to 3-1.

That would be all the offense NC State would need as Pitt would muster just one run the rest of the way.

Reid Johnston was great on the mound for NC State as he pitched eight innings, allowing just two runs and striking out 10.

NC State now advances to the conference semi-finals on Saturday evening where they’ll face No. 2 Georgia Tech.

Related: 

Georgia Tech has no quit, comes back to beat Louisville and advance

Duke walks off Miami, heads to ACC semi-finals

Notre Dame’s John Michael Bertrand named ACC Pitcher of the Week

Notre Dame continues to turn heads this season.

As Notre Dame continues a season in which it is highly ranked, one more individual accolade has come its way. John Michael Bertrand, a left-handed graduate transfer from Furman and native of Alpharetta, Georgia, has been named the ACC Pitcher of the Week. In Saturday’s 5-3 win over Florida State, Bertrand threw seven shutout innings and set a career high with nine strikeouts. Link Jarrett, coach of the 25-10 Irish, had this to say about Bertrand’s performance:

“John Michael is a pleasure to have on our team and every facet of his efforts to help our program stand out. His ability to mix pitches effectively w command has stood out in most of his starts, and he continued that trend this past Saturday.”

During the victory, improved to 6-1 and added onto his team lead in strikeouts, of which he now has 49. Over 10 starts, he has accumulated a 3.02 ERA over a team-high 65 2/3 innings.

 

Epic comeback gives Irish win in opener vs. Georgia Tech

“Don’t call it a comeback” – LL Cool J

“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.

Baseball: Notre Dame takes game 1 in Pittsburgh behind Kavadas’ HR

Game 1 belonged to the Irish

The season Notre Dame first baseman Niko Kavadas is having is one for the ages. The Irish slugger after connecting on yet another long ball, now has 11 homers on the season, good for the ACC lead and top-4 nationally. The long fly was one of two the Irish hit en-route to a 4-1 opening series road victory against Pittsburgh.

Back to Kavadas, the lefty is inside the top-10 nationally in slugging, has been on his game all year.

It’s not just about the deep fly’s, Kavadas is second on the team in on-base percentage, and runs while leading the team in RBI’s, total bases, slugging, walks and obviously home runs. As the Irish continue to be among the top teams in the country, more and more recognition will go to Notre Dame’s star.

Kavadas wasn’t the only player to have an impact yesterday, as the pitching trio of Will Mercer, Tanner Kohlhepp and Joe Sheridan combined for 7 strike-outs, three walks, five hits and just one run.

Offensively, Carter Putz put one over the fences as well.

The Irish get back on the field today for game 2 of the series, as they look to lock up the series.

ACC Baseball Standings for 3/30/2021

The Irish are in a dog fight with top-ten Louisville for the divisional lead

Notre Dame is battling for the lead atop the Atlantic division off the ACC in baseball after they split two games with Louisville this past weekend.

The Cardinals are sitting ahead of the Irish by just percentage points as Notre Dame is sit to travel to take on a solid Pittsburgh program this weekend and Louisville hosts a Wake Forest team that has struggled to get things going in 2021.

Here is how the ACC baseball standings sit as we enter the first weekend of April:

Atlantic:
Louisville 8-3 .727
Notre Dame 10-4 .714
Florida St. 8-7 .533
Clemson 6-6 .500
Wake Forest 4-7 .364
NC State 4-8 .333
Boston College 3-9 .250

Coastal:
Georgia Tech 10-5 .667
Virginia Tech 9-6 .600
Pittsburgh 8-7 .533
North Carolina 8-7 .533
Miami 7-7 .500
Duke 5-7 .417
Virginia 4-11 .267

Make it 7 straight wins for Notre Dame baseball

Don’t look now but a certain school is sitting well-atop the ACC standings…

Make it a perfect four-for-four in terms of series wins for Notre Dame baseball this season as the Irish used a five-run sixth inning on Saturday to clinch the weekend series with Duke.

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Niko Kavadas hit his third home run in as many games and seventh on the season to put Notre Dame in front, 4-2.

A few batters later it was Friday night’s hero, Ryan Cole, hitting an inside-the-park home run to stretch Notre Dame’s lead to 6-2.

John Michael Bertrand did the rest, pitching a complete game and surrendering just two runs, and mostly scattering five hits throughout.

The win was Notre Dame’s seventh in a row and puts them atop the ACC at 9-2 overall.

You can watch the Irish go for the sweep on Sunday afternoon as they wrap their home-opening series with Duke at 2 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

SWEEP! Notre Dame baseball sweeps hosting Virginia

Break out the brooms!

So far in Link Jarrett’s tenure at Notre Dame, his team’s have gotten off to fast starts. With today’s 8-3 road victory against Virginia, the Irish completed a road sweep, winning their fourth series away from South Bend in a row. A five-game winning streak now has elevated their record to 7-2.

After getting ranked for the first time this year, the Irish didn’t let that number next their name effect their game. Once again, it was the long ball that Notre Dame relied on, as first baseman Niko Kavadas, second baseman Jared Miller and shortstop Zack Prajzner all hit homers for the victorious Irish.

Both Kavadas and Miller hit two homers during the series, Miller added three other hits today as well.

The pitching trio of Dominic Cancellieri, Aidan Tyrell and Tanner Kohlhepp limited the Cavaliers to just three runs, two earned.

When the new rankings come out this week expect the Irish to be on the rise, as Virginia was ranked No. 21 coming into the weekend and couldn’t get a win on their home-field. Notre Dame won’t have a chance to extend their road series winning streak as they will host their first home series of the season against Duke starting Friday night.

Notre Dame baseball drops series opener at Clemson

The Notre Dame baseball team drops their first game against host Clemson and looks to rebound this afternoon.

Last weekend against Wake Forest, the Irish baseball team dropped their first game of the series, but went on the take the final two. The same story could be brewing, as Notre Dame lost the series opener at Clemson 13-7.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 2-0 to see the Irish come back and tie the game in the top of the 5th but by the end of the inning, Clemson had retaken the lead which they would never relinquish. The 7-run outburst doomed the Irish, as they would get the score back to 9-6 after six innings.

Once again, the Tigers offense had a big inning, scoring 4 more runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Irish would add a run late, but it wasn’t enough as the Irish would even their record at 2-2.

The highlights for Link Jarrett’s team included this opposite-field home run by second-baseman Jared Miller.

And this fantastic catch by right fielder Brooks Coetzee.

The Irish continue their series against Clemson today at 3pm EST as John Michael Bertrand is set to start for Jarrett’s squad as they try and even up the series.