Tag: Radek Birkholz

Notre Dame’s baseball season begins tomorrow, starting rotation is set

The season begins tomorrow

A new era of [autotag]Notre Dame baseball[/autotag] is upon us. Gone is [autotag]Link Jarrett[/autotag], who set the bar extremely high for new head coach [autotag]Shawn Stiffler[/autotag].

The Irish will get their season started by traveling to Nashville, Tennessee to take on the Lipscomb Bison’s. The three game series will begin on Friday afternoon, with rightly [autotag]Blake Hely[/autotag] getting the start. It will be his first one in an Irish uniform as he transferred in from Davidson.

[autotag]Radek Birkholz[/autotag] will then follow him on Saturday, with [autotag]Jackson Dennies[/autotag] getting the Sunday start. It’s a trio of righties to start the games that the Irish will send to the bump throughout the weekend.

All three games will be broadcasted on ESPN+ as the Irish hope to get off to a fast start in 2023.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

[mm-video type=video id=01g5fhd7hv7ret48sck3 playlist_id=none player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01g5fhd7hv7ret48sck3/01g5fhd7hv7ret48sck3-2298ab7a76fda6a25b57c3d8d6fc4993.jpg]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

The streak is over, Notre Dame Baseball loses series opener to Duke

The Irish will try to start a new winning streak tomorrow

The Irish haven’t lost since the end of March but the host Duke Blue Devils wanted to make the Irish feel defeat in April and that’s exactly what happened. In game one of the three game ACC conference battle, the home team took it to the Irish, defeating the visitors 15-5.

It was one that the Irish would like to have back as starting pitcher Will Mercer struggled out of the gate. He gave up three runs in the first inning, the only one he would pitch in, then Radek Birkholz also gave up three, one of them unearned, and the Irish had an early 6-0 hole to dig out of.

The Irish would battle back to get within two runs after their four run fifth, but would score just once more as Duke kept piling on the runs. Link Jarrett has switched up his starters and with a Thursday start, he went with Mercer, a move he might be regretting this evening as the nine-game winning streak came to an end.

Fortunately for the Irish, game two of the series will have ace John Michael Bertrand on the mound as they look to start a new winning steak. Notre Dame still holds a fantastic 21-6 record, but have had their struggles in-conference this season, just 8-6 so far. They look to change that tomorrow as first pitch is set for 6pm EST.

[listicle id=54872]

[lawrence-related id=54986]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Notre Dame Baseball beats Michigan, keeps winning streak alive

The winning streak is just short to two handfuls

For the most part, midweek home games shouldn’t be much of a challenge, they’re set up to get the younger players and pitchers some playing time. That’s not always the case, especially when you are hosting a team that went to the College World Series finale just two seasons ago.

For the Irish baseball team, over the last two seasons, they have emerged as the Midwest baseball power, overtaking Michigan for that honor. Those two teams faced off against each other on Tuesday night at Frank Eck Stadium, and Irish slugged their way to a 14-5 victory, extending their winning streak to 9 games.

The Irish bats stayed hot all game, Spencer Myers hit a homer and drive on four runs, Brooks Coetzee had two hits and 3 RBI, while Zack Prajzner had just one hit but also drove in three.

The Irish used five pitchers on the day, with Jack Findlay, Aidan Tyrell and Radek Birkholz each having clean outings. Jackson Dennies and Liam Simon struggled but the Irish hitters picked them up.

The Irish have yet to lose in the month of April, racking up nine straight wins to run their record to an impressive 21-5. The winning streak goes on the road this weekend as Link Jarrett’s team heads to Durham, North Carolina to face Duke this weekend in ACC conference play.

[lawrence-related id=54969]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Notre Dame Baseball keeps rolling, winning steak extends to five games

The streak is not a handful

The Irish have found their groove again and they are really starting to play some great baseball. After enduring a four-game losing streak, which started with a Louisville swept and extended with the one-game series loss to Virginia Tech, Link Jarrett’s team has caught fire once again.

A mid-week win against Northern Illinois got them back into the win column, then a sweep against #5 Florida State in Tallahassee really propelled the Irish again. They kept the good times going today, as they welcomed in Butler and surprising had a battle on their hands. Eventually the Irish overcame the Bulldogs and won 5-2.

Offensively it was two-way star Jack Brannigan, who launched his fourth homer of the year. Spencer Myers, Nick Juaire and Zack Prajzner also added RBI on the day. Although Radek Birkholz struggled on the mound, giving up two runs, his teammates picked him up. Relievers Ryan McLinksey, Jack Findlay, Jackson Dennies and Austin Temple collectively allowed no runs.

The win puts the Irish record at 17-5, with an upcoming series at home against ACC foe Clemson. Notre Dame will look to extend their winning streak to six games Friday night as first pitch is scheduled for 5:00pm EST.

[lawrence-related id=54813]

[lawrence-related id=54753]

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Notre Dame Baseball comes back against NC State and wins in extra innings

Eight in a row, this time with some dramatics

It wasn’t a game that the Irish were accustomed too, coming from behind has not been something this team has done much of this season. That was the case on Friday night however, as the Irish saw a late 4-0 deficit entering the seventh inning.

That’s when the bats came alive and the Irish scratched out three runs in the seventh and the tying run in the eighth to even the score at four and force extras. It was Carter Putz’s solo home run to start the scoring for Notre Dame and Jack Brannigan finished off the comeback.

The game would extend into the twelfth inning when the Irish bats once again came alive. Four runs in that inning once again highlighted by a long ball, this time by Zack Prajzner.

The story wasn’t just about the Irish bats, it was the bullpen. Starter Aidan Tyrell wasn’t his sharpest, giving up four runs over four innings. Then Alex Rao, Radek Birkholz, Ryan McLinskey and Brannigan took over. They combined for nine innings without allowing a run and striking out 11 batters.

Although the win improved the Irish to 10-1, this game could be looked at as the starting point to another run at the ACC regular season title. If the Irish were to repeat as regular season champs, it would be the first time in program history that feat was accomplished. They have won consecutive conference tournament championships, the last time being the stretch from 2002-2006 when they won the Big East Conference tournament title every year.

The Irish continue their three-games series against the the Wolfpack this afternoon as they try and keep their 8-game winning streak alive.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen