Tag: Will Mercer

Texas baseball lands Notre Dame pitching transfer Will Mercer

The Longhorns were able to add an experienced arm from the transfer portal.

While the Longhorns are still likely feeling the sting of their fluky loss to Stanford in Palo Alto they did recently receive some positive news for next season.

Notre Dame left-handed pitcher Will Mercer has announced his commitment to transfer to Texas.

Mercer stands in at 6-foot-1, 210-pounds and compiled a 3-1 record (2.43 ERA) in 17 appearances. He did most of his work out of the bullpen for Notre Dame this past season, and pitched a total of 33.1 innings with 37 strikeouts and 14 walks.

 

Mercer unfortunately missed his freshman season at Notre Dame in 2019 due to an injury, but did make four starts in the shortened COVID-19 season in 2020. He had 5.93 ERA and a 1-0 record in 13.2 total innings pitched.

Mercer has some familiarity with one current Longhorn as he is a Houston Strake Jesuit product, a high school teammate of Texas outfielder Dylan Campbell.

The Longhorns will look to return to Omaha for the third time in four years next season after missing out this year.

Notre Dame baseball has multiple players enter the transfer portal

The Irish see more than a few players enter the portal

After a disappointing 2023 [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] baseball season, the Irish are seeing multiple players enter the transfer portal as the NCAA Tournament is set to start later in the week.

After two consecutive seasons making the tournament, last year making the College World Series, head coach Link Jarrett left for his alma mater, Florida State. [autotag]Shawn Stiffler[/autotag] was brought in to replace Jarrett and guided his team to a 30-24 overall record while being 15-15 in ACC play.

It wasn’t enough to make the tourney and just today, multiple players have entered the transfer portal. Find out below which Notre Dame baseball players will move on.

Notre Dame baseball wins Sunday, takes series over North Carolina-Greensboro

The Irish win their first series of the season

The [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] baseball team had a pivotal game on Sunday afternoon against host North Carolina-Greensboro and came out victorious 7-4. The Irish jumped on UNCG early, withstood their comeback attempt and evened up their record at 3-3.

The Irish used speed early as [autotag]Zach Prajzner[/autotag] stole second and [autotag]Brooks Coetzee[/autotag] drove him in to get the scoring started. Coetzee would then plate another run in the top of the fourth with a single and the Irish scored another on a walk and bad defense by UNCG. [autotag]Danny Neri[/autotag] would finish off the inning with a single plating two, giving the Irish an early 5-0 lead.

UNCG would score three of their own in the bottom of the fourth, but the Irish answered with one in the top of the fifth, scoring on a passed ball. [autotag]TJ Williams[/autotag] finished off the offense for Notre Dame with a RBI single in the top of the seventh.

Starting pitcher [autotag]Blake Hely[/autotag] struggled through 3.2 innings, giving up three earned runs and striking out just one. Relievers [autotag]Will Mercer[/autotag], [autotag]Matt Bedford[/autotag] and [autotag]Carter Bosch[/autotag] pitched clean outings while [autotag]Sammy Cooper[/autotag] gave up a run in his .2 innings of work.

Notre Dame gets back to action next weekend as they travel to Birmingham, Alabama to face UAB. Game one of the series is set to start on Friday, with first pitch at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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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.

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Notre Dame baseball keeps rolling, sweeps visiting Clemson

The streak is now 8-games!!!

The Irish are streaking again. It’s been a common theme among this Notre Dame 2022 baseball team. With Sunday’s win again Clemson, the Irish have now won their eighth game in a row, their second consecutive ACC series sweep.

It was the bats that carried the Irish on Sunday, scoring nine runs with the big blasts coming from Jared Miller and Ryan Cole. They each hit homers while Carter Putz drove in three and Spencer Myers played two himself.

The trio of pitchers, Will Mercer, Roman Kimball and Alex Rao held the Tiger’s bats down for the majority of the game. Clemson’s Max Wagner tormented Kimball, hitting two home runs on the day but that wasn’t nearly enough as the Irish won 9-3.

The win brings the Irish record to 20-5, and improved their conference record to 8-4. This current streak has brought the Irish back to second place in the Atlantic division, one game behind leader Louisville. Link Jarrett’s team looks to keep the winning streak alive as they welcome in Michigan for their midweek contest on Tuesday at 5:30pm EST.

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Mississippi State outlasts Notre Dame, eliminate Irish in NCAA tournament

Even with the loss, it was a great season for the Irish

After the top of the first inning, it looked like Notre Dame had the momentum after a dominating game two win. It just wasn’t meant to be for the Irish, as Mississippi State posted double digit runs en route to a berth in the College World Series.

Starter Will Mercer didn’t bring his A-game and it seemed like every time the Irish would answer MSU, the Bulldogs had an answer of their own.

After falling behind 7-1 after two innings, the Irish offense faced their largest deficit of the NCAA tournament and just couldn’t dig themselves out of it. You have to love the fact that they didn’t ever fold, Link Jarrett’s team played their hearts out to the end. It just wasn’t enough, as the Bulldogs used their 6-run second to cushion their way to the CWS. Tanner Allen hit two homers for MSU,

Jarrett tried to keep his team within striking distance, even bringing back game one starter John Michael Bertrand, who was magnificent in his three innings. The Irish tried to mount a comeback but it was all for naught.

The highlight of the game for the Irish was undoubtedly their best players efforts, Niko Kavadas. He absolutely crushed a ball off Landon Sims that left Dudy Noble Field.

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It has been a fantastic first full season under Link Jarrett, that shouldn’t be lost after getting eliminated tonight. This team won’t be the same next year, but if this is the kind of effort and results behind Jarrett squads, its going to be a very prosperous era of Notre Dame baseball.

ACC Baseball Tournament: Game 5 recap – Notre Dame wins opener

The Irish kept it rolling against Virginia Tech

It wasn’t the fastest of starts for top-seeded Notre Dame at the 2021 ACC baseball tournament but as was the case for much of the year, the Irish came alive in the middle innings against Virginia Tech.

Still scoreless in Notre Dame’s half of the fifth inning, Zach Prajzner got the Irish on the board as he scored on a wild pitch.

An inning later it was a Jared Miller blasting a 420-foot home run to move the Irish lead to 2-0 before Brooks Coetzee and Spencer Myers would score before the top of the sixth inning ended.

Miller added an RBI triple in the seventh before being batted in by Coetzee to stretch the lead to 6-0.

Will Mercer went five innings, allowing just three hits and no runs or walks for the Irish before Alex Rao went three and Liam Simon shut the door in the ninth for an 8-0 Notre Dame victory.

Notre Dame gets Thursday off before they take on Virginia on Friday at 11 a.m. ET as the winner will advance to the conference semi-finals on Saturday.

Related:

Duke hammers Florida State to start Wednesday action at ACC baseball tournament

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.