Tag: Zach Prajzner

Notre Dame baseball: Martinez go-ahead homer leads Irish to opening win vs. NC State

Notre Dame got a much-needed series opening win in dramatic fashion.

Notre Dame opened their final home ACC series of the season on Thursday night with a dramatic win over North Carolina State.  The Irish jumped out to a 3-0 lead after scoring in both of the first two frames but allowed the Wolfpack to rally for four runs to start the third.

Zach Prajzner’s sacrifice fly scored Vinny Martinez to tie things at four in the in fourth inning before NC State added a pair more in the fifth.  Prajzner then got the Irish back within one with an RBI-single in the sixth before a Carter Putz double tied things up.  Prajzner scored to put the Irish ahead 7-6 in the bottom of the sixth on a wild pitch.

NC State wasn’t done yet though as second baseman Payton Green hit a solo home run to even the score at 7 in the seventh.  Green had three RBI on the evening.

Still tied at 7 in the home half of the eighth, Vinny Martinez stepped to the plate for Notre Dame with Putz already on-base.

BOOM!  Martinez’s oppo-taco gave the Irish a 9-7 advantage they’d ultimately win by.

The win moves Notre Dame to 26-17 overall and 14-11 in ACC play.  Game two of the series takes place 5 p.m. ET Friday night.

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Home, sweet home! Notre Dame baseball wins their home opener

The Irish enjoyed home cooking

For many northern baseball teams, your home season doesn’t start until you’ve played a handful of games and that was exactly the case for [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag].

The Irish had played themselves to a 9-8 record until they finally hosted their first game in Frank Eck Stadium today against Valparaiso. Safe to say the home cooking helped as the Irish won 8-4.

Notre Dame was down early, 2-0 after the top of the 3rd before the bats woke up. They cut the lead in half in the bottom of the 3rd before taking the lead for good with 3 runs scored in the bottom of the 4th.

It was all about the long ball as [autotag]Zach Prajzner[/autotag] hit a solo homer first then [autotag]Jack Zyska[/autotag] hit a 3-run blast as the Irish took the lead. Valpo would battle back and cut the lead to 4-3 but that was as close as they’d get.

The Irish answered the visitors two runs in the 7th with four of their own to get to the final tally of 8-4.

Notre Dame will now have a few days to rest before they welcome in Louisville over the weekend for a 3-game ACC matchup.

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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 gets back in win column

That was a long two weeks

It has been a very difficult two weeks for the Irish baseball team. First getting swept at Louisville, having their midweek game against Northwestern postponed, then losing the series opener to Virginia Tech and having the weather cancel the remainder of the series. Notre Dame last won a game on March 15th and two weeks from that date, their four-game losing streak is finally over.

The bats were hot and the pitching was very solid, as the Irish defeated Northern Illinois, 11-2 at Frank Eck Stadium. It must have been a huge weight off the shoulders of the Irish, finally getting a chance to celebrate a win again.

Although starter Liam Simon only went 2 and 2/3 innings, the did enough to set the tone for the pitching staff. He allowed the only runs of the game, one unearned, as the remaining pitchers (Roman Kimball, Jack Findlay, Radek Birkholz and Jackson Dennies) each saw their outings end without giving up a run.

Offensively it was Jared Miller and Zach Prajzner leading the charge, both driving in two runs each with Prajzner topping the team with three hits on the day. The Irish will hit the road this weekend as they travel to Tallahassee to face off against Florida State in a three-game set that begins Friday night.

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Quick primer ahead of Notre Dame baseball’s season opener Friday

It’s almost time to play ball for the Irish

The NCAA baseball season begins for the Irish this weekend and the expectations are sky high. After a run to the Super Regionals last year, Link Jarrett has establish the program as one of the best in the Midwest quickly. In his first full season, the Irish finished first in the ACC’s Atlantic division, racking up a 25-10 conference record, 34-13 overall. Obviously we all remember their run in the NCAA tournament, but the brilliance spanned the whole season. Gone is slugging first baseman Niko Kavadas, but the Irish are still viewed as one of the best teams in the country heading into the 2022 season. Here is a quick primer of what to expect from this seasons squad.

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Tyrell magnificent as Notre Dame forces an elimination game three

The Irish battle back to force game three

With the Irish’s backs against the wall, head coach Link Jarrett looked to left-hander Aiden Tyrell to take the mound and stave off elimination for Notre Dame. It wasn’t pretty, after two batters Mississippi State held a 1-0 lead, but Tyrell settled down held the Bulldogs offense in check before getting pulled in the top of the seventh with one out and two on.

Reliever Alex Rao would get out of the jam but the story was the offense this afternoon. While Tyrell was holding the MSU offense down, the Notre Dame offense continued to stay hot. They immediately answered the run allowed in the top of the first with two of their own on a Zach Prajzner infield single.

The Irish offense would add an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth before starting to pull away. Catcher David LaManna blasted a three-run shot to left as the lead grew to 6-1.

Two innings later in the sixth, Jack Brannigan got into the action as well with a two-run blast of his own to give the Irish a 8-1 lead.

The scoring wasn’t over for the Irish as they added another run when Ryan Cole scored on an RBI single from Carter Putz.

Even though the Irish bullpen didn’t get the job done yesterday, Tyrell made sure they got some rest with his long outing. Rao finished off the Bulldogs, forcing the elimination game tomorrow.

Regardless of how tomorrow turns out, we should all be proud of the effort the Irish displayed this year. Hopefully Notre Dame’s season doesn’t end tomorrow and they head off to Omaha and the College World Series next weekend.

Errors doom Notre Dame, drop game 1 in Starkville super regional

The Irish drop game 1 in Starkville

In a back and forth affair, host Mississippi State ultimately came out on top against Notre Dame in the first game of the three game super regionals. There were a lot of good omens for the Irish; 24-3 when scoring first, 33-3 when scoring more than three runs, but it wasn’t meant to be.

After leading 7-3 after the middle of the fifth, the Irish would only score one more time. The hosts hit three homers with Logan Tanner’s in the bottom of the 7th being the winning blast. John Michael Bertrand wasn’t as effective as he was last week, going four innings while allowing five run, four earned. Tanner Kohlhepp took the Irish the rest of the way but was the losing pitcher, while Preston Johnson was the winner for the Bulldogs.

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MSU closer Landon Sims went through the heart of the Irish order in the bottom of the eighth and then closed the door in the ninth after the Bulldogs took the lead in the bottom of the seventh. For a majority of the game, Notre Dame had the momentum, shutting down the MSU crowd while answering everything the Bulldogs sent to them.

What ultimately doom the Irish was their defense, which has been stellar all year. Uncharacteristic errors, four on the day, were the most the defense has made in a single game all season.

The offense did exactly what they needed to do, but unfortunately it just wasn’t enough for the Irish to scratch out an opening game win. Zach Prajzner was the star of the offense going three for four, with two doubles, a homer and four RBI.

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The series is not over by any means, as game one proved that these two teams are evenly matched. Game two of the series is scheduled for tomorrow at 6pm CST.

Prajzner again, ties game for Notre Dame baseball vs MSU

Prajzner ties up game 1 late

The Irish saw their 7-4 lead evaporate into a 8-7 deficit after the end of the sixth inning. If we have seen on thing this spring from the Notre Dame baseball team is that there is no quit with this group. They showed that once again as Zach Prajzner hit a double down the left field line to score Jack Brannigan and even up the score.

The back and forth battle continues as this has been an extremely entertaining first game against Mississippi State in the Starkville super regionals. With 16 combined runs scored midway through 7 innings, expect more fireworks and hopefully the Irish end up on the right side of this show.

Prajzner’s 3-run homer extends Notre Dame’s lead over Mississippi State

A big blast by Prajzner

Although the Notre Dame offense didn’t get the lead-off hitter on base this in the fifth inning, the first time all game that didn’t happen, Zach Prajzner made sure the Irish kept their scoring streak alive.

The deep drive to left-center with two aboard extended the Irish lead from a single run now to four runs. The homer keeps the Notre Dame offense rolling, as they have scored a run in every inning so far this game.

The seven runs have come off 10 hits for the Notre Dame offense who is showing that last weekend was not a fluke.

Notre Dame scores again, takes lead back against Mississippi State

A back and forth battle in Starkville

It’s been a back-and-forth battle in the Starkville super regional. The Irish held a 3-1 lead after they scored again in the top of the third. Two errors in the bottom of the frame for Notre Dame helped Mississippi State tie the game up but that didn’t last long.

After Zach Prajzner doubled to lead off the top of the fourth, Spencer Myers drove him in with a single to center to chase the Bulldog’s starting pitcher Will Bednar.

The Irish bat’s continued to stay hot as they have now scored in each of the four frames early in this contest. They now hold a very slim lead over the Bulldogs as they look to take game one of this Super regional matchup.