i rish baseball sweep no. 8 v irginia

By ANDREW McGUINNESS sports editor

a fter two seasons of cruising through the regular season, 2023 has been more of an adventure for notre d ame baseball. That isn’t to say the i rish haven’t played well at times. They entered this weekend with one series win over a then top-10 acc team, having won two of three against now no. 12 Louisville from m arch 24 to 26. There have been other games where the i rish have mirrored the c ollege World s eries contender they were throughout the Link Jarrett era. Understandably, the i rish haven’t always looked as dominant in head coach s hawn s tiffler’s first year at the helm.

b ut this weekend reminded the acc and the entire college baseball world that the i rish still have that level in them. The i rish battled both the elements and the no. 8 v irginia c avaliers this weekend, and on both fronts, they were successful. a doubleheader sweep on s unday secured notre d ame’s first series sweep in conference play this year after the i rish won a memorable slugfest to set the tone on Friday night.

“They’re in a good place,” s tiffler said of his team. “That’s as good of a place regardless of whether they won the last game or not. That’s as good of a place that i’ve seen us mentally all season. it’s just from a connection standpoint.” s tiffler meant connection in terms of chemistry, but he also could have been referencing to the connection the i rish bats made with the baseball. o ffense was a major weakness early in the year, but the i rish came out slugging in the series opener, striking early and often. s ophomore infielder Jack Penney hit the first of numerous long balls on the weekend in the bottom of the first on Friday. The c avaliers tagged the i rish for four runs in the top of the fourth to go ahead 5-1. b ut the i rish quickly answered back. s ophomore outfielder dm Jefferson quickly got two runs back on his first collegiate home run in the bottom of the frame. a fter freshman infielder e stevan moreno went deep in the bottom of the fifth, hits by graduate student infielder c arter Putz and catcher v inny m artinez drove in runs with a single and a double, respectively, to go ahead 6-5. notre d ame pulled away thanks to the long ball. moreno hit two more solo shots in the sixth and eighth innings, becoming the first i rish player in seven years to hit three homers in one game. Junior outfielder brady Gumpf tacked on a two-run shot in the eighth as well to give notre d ame some breathing room. The i rish ultimately won by a 10-7 final.

“i’m always impressed with him because he has some games where there’s three strikeouts, four-strikeout games and then the next day he’ll get two hits,” stiffler said of moreno. “i think this game of all games rewards you. i f you bring that type of consistency, you can get back up off the ground. s o i’m just proud of him for that. he’s going to be a great player and he’s going through some things that all freshmen do. b ut when it’s together, it’s pretty special.”

Though s aturday’s game was pushed back to sunday due to inclement weather, the i rish bats remained hot in the first half of sunday’s doubleheader. notre dame scored in every inning except the second and the sixth. Putz set the tone with his second long ball of the series in the first inning, a two-run shot. Penney, martinez and graduate student infielder Zack Prajzner would join the home run parade. o n the mound, graduate student blake hely turned in his best start in an i rish uniform. The davidson transfer pitched 7.1 masterful innings against one of the conference’s top offenses. hely allowed just two runs while striking out eight.

“That’s the blake hely i’m familiar with that wore me out in the a 10 for a couple of years,” stiffler said of his former conference rival. “he’s an older guy that knows how to pick up his team. i wanted to get him after the seventh, and he said, he wanted [to come out] one more time. Let me get that guy out. s o i was gonna do that.” v irginia managed to hold the i rish to single digits in the series finale. b ut it still wasn’t enough to prevail. a ll of the scoring in notre d ame’s 5-4 win early sunday evening came in the first five innings. The teams traded leads frequently. v irginia went ahead 1-0 in the top of the second. b ut again, the i rish had an answer in the form of a Jefferson sac fly and Putz rbi single. The c avaliers scored three runs across the fourth and fifth innings to give them some rare breathing room. b ut it quickly vanished in the bottom of the fifth. a fter moreno stole home on a double steal, m artinez drove in the final runs of the weekend with a clutch two-out, two-run double to give the i rish the lead for good. notre d ame took advantage of some sloppy mistakes from v irginia in the third game. The c avaliers committed four errors in the game, leading to three unearned runs. Like hely earlier in the day, freshman caden spivey delivered his best performance of the