Link Jarrett evaluates how Notre Dame can use momentum from this season going into next year

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team’s postseason run ended on Tuesday night after they were eliminated 5-1 by the Texas A&M Aggies. But their head baseball coach, Link Jarrett, already has eyes for the future. After the game, Jarrett evaluated how Notre Dame can use the momentum from this season next year.

“Well, the way they feel right now gives you momentum the moment you regroup and start preparing for next year,” said Jarrett. “Like they’ve won four championships in two years. It’s tough. And it’s tough last year to see it end as a regular season ACC champion and a Regional champion to have — you were that close. That experience probably familiarized us what it was like in the Super Regional, and what you had to do to win it.”

In his second season leading the Notre Dame baseball team, Jarrett made the Irish a consistent fixture in the top 25 rankings. Notre Dame never dropped out of the top 20 this season, and we’re ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation. The Irish proved this year that they were hungry and ready to play with the best whenever they took the field.

“So that hunger and the understanding of how critical every play is — and they’re not always plays that you script, but how critical the execution on some things that come up that are rare at times, some of the cut-offs and funky things that happen in the game. It’s hard if you’re in the right spot and prepare. So the lessons stand out more here. It stood out last year. We were capable of winning it last night. We didn’t. Were we capable of winning it this year? Not the way we played the last two ball games, but the first game, 100 percent. That was trending in the right direction.”

Notre Dame improved on its postseason run from last year. The Fighting Irish were eliminated in the college baseball Super Regionals by the eventual champions, the Mississippi State Bulldogs. They also improved on their record, going from 34-13 to 41-17 this season.

Despite Notre Dame’s solid season this year, there are still areas for the team to work on. The Irish were good this year at getting on base, but they could definitely use some power-hitting. Notre Dame finished the year ranked 54 in home runs with 78 over 58 games. This year’s top team in the nation in that category, the Tennessee Volunteers, nearly doubled their output with 158 home runs.

“So you learn from the negatives and then you just try to process obviously some of the good things you did,” said Jarrett. “But to take in what this series feels like, until you’ve done it, you can’t teach it, explain it, fake it, show video of it. You can’t. Now they’ve done that. So, are we more prepared the next time this group comes back? Yes.”

Notre Dame will look to build off of this year’s run into the College World Series for the 2023 season. And if Link Jarrett’s time with the Irish is any indication on what is in store for the future, then we could be looking at Notre Dame as College World Series champs much sooner than later.