Notre Dame baseball: Pre-ACC Championship NCAA Tournament projections from D1Baseball
Look away if you fear a rematch, Notre Dame fans. Per the latest D1Baseball.com NCAA Tournament projections, the Fighting Irish could have another three-game series against Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., coming in the near future.
That one would have much higher stakes than the one those two programs just played.
With the regular season in the rearview mirror, D1Baseball fleshed out another postseason predictions piece Sunday. The reputable outlet has Notre Dame hosting a regional as the No. 12 overall seed in the tournament. Holding serve at home in this scenario would likely send the Irish down to the Sunshine State again if Miami were to do the same.
Here’s how D1Baseball has the Irish (33-13, 16-11 ACC) stacked up in the field of 64.
South Bend Regional
- Notre Dame (12)
- UCLA
- Rutgers
- Ball State
Coral Gables Regional
- Miami (5)
- Florida
- UConn
- Florida A&M
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Prior to Notre Dame losing two of three to Miami, D1Baseball had the Irish as the No. 11 overall seed in the tournament. A dip of just one national seed spot shows the series loss didn’t do much harm to Notre Dame’s prospects of hosting a regional. Winning one of the games was imperative, and the Irish got it done.
Hopes of hosting a Super Regional are likely long gone, though. The Irish would have to get hot and win this week’s ACC Championship to even be considered, and Saturday’s score showed the odds of that occurring are slim.
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Notre Dame’s lack of pitching depth is a concern. The Irish haven’t had a reliable third starter all season, and it takes three wins against quality opponents to get out of a Regional. The hope for fans of the blue and gold has to be that if the Irish do defend home turf and advance to a Super Regional, it’s not farfetched to think graduate senior starters John Michael Bertrand and Austin Temple could throw gems in back-to-back starts.
Bertrand, a first-team All-ACC selection, has been roughed up a bit of late. He’s allowed 12 earned runs in his last three starts. He’s almost assuredly going to start one of Notre Dame’s two guaranteed games in Charlotte, N.C. It’ll be big for him to get back to feeling himself on the mound before the Regional rolls around. Temple, meanwhile, just pitched 6.0-plus innings for the first time since March 6. Notre Dame would love a continuation of that into the postseason.
Notre Dame needs the health of third baseman Jack Brannigan, too. He left Saturday’s game against Miami with an apparent arm injury after throwing two pitches in relief. The junior does too much for the Irish in the field and at the plate to lose him for the postseason. He leads the team in doubles (15), ranks third in home runs (eight) and makes countless plays at third that put him up there with the best in the country at his position.
A source said Brannigan was in “good spirits” Sunday, but no update on the status of his health was issued.
