How Notre Dame went small to beat Butler in first of five-game home stand

On3 imageby:Tyler Horka04/05/22

tbhorka

Deadlocked in a 2-2 tie, Tuesday’s game at Eck Stadium took on the feeling something silly was going to have to happen for Notre Dame to get by Butler at home. And if you’re not a fan of small ball, silly indeed.

The Fighting Irish scored three runs in the sixth without a ball leaving the infield. Ryan Cole walked. Nick Juaire singled on a ball that made the second baseman drift too far toward shallow left field for him to attempt a throw to first.

That was just the beginning.

David LaManna moved the runners over via a sacrifice bunt. They scored on a Zack Prajzner grounder to third. The Butler third baseman committed a throwing error that moved Prajzner to second. He made it to third on a successful bunt single by Jack Penney. Spencer Myers squeezed Prajzner home on another sacrifice bunt.

Even the final out of the inning was a popup to second off the bat of Brooks Coetzee.

The sixth was not how head coach Link Jarrett would draw up a conventional inning at the plate. But when in a pinch, it’s one way to do it. Maybe the preferred way to do it. Notre Dame (17-5, 5-4 ACC) didn’t do a whole lot of scoring before that frame, and it didn’t do any after. So once Cole got on base, Jarrett’s entire mindset moved to just getting him home. Two more runs crossed as a result. Notre Dame won 5-2.

“You know I loved it,” Jarrett said. “You’d like these games to not come down to that, but we talk about it with our team all the time — every one of these games is a little bit different. You never really know what piece is the one that allows you to win. We work on that stuff all the time. It’s nice to actually have it come up.”

Notre Dame football news

Notre Dame football vs. Tennessee State: Irish to face FCS, HBCU opponent for first time

Why Josh Bryan should not be counted out of Notre Dame kicking competition

The game truly shifted long before Cole walked to lead off the sixth. Freshman pitcher Radek Birkholz couldn’t get out of the first inning, marking the second straight game that was the case for the Irish. From that point on, especially staring at a 2-0 deficit, the game became about surviving a letdown.

Jarrett turned to a trusty bullpen option in senior Ryan McLinskey. He pitched 2 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings. Freshman Jack Findlay hurled three scoreless, hitless innings. Those two stabilized the situation, but all Notre Dame could do in the meantime was tie the score. Jack Brannigan homered in the home half of the first, and Nick Juaire drove in a run with a single in the second.

After the first, Butler (14-15) didn’t record another hit until the eighth. The game was there for the taking all evening in front of 539 fans at Eck Stadium. The Irish took it with small ball. Sometimes, it just has to be that way — silly as it may seem in the smash and bash era of baseball.

“We’re you’re asking them to do it and they execute it like that, it makes the practicing become more relevant to them,” Jarrett said. “We’re going to do the stuff we work on, and it helped us win a game today.”

Postgame notes

Jack Findlay earned the win to improve his freshman record to 3-0.

– The only two hitters in the Notre Dame lineup who didn’t record at least one hit were the No. 1 and No. 2 batters, Spencer Myers (.155) and Brooks Coetzee (.268).

Jack Brannigan‘s solo home run in the first was his fourth of the year tying Jack Zyska and Carter Putz for second on the team. Coetzee leads the Irish with six.

• Sophomore Jackson Dennies pitched two scoreless innings to remain the only pitcher on staff who has an ERA of 0.00. He has appeared in seven games and has pitched 8 2/3 innings.

– Usual Sunday starter Austin Temple pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his second save of the season.

You may also like