Notre Dame pitcher sets career best strikeout total in Irish victory over Florida State
If there was ever a moment to show Notre Dame hasn’t wavered in the face of adversity amid its recent struggles in ACC play, especially from the pitcher’s mound, it happened in the bottom of the 10th inning in Tallahassee, Fla., Friday night.
The ball was out of sixth-year senior John Michael Bertrand‘s hands. He could only throw so many strikes — 79 of them leading to a career-best 12 strikeouts in 7 and 2/3 innings. He turned the mound over to fellow graduate student Ryan McLinskey, who then gave it up to senior Aidan Tyrell.
The moment occurred not long after.
He ended the 10th on a comeback snag hot off the bat of a Florida State hitter. Bertrand was the first Irish player out of the dugout to congratulate his teammate, whose job Bertrand essentially stole in recent weeks. Tyrell used to be Notre Dame’s Friday night ace. He’s been relegated to a multi-use bullpen guy. Bertrand now gets the nod in series-opening games.
Tyrell’s usage Friday was still important, though, and everyone in green knew that — especially Bertrand. Without Tyrell’s scoreless inning, Bertrand’s career-best outing would have went to waste. Same goes McLinskey and Rao’s appearances. They both hurled 1 and 2/3 scoreless frames. The Notre Dame bullpen, perhaps the main reason the Irish had lost four ACC games in a row going into Friday, was the Irish’s saving grace in a 2-0 victory over the No. 5 Seminoles in 12 innings.
Graduate student Ryan Cole‘s two-run home run in the top of the 12th might’ve been the defining play of the game, but it doesn’t get to that point without Bertrand and company. Cole had half of No. 16 Notre Dame’s hits, after all, and he only had two. His 376-foot moonshot over the left field fence turned out to be the only one either team needed to earn a victory.
“The bats were not alive for most of the game, but we just kept fighting,” Cole said. “Our pitchers had our back.”
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One of the two pitching staffs was bound to make a mistake. And the way the game went, it was going to be a costly one. Florida State (16-9, 6-4 ACC) junior lefty Jonah Scolaro hung a fastball up over the inner portion of the plate. Cole turned on it in a hurry.
It likely wasn’t a night in which Notre Dame (14-5, 3-4) head coach Link Jarrett is going to lambaste the Irish’s lack of offense. For as much as Bertrand was dealing, Florida State starter and reigning ACC Pitcher of the Year Parker Messick could say the same. He struck out 11 and only allowed two hits and no walks in eight scoreless innings. It was as pure of a pitcher’s duel as any. There were a combined 34 strikeouts in the game.
Either Bertrand was going to be let down after complete dominance, or it was going to be Messick. Cole made sure it was the latter. But so too did McLinskey, Tyrell and Rao. That’s why Bertrand was as fired up as any member of the Irish when Tyrell got out of the 10th.
And that’s the type of team-first chemistry Notre Dame is going to need to get back to consistently winning conference games.
