Notre Dame baseball awards, rankings roundup: Where are the Irish ranked?
Moving on up.
Notre Dame didn’t just climb into second place in the ACC’s Atlantic Division with a weekend sweep of Florida State. The Fighting Irish were noticed by pollsters and computers for their performance, too.
Here’s a look at where Notre Dame (16-5, 5-4 ACC) stands in various college baseball rankings. The previous week’s rankings are in parenthesis.
Notre Dame in college baseball rankings
Baseball America: 12 (14)
D1Baseball.com: 13 (16)
Coaches Poll: 13 (16)
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper: 15 (29)
The most important jump came from the computers. The Irish went from No. 22 to No. 5 in the RPI, a key determinant in deciding the seeding of the NCAA Tournament field. Want Notre Dame to host a Super Regional at Eck Stadium in South Bend, Ind.? Better hope the Irish rank firmly inside the top 10 of the RPI. So far, so good.
Against Florida State, Notre Dame certainly played like a team worthy of hosting the first two tournament weekends. The Seminoles dropped from No. 17 to No. 34 in the RPI, though, so it remains to be seen if their previous No. 5 ranking in D1Baseball.com’s poll made Notre Dame’s series sweep more of fool’s gold than a sign of elite progress. D1 dropped Florida State to No. 20 in its most recent poll, too.
There’s still plenty of time for fluctuation. Notre Dame was No. 1 in Baseball America’s poll just a few weeks ago. But these things tend to get less volatile by May. Notre Dame has hovered around the top 15 for the entirety of the season, and right now the Irish are trending upward. That indicates consistency. A solid week against Butler on Tuesday and Clemson in a three-game series starting Friday, all in South Bend, would go a long way in maintaining that consistency.
John Michael Bertrand wins ACC Pitcher of the Week
There’s a sense of comfort and confidence that comes with feeling like you’re going to win every time your ace is on the mound, and that’s what Notre Dame has right now with sixth-year left-handed starter John Michael Bertrand.
Bertrand earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors for striking out a career-high 12 batters in 7 and 2/3 innings in a series-opening 2-0 victory over the Seminoles in 12 innings last Friday. It might not be fair to say Bertrand out-dueled FSU’s Parker Messick, the reigning ACC Pitcher of the Year who struck out 11 Irish batters in eight innings. But the two certainly went toe-to-toe, and Bertrand dealt his stuff masterfully in a hostile environment.
For the season, Bertrand has an earned run average of 1.81 and a 4-0 record in seven starts. He has struck out 51 hitters and has only allowed 33 hits and 12 walks in 44 2/3 innings. Opposing batters are hitting just .212 with one home run against him. He spent the first month and a half of the season as Notre Dame’s Saturday starter but has since moved into the Friday night ace role. Expect to see him there against the Tigers.
