Tennessee hammers Notre Dame baseball in Knoxville Super Regional Game 2 to set up winner-takes-all Game 3
Notre Dame baseball had Tennessee exactly where the Irish wanted the No. 1 Volunteers going into Game 2 of the Knoxville Super Regional. The Irish won Game 1 Friday without using ace pitcher John Michael Bertrand, who took to the mound Saturday just needing to do what he’s done for most of the year to get Notre Dame to the College World Series for the third time in program history.
He didn’t. Instead, he suffered his third loss of the season.
Bertrand was effective through four innings, holding Tennessee’s No. 1 offense to one run. But it all blew up on him in the fifth. Bertrand walked off the mound without finishing that frame with six earned runs on his ledger, tying the most he’s allowed this season. The Volunteers scored two more in the fifth without Bertrand on the bump and cruised to a 12-4 victory.
Notre Dame and Tennessee will meet in a winner-takes-all Game 3 Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
“We’ve seen him evade and navigate some tough stuff,” Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett said. “Unfortunately, we just couldn’t get out of (the fifth). I feel for him. The guy has pitched so many incredible games for us. We don’t like to see a guy who has worked that hard go through that.”
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The team that’s hit the most home runs in the nation this season smacked four in the fifth. Bertrand allowed three of them after only giving up five in 99.0 innings in his 16 previous starts. Tennessee has had a knack for getting to opposing pitchers, no matter their talent level, all season — especially at home inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
It happened in a hurry Saturday.
First baseman Luc Lipcius led off the inning with a solo shot to give Tennessee a 2-0 advantage. When he came to the plate for a second time in the same frame, he knocked a three-run shot over the fence in left-center to extend the Vols’ lead to 9-0. Those were his 17th and 18th big flies of the season. Right fielder Jordan Beck also drilled his 18th dinger of the season in the fifth, and catcher Evan Russell connected on his 14th.
For reference, no Notre Dame player has hit more than 13 home runs this season.
“They were clearly better than us today,” Jarrett said. “The physicality of the lineup showed. We didn’t keep the ball in the ballpark, and it hurt us.”
Notre Dame only had seven hits in the game. Left fielder Jack Zyska had four of them, including a two-run home run in the eighth. He owns the team lead with 13. By then, though, it was too little, too late. Tennessee pitcher Chase Dollander made it that way.
While Bertrand (9-3, 3.07 ERA) struggled, Dollander (10-0, 2.41) delivered.
The SEC Pitcher of the Year pitched seven innings while giving up five hits, zero walks and two earned runs. He struck out five. His longevity in throwing 112 pitches saved the Tennessee bullpen for Sunday; the Vols only had to go to one reliever. Notre Dame, meanwhile, sent three arms to the mound other than Bertrand. Freshmen Jackson Dennies and Radek Birkholz hurled a combined 71 pitches, and senior Matt Lazzaro threw the final 26 for the Irish.
Notre Dame is going to need some stout performances on the mound and at the plate Sunday to knock off the Vols and punch a ticket to Omaha. As the home team showed Saturday, it isn’t going to be easy. Bertrand has faith in his teammates to pick hi up and send the Irish to the CWS.
“It’s championship Sunday,” Bertrand said. “It’s where everyone wants to be.”
