Newsstand: How Duke snapped Notre Dame baseball’s winning streak
Safe to say Notre Dame had an off day Thursday.
You’d have to add up the opponents’ scores from the last six Fighting Irish games, all victories, to eclipse the number of runs Notre Dame (21-6, 8-5 ACC) allowed to Duke (14-20, 4-12) in this week’s series opener. The Blue Devils defended their home field with a dominant 15-5 victory over the visiting Irish.
Notre Dame sent seven different pitchers to the mound. Six of them allowed at least two earned runs. The only one who didn’t, senior Ryan McLinskey, gave head coach Link Jarrett 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Duke was able to get to every other Irish hurler, including starter Will Mercer. He gave up three runs in the first inning, his only frame of the game.
Leadoff hitter Spencer Myers went 2 for 5 and drove in three runs, but the No. 2 through No. 6 hitters in the lineup went a combined 0 for 17. The Irish fell behind 6-0 but scored four in the fifth to pull within two runs. That was as close as it would get until Duke put the game away with a seven spot in the eighth. Two Irish pitchers made their season debuts in that inning. They gave up a combined five runs.
Jarrett just couldn’t find anything from anyone on the mound. His team aims to even the series with ace John Michael Bertrand on the mound Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Notre Dame tweets of the day
Let’s put a bow on the Ed Orgeron in South Bend experiment, shall we?
Practice clips? Practice clips.
One of these things is not like the others …
Notre Dame quote of the day
“My legacy is through my kids. When I retired, my oldest son was 6. He wasn’t going to remember anything I did in a 91 jersey. So what was going to be my calling card to him when he’s 18 or 19 or the age when he has to figure out what he wants to do? What was going to be my legacy to him?
“If I went down the road I looked like I was going to go — playing golf, drinking a couple Bud Lights every day, sitting on the couch watching SportsCenter with him — then when he became 18 or 19, he’d say, ‘Well dad does that, why can’t I?’ He wasn’t going to remember all the hard work I put in until I was 33.”
— Justin Tuck on why he chose to get a master’s that led him to become a VP at Goldman Sachs. Read more on Tuck’s post-football career here.
Headlines of the day
How ‘loud confidence’ has helped Notre Dame freshman CB Jaden Mickey make an impression this spring (Patrick Engel, Blue & Gold)
Receiver Braden Lenzy returned to Notre Dame with specific goals; can he get there? (Ashton Pollard, Blue & Gold)
Why Notre Dame TE coach Gerad Parker is excited about freshman Eli Raridon before even meeting him (Engel)
Why Kevin Bauman could be a go-to No. 2 tight end for Notre Dame football (Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold)
Marcus Freeman explains why he loves selling Notre Dame (Pollard)
2024 TE target Jack Larsen was ‘inspired’ during Notre Dame visit (Mike Singer, Blue & Gold)
Elite talent at Notre Dame Thursday; Justyn Rhett and Dante Moore to officially visit SEC programs (Singer)
Lucky Charms: Notre Dame football recruiting tidbits (Singer)
