One thing I like, one thing I don't: Notre Dame vs. Texas in the College World Series

In just over 24 hours, Notre Dame baseball (40-15) will take the field at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., for the first time since 2002. The Irish are coming off of the biggest upset of the college baseball season after taking two of three games from No. 1 overall seed Tennessee in the Knoxville Super Regional last weekend.

But they aren’t looking back anymore. They’re facing a daunting College World Series pool composed of Oklahoma (42-22), Texas (47-20) and Texas A&M (42-18), and the Longhorns are on the schedule Friday. First pitch will be at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Ahead of the primetime showdown, here is something that I think bodes well for Notre Dame, something that will surely be a struggle, and something to monitor given recent events.

One thing I like (for Notre Dame)

With the exception of a 12-4 drubbing at the hands of Tennessee on Saturday, Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament pitching has been lights out. Over 54 innings in the regional and super regional rounds, the Irish staff allowed just 26 earned runs. Out of the bullpen, freshman Jack Findlay has been nearly perfect. The New Jersey rookie has pitched in four of Notre Dame’s six tournament games and earned three saves and a win in 10.1 innings pitched. Findlay has allowed just three hits and one run during that span while striking out 12 batters. The entire Notre Dame bullpen is hot, but Findlay is scorching.

Granted, the Longhorns are expected to see Notre Dame’s John Michael Bertrand on the mound on Friday after he started in the aforementioned 12-4 game. However, I’d bet that was more of the exception to the rule rather than the rule given Bertrand boasts a 9-3 record and 2.67 ERA on the year.

“Bertrand will need to be on his A game,” Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett said on Wednesday. “He’ll have to be on-point, and I think his secondary pitch usage, in conjunction with that fastball command, need to be dialed in and better than his last start.”

The secondary pitch to which Jarrett is referring is Bertrand’s changeup.

“It has to be a factor,” the third-year Irish coach added.

Texas has obviously faced top-notch pitching competition over the last two weekends, but the pitching the team faced in the Big 12 this year was not as dominant as the ACC pitchers the Irish faced. Excluding the Longhorns themselves, there was not a pitching staff in the Big 12 this season with a team ERA below 4.66. Excluding Notre Dame, there were six ACC pitching staffs below that mark this year.

Notre Dame’s team ERA currently sits at 3.97. For more recent reference than the Big 12, Texas’ Greenville Super Regional opponent, ECU, has a team ERA of 4.26.

One thing I don’t like (for Notre Dame)

Not unlike the Notre Dame lineup, the vast majority of the Texas lineup is dangerous in some capacity. To borrow Jarrett’s hopeful characterization of his own squad from earlier this spring, it’s hard for any pitcher facing the Longhorns to ever “come up for air.”

As a unit, Texas is batting .318, has an on-base percentage of .414, and has hit 294 extra-base hits this season. The Longhorns also smashed 128 home runs, which is currently fourth in the nation. Sure, Big 12 Player of the Year, first-team All-American, and Golden Spikes Award finalist Ivan Melendez is responsible for 52 extra-base hits and 32 home runs, but the rest of the team has immense power as well. The Longhorns have a total of seven batters with double-digit home runs, and three players have 20+ doubles. Melendez is not one of them.

“Their right-handed lineup is physical,” Jarrett said Wednesday. “They do everything well…They have guys that can run, and then they have three or four guys that are as good as college baseball will see.”

One thing to watch

Texas has the same question about its starter that Notre Dame currently has about Bertrand.

When the Irish step up to the plate for the first time on Friday night, they will likely face Texas lefty Pete Hansen (11-2, 3.40 ERA) on the mound. Will they see the ace who entered the Greenville Super Regional against ECU with an 11-1 record on the year, or will they see the one who pitched just four innings that day and allowed seven hits and five earned runs?

“He just didn’t have his command that he normally has,” said Texas head coach David Pierce of Hansen’s June 10 performance, per Joe Cook of Inside Texas. “He wasn’t hitting with the slider. Probably one of the worst starts he’s had. It’s just what it is.”