What David Pierce, Texas players said about Notre Dame
OMAHA, Neb. — The Texas Longhorns will face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the opening round of the NCAA Men’s College World Series on Friday night. The Longhorns, the No. 9 national seed, will take on the Fighting Irish, who advanced through the Statesboro regional and Knoxville super regional to reach Omaha.
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Notre Dame is making its third appearance in Omaha and first since 2002. The Irish are 40-15 this season under head coach Link Jarrett. Led by All-American pitcher John Michael Bertrand and standout infielder Jack Brannigan, Notre Dame took down top-seeded Tennessee to make their third ever College World Series.
Texas head coach David Pierce and the player duo of Trey Faltine and Silas Ardoin spoke to the media on Thursday and offered their thoughts on the baseball version of the Golden Domers.
David Pierce
“They’re veterans. They know how to pitch. I think that’s the thing. There’s a lot of big arms right now, a lot of guys throwing 95, but they haven’t executed pitching. I think Coach Link and his staff have just done a great job of executing pitching. I think for us, it’s just be ourselves. Stay in the middle of the field in our mind, and just be in a good spot.”
Trey Faltine
“They’re obviously really good. They’re here for a reason. They just came off of a really good super regional. They’re a really good ball club. We respect them, and we’re excited for the match up.”
Silas Ardoin
“We’re really excited to play the Fighting Irish. Can’t recall if we’ve ever played them before, but we knew that we were lined up with them last year but they fell just short. We know they’re a great team, very experienced, but we have a lot of experience too and a lot of Omaha experience. We’re going to rely on that and we’re going to play our game.”
Texas and Notre Dame face off on Friday at 6 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, and will be televised by ESPN. Texas’ Pete Hansen will start on the mound opposite of Bertrand.
The victor will face the winner of Friday’s early game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Oklahoma Sooners.
