Notre Dame Beats North Carolina To Open ACC Play
Notre Dame (8-2 / 1-0) kicked off ACC play with an impressive 8-5 series opening road victory at North Carolina (10-5 / 0-1).
First baseman Niko Kavadas got the offense going as the Irish jumped on the Tar Heels early. Kavadas drilled an off speed pitch over the wall in right center in the top of the second to get the Irish on the board.
Freshman third baseman Jack Brannigan led off the top of the third with a single to center. Centerfielder Spencer Myers singled and designated hitter Carter Putz walked to load the bases with no one out.
Second baseman Jared Miller drew a bases loaded walk and Kavadas knocked in Myers with a sacrifice fly for the second run of the inning. Shortstop Zack Prajzner drove in Putz to put the Irish up 4-0.
Starter Tommy Sheehan struggled in the bottom of the fourth, allowing two runs to score after giving up three singles. Sheehan walked Dylan Harris to start off the fifth, and Aaron Sabato followed that up with a single, which ended the day for Sheehan.
Junior Tommy Vail replaced Sheehan and immediately struck out Angela Zarate, got Danny Serretti to pop out and struck out Joey Lancellotti to end the inning with no further damage done on the scoreboard.
Myers drove in a run in the top of the sixth to extend the lead to 5-2, but the Irish couldn’t add on. With Myers and Putz on base with just one out, Tar Heel reliever Chris Joyner struck out Miller and got Kavadas to end the inning with a pop out to the shortstop.
Vail got touched up in the seventh when Sabato hit a two-run bomb to make it a 5-4 game.
The Irish offense got a run back in the eighth when Miller drove in Brannigan with a two-out single. Vail answered with a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts in the bottom of the eighth.
North Carolina reliever Gage Gillian struck out the first two Notre Dame batters in the top of the ninth before the Irish offense got rolling and put the game away. Catcher David LaManna singled, and one batter later he crossed the plate on a hit-and-run double from Brannigan. Myers and Putz drew back-to-back walks to load the bases before Brannigan scored on a wild pitch.
Vail ran into trouble in the ninth, giving up a second home run to Sabato and following that up with a walk to Zarate, but he ended the game by inducing Serretti into a flyout to right for the win.
Vail improves to 2-0 on the season.
Myers continued his blazing start to the season, upping his average to .457 after going 2-4 to go with two walks. Brannigan and Prajzner both added a pair of hits.
Game two of the weekend series continues on Saturday at 2:00 PM. Notre Dame right-hander Alex Rao (0-0, 6.97 ERA) will take on North Carolina lefty Will Sandy (0-2, 4.70 ERA).
