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Irish Breakdown

Notre Dame Baseball Swept by North Carolina: What Went Wrong?

The Notre Dame baseball team suffered a setback this weekend after getting swept by No. 13 North Carolina.
Jared Shlensky|
Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; General view of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish logo before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Jan 9, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; General view of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish logo before the game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Last weekend, I said I was surprised Notre Dame cracked the top 25, and it looks like I was right. The Fighting Irish had a chance to establish themselves as a ranked team and dropped the ball after getting swept by No. 13 North Carolina this weekend.

Give ND credit, they played UNC tough for the most part, but they simply got beaten by a better team, and it showed this weekend.

Following Sunday's loss, the Fighting Irish are 15-9 overall and 6-6 in conference play.

The Results

Game 1: North Carolina 6, Notre Dame 5
Game 2: North Carolina 13, Notre Dame 7
Game 3: North Carolina 15, Notre Dame 10

Notre Dame's Bullpen is Still far too Inconsistent

Notre Dame has a nice 1-2 punch atop its rotation in Jack Radel and Ty Uber, but the bullpen still has a long way to go. The Fighting Irish bullpen allowed at least three runs in every game this weekend and unless Radel and Uber go seven innings, Notre Dame's chances of winning shrink drastically.

Outside of the back end of the bullpen, ND just hasn't gotten the kind of consistency it was hoping for. And that's a problem, especially with how talented the ACC is.

Jack Radel Continues to Shine in ACC Play

Radel was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week last week after tossing a complete game shutout against Clemson, and he was pretty darn dominant in Friday's series opener against North Carolina.

Radel struck out 10 batters over six innings and recorded another quality start.

He wasn't as good as he was last week, but three runs against an offense like the Tar Heels is impressive. And what continues to stand out about Radel is how he consistently pounds the strike zone. Radel threw 75% of his pitcher for strikes against the Tigers, and 65% of his pitches went for strikes against UNC.

Make no mistake about it, Radel is legit and will probably be taken in the top 100 picks.

Mark Quatrani Continues to Mash

Heading into the weekend, Mark Quatrani had been ND's most consistent hitter, and that still hasn't changed. Quatrani hit two home runs against the Tar Heels, which brings him up to nine on the year.

What is there to say other than what a pick-up by Notre Dame? The Cornell transfer is one of the best offensive catchers in college baseball and, similar to Radel, could hear his name called fairly early in this year's MLB Draft.

Next Up

Notre Dame's next game is on Thursday against No. 14 North Carolina State. First pitch is at 6 p.m. and available via the ACC Network.

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Jared Shlensky
JARED SHLENSKY

Jared Shlensky is a contributing writer for On SI and a freelance play-by-play broadcaster. Jared was previously a sports betting writer for Yardbarker, an On-Air YouTube Personality for the Sports Geek and a minor league play-by-play broadcaster

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