FIGHTING IRISH BASEBALL GAME NOTES FIGHTING IRISH BASEBALL GAME NOTES 1 2013 NOTRE DAME BASEBALL Notre Dame Media Relations u Michael Bertsch u [email protected] u 112 Joyce Center u Notre Dame, IN 46556 u 574-631-7516 u 574-631-7941 (fax) u UND.com Schedule/Results February 16-17 Snowbird Challenge Sarasota, Fla. FEBRUARY IN THE BATTERS BOX — Notre Dame opens the 2013 season in 16 vs. Florida Gulf Coast! 2:30pm THE MATCHUP vs. Ohio State! 6:00pm the Snowbird Challenge this weekend. The Irish play Florida Gulf 17 vs. Mercer! 11:00am Coast (Sat., 2:30 p.m.), Ohio State (Sat., 6:00 p.m.) and Mercer 22 at Tulane 6:30pm (Sun., 11:00 a.m.). Ed Smith Stadium, Spring Training home of the 23 at Tulane 2:00pm Baltimore Orioles, will play host to Saturday's doubleheader. 24 at Tulane 12:00pm Sunday's contest will take place a the nearby Buck O'Neill Complex. MARCH 1 vs. Massachusetts@ 3:00pm SEASON OPENERS — Notre Dame owns an all-time record of Notre Dame vs. Florida Gulf Coast (Ed Smith Stadium) vs. Tennessee@ 6:30pm Notre Dame vs. Ohio State (Ed Smith Stadium) 2 vs. Virginia Tech@ 6:00pm 85-33-2 (.717) in its season opener dating back to the 1892 season. 3 vs. Rhode Island@ 11:00am The Irish are 18-7 (.720) in season openers dating back to the 1988 Notre Dame vs. Mercer (Buck O'Neil Complex) 8 at UCLA# 6:00pm season, despite back-to-back losses in 2008 and 2009. Notre Dame 9 at USC# 2:00pm PROBABLE PITCHERS 10 vs. Oklahoma#^ 10:00am is 11-4 in its last 15 openers. 12 at UCSB 3:00pm u The most runs ever scored in a season opener by the Irish was Saturday (2:30 p.m.) 14 at Cal Poly 6:00pm 21 in a victory over Chicago on Apr. 10, 1943 (21-1). The 20-run RHP Sean Fitzgerald vs. RHP Zack Tillery 15 at Cal Poly 6:00pm Saturday (6:00 p.m.) 16 at Cal Poly 1:00pm margin of victory is also the largest by Notre Dame in a season 22 Seton Hall* 5:35pm opener. Notre Dame has twice surrendered 15 runs in a season RHP Adam Norton vs. LHP Brian King 23 Seton Hall* 2:05pm opener (May 7, 1896, 15-6 loss vs. Northwestern; Mar. 15, 1982, Sunday (11:00 a.m.) 24 Seton Hall* 12:05pm RHP David Hearne vs. LHP Forrest Garrett 25 Kent State 5:35pm 15-3 loss at Oklahoma). The largest margin of defeat in a season 26 Kent State 5:35pm opener came on Apr. 22, 1895 when the Irish were blanked by LIVE GAME COVERAGE 28 at Louisville* 6:00pm Michigan, 13-0. 29 at Louisville* 6:00pm Live Video: None 30 at Louisville* 1:00pm u Notre Dame has played 74 different opponents in season open- ers since 1892. Live Audio: WHME 103.1 FM (Chuck Freeby, pbp); UND.com APRIL Live Stats: UND.com 2 UIC 5:35pm u Wisconsin is most common foe in season openers with 10 all- 3 Valparaiso 5:35pm time meetings (Notre Dame went 7-2-1). Indiana and the Irish WEATHER REPORT 5 Villanova* 5:35pm have met eight times in season openers with the Irish owning a 5-3 6 Villanova* 2:05pm Saturday, Feb. 16 Sunday, Feb. 17 Sunday, Feb. 19 7 Villanova* 1:05pm advantage. 9 Michigan 5:35pm Partly Cloudy / Wind Sunny Partly CLoudy 10 Eastern Michigan 5:35pm SEASON-OPENING SITES — This year marks the 80th season High 68, Low 43 High 59, Low 39 High 67, Low 53 12 at Pittsburgh* 6:00pm 13 at Pittsburgh* 3:00pm and 23rd straight that Notre Dame opened its season away from WHAT'S INSIDE 14 at Pittsburgh* Noon home. The 1990 Irish team played a rare Feb. 5 home game against Weekend Storylines .................... 1 Non-Conference Stats ................. 9 16 at Michigan 4:05pm Goshen to open the year. 17 Bowling Green 5:35pm Probable Starting Lineup ............ 1 Neutral Stats ............................. 10 19 Quinnipiac 5:35pm u Florida (12) is the site of the second-most season-opening Season Openers .......................... 2 Games Won Stats ...................... 11 20 Quinnipiac 3:30pm games in the history of Notre Dame baseball. Tennessee ranks Season Opening Sites .................. 2 Games Lost Stats ....................... 12 21 Quinnipiac 1:05pm third with seven games and Texas and Georgia are tied for the 23 Toledo 5:35pm Warming Up in Florida ................ 2 Day Stats ................................... 13 24 Michigan State 5:35pm fourth-most common site for an Irish season-opener (six). Other Florida Natives ............................ 2 Night Stats ................................ 14 26 Connecticut* 5:35pm states that have been the site of multiple Irish openers include: Roster Information ...................... 3 Team GBG Stats ................... 15-16 27 Connecticut* 2:05pm Kentucky and Louisiana (five), California (four), Arizona, Arkansas, 28 Connecticut* 1:05pm Games Summary ......................... 4 Opponent GBG Stats ............ 17-18 30 at Central Michigan 4:05pm Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma and Mississippi (all with three), Alabama, Overall Stats ................................ 5 Season Highs........................19-21 Michigan, Missouri and North Carolina (two). Obviously, Indiana 2012 Opening Weekend Stats ..... 6 Opponent Season Highs .......22-24 MAY leads all states with 13. 3 USF* 5:35pm 2012 Games in Florida Stats ........ 7 Inherited Runners/Scored ......... 25 4 USF* 2:05pm u The most common sites for a Notre Dame road season opener BIG EAST Stats ............................. 8 Game Results ............................ 26 5 USF* 1:05pm have included: Indiana University (six), Purdue (four), Georgia Tech 11 at St. John’s* (DH) Noon 12 at St. John’s* 1:00pm (three) and USA Baseball Stadium in Millington, Tenn. (three) 14 at Western Michigan 3:00pm 16 at Cincinnati* 6:30pm NOTRE DAME'S PROJECTED LINEUP 17 at Cincinnati* 6:30pm Starters By Position 18 at Cincinnati* 1:00pm 22-26 Big East Tournament • Clearwater, Fla. Pos. # Name Ht. Wt. Cl. B/T Avg. 2B HR RBI Notes 31 NCAA Regionals Begin On Campus C 30 Forest Johnson 6-2 200 Jr. R/R - - - - Will make first career start this weekend 1B 3 Trey Mancini 6-5 220 Jr. R/R .317 10 12 45 No. 93 junior MLB prospect by Perfect Game JUNE 7 NCAA Super Regionals Begin TBA 2B 35 Frank DeSico 5-9 190 Sr. R/R .302 9 0 23 Co-captain has started 158 of last 160 games 15 College World Series Begins TBA SS 4 Lane Richards 5-11 175 Fr. R/R - - - - 2012 Perfect Game West Region All-American 3B 7 Eric Jagielo 6-3 215 Jr. L/R .310 15 13 43 2013 Golden Spikes Award watch list Home games in BOLD CAPS * BIG EAST games LF 7 Mac Hudgins 6-0 185 So. B/R .261 4 0 20 Saw action in 47 games and started 37 in 2012 ! Snowbird Tournament or 10 Conor Biggio 5-9 150 So. L/R .214 2 0 9 Son of longtime Houston Astros' 2B Craig Biggio @ Irish Classic at USA Baseball Training Complex # Dodgertown Classic CF 20 Charlie Markson 6-2 200 Sr. B/R .303 6 2 20 Co-captain owns a .288 career batting average ^ Dodger Stadium RF 26 James Nevant 6-1 200 Fr. R/R - - - - Uncle, John Ebert, played baseball at Notre Dame • Bright House Network Stadium (Clearwater, Fla.) All times local to the site DH 19 Ryan Bull 6-1 190 Jr. R/R .254 8 1 19 Drilled a walk-off HR to beat Pittsburgh in 2012 2 FIGHTING IRISH BASEBALL GAME NOTES HONORS & AWARDS RECENT SEASON OPENERS — The Irish have captured 11 of their last 15 season openers. Notre Dame suffered one-run defeats Pat Connaughton, So., RHP to New Orleans in the 2001 season opener (7-6 at Mississippi State) and to Michigan State in the 2011 season opener (2-1 at BIG u No. 2 sophomore prospect in the BIG EAST by Perfect EAST/Big Ten Challenge). The Irish also dropped season openers in 2008 and 2009 in Florida (6-2 vs. Liberty in Clearwater; 2-0 vs. Game Ohio State in Dunedin), but have opened season with victories in 1998 (10-1 vs. Florida State in Orlando), 1999 (8-4 vs. James u No. 8 overall prospect in the BIG EAST (second highest Madison at FIU), 2000 (6-0 vs. Air Force in Millington,Tenn.), 2002 (7-6 vs. Missouri at New Orleans), 2003 (10-9 vs. Dayton at rated player in the league among 2014 draft-eligible play- Arizona State), 2004 (7-1 vs. San Diego State at USC), 2005 (19-8 vs. Florida A&M at UCF), 2006 (3-0 vs. Indiana State in ers) by Baseball America Millington,Tenn.), 2007 (15-8 vs. Prairie View in San Antonio), 2010 (12-4 at Mississippi Valley State) and 2012 (13-12 vs. Illinois). u No. 38 sophomore prospect by Perfect Game u The 2001-03 openers each produced one-run games (the Missouri game in 2002 went 10 innings), but Notre Dame won the 2004-07 opening games by a combined 44-17 margin. The 19-8 rout of Florida A&M in 2005 was Notre Dame’s largest margin of Sean Fitzgerald, Jr., RHP victory and most runs in a season opener since the 1963 squad won 20-3 at Indiana. The Irish were nearly as dominant in the 2010 u No. 14 MLB prospect in the BIG EAST by Baseball America opener, routing Mississippi Valley State, 12-4, in Itta Bena. Eric Jagielo, Jr., 3B WARMING UP IN FLORIDA — The Notre Dame baseball team has made regular visits to Florida, including trips to Boca Raton, u No.