The second post season is upon the Fightin’ Irish. The Irish learned their fate on Monday May 31st as they came in the number 10 national seed in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Fightin’ Irish will play in the Starkville Super Regional portion of the bracket. Notre Dame has one of the deepest opponents in the tournament. The road will not be easy for the Fightin’ Irish.
So Who Is In The Region?
Notre Dame #1 Seed (10th National Seed)-ACC
Overall 30-11, 25-10 in ACC Conference, 14-6 Home and 15-4 Away. Though losing in the second round of the ACC Tournament to Virginia, the Irish got a “wake up call” per Jared Miller. You hate to lose in the ACC Tournament, but learn from it and play excellent baseball from here on out. This team has what it takes to go deep into the tournament.
UConn #2 Seed-Big East
Overall 33-17, 13-4 in Big East Conference, 16-1 Home and 13-14 Away. Winning the Big East Tournament against Xavier, UConn looks to beat up on the #3 seed Michigan.
Michigan #3 Seed-B1G
Overall/B1G 27-17, 8-8 Home and 9-5 Away. From the discussions, that were had tonight. ND fans want Michigan. Like we have said in the past, fans don’t care what sport ND plays against Michigan. They just want to beat Michigan.
Central Michigan #4-MAC
Overall 40-16, 31-9 in MAC Conference, 17-4 Home and 23-17 Away. This will be a rematch of the earlier season match-up between these two teams. ND won the first one 8-4, but CMU is a great baseball team. They will want to avenge the regular season loss at Notre Dame. They are on an eight game winning streak including winning the MAC Championship. This will not be an easy game for the Fightin’ Irish.
Interviews
Tanner Kohlhepp
Posed two questions to Tanner. The first be how Coach Jarrett impacted him personally, and the overall feel of the team after Mondays announcement? Link to Tanner interview here
Jared Miller
Posed a couple questions to Jared, the first being how Coach Jarrett impacted him personally and about adversity and how the team can use it to their advantage? Jared’s answer will surprise you. Link to Jared Miller interview here
Head Coach Jarrett Link
A couple of the questions we asked Coach Jarrett. First question was about when he saw the team was buying into his philosophy of playing the game and the second was about turning the team around from a losing record to a 360 direction to a winning mindset? Link to Head Coach Link Jarrett interview here
Format
The format for the NCAA Regional Tournament is Double Elimination. Simply put, lose twice and go home. The below game schedule makes it very simple to understand.
Games
Friday, June 4
1pm ET – Central Michigan vs. Notre Dame (Game 1)
7pm ET – Michigan vs. Connecticut (Game 2)
Saturday, June 5
Noon ET – Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 (Game 3)
6pm ET – Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 (Game 4)
Sunday, June 6
Noon ET – Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 (Game 5)
6pm ET – Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 4 (Game 6)
Monday, June 7
1pm ET – Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 4 (If necessary)
Ticket Information
Frank Eck Stadium will be at full capacity (1,825) for the NCAA Regionals. Tickets for this weekends game go on sale Tuesday June 1st. Single session tickets $8/session all seating will be general admission. A link to the tickets can be found here.
Television
The host of ESPN networks will televise all regional and super regional games. Regional games will on ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 or Longhorn Network. All super regional games will air either on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU.
Cheers and Go Irish! ☘⚾🌩