Link Jarrett reveals strategic wins vs. Texas following CWS Game 1 victory

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish continue to remain scorching hot as one of the hottest teams in college baseball. After they stunned the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers to punch their tickets to the 2022 College World Series, Notre Dame wasted no time in dispatching of the Texas Longhorns 7-3 in their opening game in Omaha, Nebraska. Following the big win, Fighting Irish head coach Link Jarrett had great things to say about the pitching on both sides.

“Clearly well-played game. Two great left-handed arms going at it. Both of them — the stats, I think there was a third of an inning total that separated the two. Very similar. Both guys in total control of what they’re doing in the game, in every phase of the game. You could see the fielding abilities on the bunts. The similarities in what was going on, just unique to see those two type of guys go at it,” Jarrett said. John Michael Bertrand had another excellent showing, fanning four batters, while allowing six hits and just three earned runs in 5.1 innings of work.

The Notre Dame head man also discussed his team’s hitting and said they clearly didn’t have any problems seeing the ball.

“So you know you have, both sides a difficult task. We felt there were some things we’d have to do supplementing just pure driving the ball. I mean, you hope that that happens, but the stolen base, the hit and run, where [Brooks] Coetzee [III] hit the ball in the left field. [David] LaManna and — I don’t know who was on first, but with 3-2 count we ran LaManna, which I haven’t done a lot, but you feel like you’re going to get some strikes. Our guys clearly were seeing the ball pretty well. The little squeeze helped,” Jarrett said.

He also talked about his team’s offense and the wide variety of batting power they have in their offensive arsenal.

“It was fun because I thought all the variety of our offense, which I’ve sat here and talked to you guys about, was on display today. There’s a couple of balls that left the stadium. Bunting, some base running, and just some good, the two-out hit by [Spencer] Myers, that was a big one, and I could go on and on about some of the game-within-the-game stuff,” the Fighting Irish head coach said.

Jarrett broke down his team’s pitching performance and their strategy against the ‘Horns.

“JM [John Michael Bertrand] pitched great. We had it — not saying we had it right where we wanted it, but we had it once he got deep enough in the game, we were hoping that maybe we could use a righty just to give Texas something different to look at. And [Alex] Rao was fine. He got the two strikeouts. I know we had the wild pitch on the ball up, but he did get the punch-out, and kind of held the sixth inning to one run for them. And the two line drives that [Jack] Brannigan — he caught them. They were clearly hit hard. And the four-pitch walk, I don’t know exactly what happened. It looked like he was on it. But had [Jack] Findlay where we needed him. And that lineup had rolled itself back to the one left-handed hitter.

So it luckily fell in place for the bullpen, but the guys still have to go out and pitch. And they did. Our infield, if you go around the diamond, Brannigan made some nice plays. [Zack] Prajzner solid, picked it up, drove it over there. [Jared] Miller, the one play. And you were almost hoping that would stay as an out just so that that counted, I guess, I don’t know, the play he made. And [Carter] Putz plays at first base,” he said.

The Notre Dame pitching staff played a critical role in the team’s opening game victory. They silenced the bat of Texas slugger Ivan Melendez–who earlier on Friday won the Dick Howser Trophy as the top player in college baseball. He leads the nation in both home runs (32) and RBIs (94). Melendez had a quiet showing on Friday, going 1-for-4 at the plate with one single.

In summing the game up, Jarrett talked about how proud he was of all his team performing at a high level against a high-level opponent like the Texas Longhorns.

“So there it was. It was fun for you and the fans and the country that watched to watch our team because I feel like when we’re playing well, that’s what we do. And I’m very proud of them to come into this atmosphere and perform for the first time that well-rounded of a game against clearly a phenomenal program/team, talented. I couldn’t be happier with the guys,” Jarrett said.

The Fighting Irish will face the Oklahoma Sooners on Sunday night at 7:00 PM EST. The trip to the College World Series is just the third ever in Notre Dame baseball history.