Oklahoma beats Notre Dame in College World Series to put Irish on brink of elimination

OMAHA, Neb. — Notre Dame has been hot. Sunday, Oklahoma was hotter.

The Fighting Irish faced the scorching Sooners in a College World Series winner’s bracket game at Charles Schwab Field on Father’s Day. It was all Oklahoma. Notre Dame lost, 6-2, and the Irish are now on the brink of elimination. They’ll play Texas A&M on Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET.

Loser leaves town.

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Like they’ve been for most of the teams they’ve played in the last month and change, Oklahoma was just better than Notre Dame Sunday night. Oklahoma won the Big 12 Tournament championship last month and was a winner of 10 of its last 12 games entering Sunday. Notre Dame came in off back-to-back wins over No. 1 Tennessee and No. 9 Texas, but the Sooners presented an entirely different challenge than either of those two powerful programs.

Speed. Stingy at-bats. A shortstop who went 4-for-4 with with two stolen bases. A lineup as toasty as the Omaha summer sun. A propensity to turn double plays as soon as Notre Dame even remotely threatened. The Sooners did it all.

“They outplayed us in essentially every phase of the game,” Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett said.

Oklahoma jumped ahead 2-0 in the third inning on a series of singles off Notre Dame relief pitcher Aidan Tyrell. Irish starter Austin Temple was pulled after 1 1/3 innings. He struggled with command, walking three. Notre Dame had a tall task as soon as it turned into a bullpen game.

“We need to have Tyrell involved in this thing,” Jarrett said. “And our relievers, if I’m not mistaken, all got the guy they came in to face, but nobody could really settle and consistently string sequences together to limit them. We didn’t finish them off.”

Oklahoma didn’t run into the same issue.

Oklahoma starter Cade Horton struck out 11 batters in six innings. The Irish hit him five times for just two runs. He commanded the zone and made it tough on Notre Dame batters to work hitter-friendly counts.

“He had a good fastball, and he didn’t seem to be throwing it a lot,” catcher David LaManna said of Horton. “He was living with his off-speed stuff. Slider was tough to pick up. He did a good job.”

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Tyrell, meanwhile gave up eight hits in three innings of work. He allowed five runs, two earned. A throwing error by first baseman Carter Putz after fielding a bunt prolonged an Oklahoma rally in the fifth. The Sooners scored two runs on the play. They tacked on another later in the frame on an RBI single.

“We just have to record an out on that,” Jarrett said. “It was set up almost to have a chance at the plate and he didn’t think he did. That’s poor execution that led to more when you’re really expecting that play.”

Those came in the top of the sixth on a two-run shot to left field from LaManna. Irish fans, out in full force yet again as part of a crowd of 24,934, finally had something to cheer about. It didn’t last long.

Notre Dame just couldn’t piece hits together and sustain rallies, even after Oklahoma went to a couple bullpen arms. Second baseman Jared Miller struck out four times. Cleanup hitter Jack Zyska, who was a terror for opposing pitchers earlier in the postseason, struck out three times. Putz had four of the Irish’s seven hits.

“Trying to pick up the different pitches was challenging for us today,” Putz said.

Efficient pitching and timely (and often times just plain good) hitting carried Notre Dame to Omaha. The Irish didn’t have either Sunday. Now, their season is on the line Tuesday against the Aggies.