Notre Dame baseball learns NCAA Tournament destination, opponents
It isn’t exactly what Notre Dame baseball (or anyone else, for that matter) thought the NCAA Tournament might look like, but rest assured head coach Link Jarrett will have the Irish ready.
On Monday, Notre Dame baseball learned it will travel to Statesboro, Ga. for the tournament Regional in a group with Georgia Southern (the No. 16 overall seed), Texas Tech and UNC Greensboro. Notably, Jarrett was the head coach at UNCG from 2013-19.
The Irish will start tournament play against the Red Raiders on Friday. The time has yet to be announced, but the game will be available on ESPN+. They finished second in a very strong Big 12 this year with a 37-20 record and a 15-9 mark in conference play.
It is Notre Dame’s 24th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and the first time the Irish have made back-to-back NCAA Tournaments since the team made eight straight from 1999-2006. The Irish have a 45-46 (.494) record all-time in the tournament.
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Regional play will begin Friday, June 3 and continue through Sunday, June 5. The Regional round is a double-elimination bracket, and if Notre Dame advances, they will play in a Super Regional June 10-12. That is a best-of-three series, and whoever comes out on top heads to Omaha for the College World Series.
The winner of the Statesboro Regional will face the winner of the Knoxville Regional, which is hosted by No. 1 overall seed Tennessee.
A look back at Notre Dame’s season
Notre Dame has a 35-14 record this year, including going 2-1 in the ACC Tournament with a loss to eventual champion North Carolina. The Irish are 10-8 in true away games and 8-3 at neutral sites.
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Notre Dame finished with the No. 13 RPI in the country and went 14-7 against RPI top-50 teams. They went 16-11 in ACC regular season play. Including Notre Dame, five ACC teams finished in the top 15 in the RPI: North Carolina (4), Virginia Tech (5), Wake Forest (6), Miami (15).
Entering last weekend, Notre Dame had the fourth-best winning percentage in the nation since 2020, trailing only Tennessee, Arkansas and UC Santa Barbara. Jarrett took over the program that year, and the Irish have gone 80-29 under him.
Notre Dame was considered a likely host in the NCAA Tournament but ended up on the outside looking in.
“Unfortunately for them, geography is sometimes their enemy,” said Mike Buddie, NCAA Baseball Committee chair and Army athletic director. “They lost three (ACC) games — two against Virginia Tech and one against NC State. Three, or even two, games could’ve swung the (decision).”
The Irish had two of three games against Virginia Tech canceled this year due to snow in South Bend. The game against NC State that was canceled was in Raleigh, N.C.
