Notre Dame baseball fails to make 2023 NCAA Tournament
For the first time since 2019, Notre Dame baseball will not be in the NCAA Tournament. The Fighting Irish (30-24) did not hear their name called during Monday’s selection show.
It wasn’t expected. The Irish did themselves in by losing their final two ACC series, both two games to one, vs. NC State and Boston College. Then they went 0-for-2 vs. Pittsburgh and Wake Forest in the ACC Baseball Championship. Notre Dame needed to make a little noise at the 11th hour to give itself a boost in the eyes of the committee, and it didn’t happen.
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Notre Dame was on the bubble all season. They got out of the gates slowly with a series loss to Lipscomb. Then there was a three-game losing streak with a game dropped vs. UAB and two more vs. Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets won the second of those 15-2.
Situational pitching wasn’t a strength for the Irish this season. Neither was the ability to stay ahead in counts. The biggest thing that let them down, though, was hitting. Period. Notre Dame had the worst team batting average in the ACC at .250. In last year’s run to the College World Series for the third time in program history, the Irish hit .293.
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Notre Dame was also one game away from the College World Series in Link Jarrett‘s second season in South Bend in 2021. The Irish lost in the Starkville Super Regional two games to one. In 2020, Notre Dame was 11-2 before the season was shut down because of the pandemic.
Jarrett left for his alma mater, Florida State, shortly after last year’s season ended in Omaha. It was a struggle in Jarrett’s return to Tallahassee. The Seminoles had their worst season in program history, posting a 23-31 overall mark and a 9-21 figure in conference play.
That puts new Irish head coach Shawn Stiffler‘s first season in perspective. The Irish would have loved to qualify for the postseason, but things could have been much worse. Offseason priorities are straightforward: reinventing the players’ approach at the plate and getting a tad better on the hill situationally.
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