Notre Dame baseball beats Texas Tech, reaches Super Regional for second straight season

John Michael Bertrand sat next to Notre Dame baseball coach Link Jarrett’s left during a Sunday night press conference. Jack Findlay sat to his right.

The former: age 24, a graduate student, mustache planted firmly over his upper lip. The latter: age 18, a true freshman, not a speck of facial hair in sight. Both are Fighting Irish pitchers. And both delivered performances that helped send Notre Dame to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season, a feat never before accomplished in program history.

Bertrand got it started — and then some — and Findlay finished it in a 2-1 Statesboro Regional-clinching victory over Texas Tech. Notre Dame (38-14) swept the Regional as the No. 2 seed. The Irish beat No. 3 seed Texas Tech twice, 3-2 and 2-1, and No. 1 seed Georgia Southern once, 6-4.

“The story was the resilience of the pitching staff,” Jarrett said, “and the defense behind them collecting outs. We talked about how badly you want those last nine, six, three outs, and to experience that, really for the whole tournament, is something I’ll remember. The trademark of how I felt in these games is walking out of there knowing how hard they fought to wrap these things up.”

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Graduate student outfielder Ryan Cole strung together RBI singles in the third and fourth innings to put Notre Dame ahead 2-0. That never feels like enough, especially in the postseason. But when you’ve got a First Team All-ACC pitcher backing you up, things are a little different.

A six-hour rain delay ended Bertrand’s first start of the Regional after just one inning Friday, but he rehabbed and rebounded in time to start Sunday. He turned in a gem; 7 2/3 innings, seven strikeouts, one walk and one earned run. He gave up nine hits, but over and over he found ways to strand Red Raiders on the bases.

“You guys saw today why he is what he is,” Jarrett said. “He fields his position well. Settles into his starts. He has evaded some trouble early in his outings time and again.”

Bertrand couldn’t do it all on his own in the eighth inning, though. He needed some help.

He started the frame with a swinging strikeout. Then he allowed a double. The runner moved over on a wild pitch and scored on a single. Another single forced Jarrett to go get his ace. Senior righty Alex Rao, one of Friday’s bullpen saviors, issued a four-pitch walk. Jarrett immediately yanked him. For who? The freshman. Findlay. He generated a three-pitch swinging strikeout. The inning ended how it started, only with someone much younger — someone apparently unable to sport a postseason stache — on the mound.

“We talked about coming in and executing pitches right away,” Findlay said. “So I was focused on that. When you execute pitches, good things are going to happen.”

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Findlay went back out for the ninth clinging to a one-run lead. Like Bertrand in the eighth, he started the inning with an out. But then he gave up a single. And doled out a walk. The tying run advanced to third on a fly out. The winning run went to second on a steal. Findlay beaned the Texas Tech two-hole hitter to bring up Jace Jung, the team’s batting champ and a potential top-15 pick in this year’s MLB Draft.

Findlay induced a grounder to first on the second pitch of the at-bat. Ballgame.

Findlay earned saves, the first two of his career, in Saturday and Sunday’s games. He was primarily used as a midweek starter and spot-duty reliever in his 14 appearances before the Regional. Over the weekend, he evolved into a trusted late-inning magician. Sometimes, that’s what a team needs in the postseason; a little magic.

It’s going to take some more to advance to the College World Series for the third time in program history and first since 2002. Notre Dame is headed to Knoxville to take on No. 1 overall seed Tennessee (56-7) in a best of three Super Regional series this weekend. The Volunteers have not lost a series at home all season.

There’s a first time for everything though, eh? Just ask Findlay. And this entire Notre Dame team that has gone to back-to-back Super Regionals.

“I am thrilled for our guys,” Jarrett said. “I feel like our team is prepared. And we’ll be prepared for that.”