Dates, times set for Notre Dame baseball Knoxville Super Regional at No. 1 Tennessee
Notre Dame already knew who it has to face in a Super Regional this weekend with a spot in the College World Series on the line. The toughest draw in the field, No. 1 overall national seed Tennessee. Now, the Irish know when they’ll take on the vaunted Volunteers with sights set on a monumental upset.
Notre Dame (38-14) and Tennessee (56-7) begin a best of three series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville at 6 p.m. ET Friday. Game 2 of the series is slated for 2 p.m. ET Saturday. If necessary, Game 3 will take place Sunday at a time TBD. All three games will be held at the same venue.
Notre Dame punched its second-straight ticket to a Super Regional for the first time in program history by sweeping the Statesboro Regional. The Irish defeated Texas Tech twice, 3-2 and 2-1, and No. 16 national seed Georgia Southern once, 6-4.
Tennessee swept its own Regional, meanwhile. The Vols took care of Alabama State 10-0, Campbell 12-7 and Georgia Tech 9-6. Tennessee has been the best team in college baseball for most of the season. Head coach Tony Vitello‘s team is 37-3 at home and has only twice lost consecutive games. The Vols have not lost a home series all year.
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Tennessee is looking to make it back to Omaha for the second year in a row while Notre Dame is searching for just a third all-time trip in program history. The Irish have not played in the College World Series since 2002. The last three years under head coach Link Jarrett, though, have been CWS-caliber seasons. Notre Dame has an 80-29 (.734) record since 2020. Only two programs have been better; Tennessee (118-27; .809) and UC Santa Barbara (97-33, .740).
Jarrett has gotten his guys ready on the road in his short time in South Bend, too. Notre Dame is 32-13 away from home and has won 11 of 13 regular season road series since 2020. The postseason presents an entirely different challenge, as evidenced by Notre Dame’s loss to eventual national champion Mississippi State in last year’s Starkville Super Regional. But the Irish came close to winning that, and the goal remains the same a year later against an even more highly-touted SEC opponent.
Notre Dame has made it this far on the strength of a strong pitching staff. Tennessee can say the same — and then some. The Volunteers have the nation’s No. 1 team ERA (2.38) while also boasting the country’s No. 11 team batting average (.311). Notre Dame ranks No. 7 (3.82) and No. 51 (.295) in those respective statistics.
