Notre Dame baseball loses program's first-ever game at Wrigley Field
Notre Dame can now say it has played a game at historic Wrigley Field. The Fighting Irish can’t say they’ve won there, though.
The Irish faced Northwestern at the home of the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday evening. The game went to extras, and the Wildcats, just south of their home in Evanston, Ill., got the best of Notre Dame, 8-7, in 11 innings.
A walk, hit by pitch, wild pitch and fielding error all contributed to the Irish’s 11th-inning demise. Graduate student left-handed pitcher Will Mercer was on the bump for the final sequence that led to the loss, but Notre Dame put itself in a precarious situation long before then.
The Irish took a 5-0 lead with a pair of runs in the second and third innings and one more in the ninth. Northwestern matched that total with a five-spot in the bottom of the fourth. Junior righty Sammy Cooper was tagged for all five of the runs. They were all earned on two doubles, two walks and a single. Junior righty Matt Bedford couldn’t clean up the mess; a double against the first batter he faced in relief accounted for the final two runs of the inning.
Notre Dame took another two-run lead on RBI hits from graduate student infielders Zack Prajzner and Carter Putz. But again, Notre Dame gave up the advantage in one inning. Northwestern plated two runs in the eighth on a two-run homer off junior lefty Ryan Lynch.
Irish batters Casey Kmet, Estevan Moreno and TJ Williams all struck out in the ninth. The Irish mustered nothing but a two-out single in the 10th, even with the heart of the lineup — the No. 2 through No. 5 hitters — appearing at the plate in the inning. Notre Dame did nothing with a leadoff single from junior outfielder Brady Gumpf in the 11th. Then Northwestern went to work.
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Notre Dame (29-20) beat Northwestern 12-0 earlier in the year in South Bend. The Wildcats (9-38) aren’t playing for anything but pride at this point. They’ll have plenty of it knowing they dinged Notre Dame’s chances of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.
It wasn’t a nail in the coffin for the Irish. They still have a major opportunity on the road at Boston College (32-16) in this weekend’s regular season finale. A three-game series starts Thursday at 5:30 p.m. ET. Friday’s 7 p.m. ET game takes place at Fenway Park, so the Irish have a chance to salvage a win at a famed park this week.
Most importantly, the Irish need a series win to ensure a winning record in ACC games this season. They currently sit at 14-13 in the league. Boston College has the same conference record.
Needless to say, it’s a big three-game set for both teams — and especially Notre Dame after what happened at the not-so-friendly confines Tuesday night.
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