Notre Dame’s first taste of an NCAA tournament Super Regional since 2002 will take place in one of college baseball’s most intimidating settings for a visiting team.
Mississippi State’s Dudy Noble Field holds around 15,000 fans, but it has jammed as many as 15,586 people into its confines – an NCAA record for an on-campus game. It was packed and pulsing for a regional series June 4-6. It’s the baseball equivalent of hosting 100,000 people for a college football game.
“I think it’s awesome,” Notre Dame outfielder Ryan Cole said. “It’s a dream playing in a field like this, in this environment.”
Perhaps “The Dude” and its boisterousness are not fully appreciated until getting a firsthand serving, but No. 10 seed Notre Dame (33-11) figures it will experience something different than it has even seen when it plays No. 7 Mississippi State (43-15) in a best-of-three Super Regional series beginning Saturday (2 p.m. ET, ESPN). The winner goes to the College World Series.
“Every spot in the outfield, they’ll be hanging over with grills and yelling and screaming,” Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett said. “They love their baseball.”
Added Mississippi State outfielder Tanner Allen: “Notre Dame, when they come here, they will have never played in front of an atmosphere like this.”
It’s a backdrop befitting of the moment. But a stadium operating at optimal mania won’t be the deciding factor in a meeting of two teams with different identities.
Notre Dame and Mississippi State enter the weekend ranked as top-10 teams in Baseball America’s most recent poll. They have national stars and MLB draft prospects.
For Mississippi State, that list starts with starting pitchers Will Bednar and Christian MacLeod, closer Landon Sims and Allen. The latter two are on the list of 25 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award, which goes to the best amateur baseball player. MLB.com ranks Bednar (36th) and MacLeod (74th) in its top 100 players for this year’s draft. They will start the first two games of the series.
Bednar will take a 3.17 earned run average into Saturday’s start. He has struck out 109 batters in just 71 innings. MacLeod has a similar strikeout-per-inning rate, with 106 in 75.2 innings. Opponents are hitting .155 against Sims, who has struck out nearly two batters per inning. All told, Bulldogs pitchers have struck out 715 hitters in 515 innings.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s pitching staff comes in with 353 strikeouts in 393 innings. The Irish have a pitch-to-contact modus operandi that relies on their defense’s .984 fielding percentage, which is tied for the best mark in the country.
It worked well in Notre Dame’s three games in the South Bend Regional, which the Irish won by a combined score of 50-5. On a weekend where the ball was carrying out of Frank Eck Stadium, Notre Dame starting pitchers John Michael Bertrand, Will Mercer and Aidan Tyrell allowed just four runs in 24 innings while striking out only 11. They produced 28 ground ball outs.
“It’s the variety of what they can throw,” Notre Dame relief pitcher Tanner Kohlhepp said. “They’re all each a little different. The opposing offenses seeing different looks can be hard to adjust to at times. They all bring something different, which plays well for all of them.”
Bertrand (2.98 ERA) will start for Notre Dame Saturday. He will try to induce his typical weak contact against a Mississippi State lineup that has a lot of left-handed hitters and advanced bat-on-ball skills. Bulldogs hitters have struck out in just 16 percent of their plate appearances. Allen led the SEC with a .395 average and has a 1.081 OPS.
Notre Dame’s offense enters on a power surge. After hitting 45 home runs in 41 games before the NCAA tournament, Notre Dame smacked 15 of them in the three regional games. The Irish have steadily produced runs this year and enter the Super Regional hitting .281. But not until last weekend was power the primary weapon.
“Throughout the whole lineup, you never really know what’s coming,” Cole said. “We have power through the lineup, we can play small ball, we can battle with two strikes.”
First baseman Niko Kavadas, himself a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, popped five home runs in the regional. His 21 homers this season set a single-season school record. Cole slugged three homers and is hitting a team-best .326 this season.
Notre Dame At Mississippi State Super Regional Schedule
Saturday: 2 p.m. ET, ESPN2
Sunday: 6 p.m. ET, ESPN2 or ESPNU
Monday: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2 or ESPNU (if necessary)
Team Records
Notre Dame: 33-11, 25-10 ACC (first in Atlantic Division)
Mississippi State: 43-15, 20-10 SEC (second in West Division)
Head Coaches
Notre Dame: Link Jarrett (42-13, second season)
Mississippi State: Chris Lemonis (107-34, third season)
What’s At Stake
The winner of the best-of-three series heads to Omaha, Neb. for one of eight spots in the College World Series, which begins June 19.
Notre Dame has been twice before, most recently in 2002. The program’s first and only other trip was in 1957. Mississippi State is seeking its third straight College World Series appearance and 12th in program history.
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