COLLEGE WORLD SERIES: Notre Dame Loses to Oklahoma, 6-2

The Irish suffered their first loss and now move into the elimination bracket

After winning their opening game against the Texas Longhorns on Friday night, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team took the field again on Sunday, this time in the winners bracket against the Oklahoma Sooners. Unfortunately for Notre Dame the results weren’t the dame, and the Irish dropped their second game of the College World Series. They now face elimination with just one more loss.

Notre Dame 2 – Oklahoma 6

Win: Cade Horton, OU (5-2)

Loss: Aidan Tyrell, ND (5-2)

Notre Dame was in trouble early with Austin Temple on the mound and unable to find the strike zone. Temple lasted 1.1 innings while walking 3 batters. He was relieved by Aidan Tyrell in the second inning who managed to get out of a jam to keep the game scoreless. In the third inning Oklahoma finally broke through, stringing together a few hits to bring two runs home.

The fourth inning went by scoreless but in the fifth the normally strong defensive play of the Fighting Irish betrayed them when an error by Carter Putz extended the inning for the Sooners. Oklahoma scored three in the inning and chased Tyrell from the game. His final stat line read five runs allowed with only two earned.

The Irish finally broke through in the sixth inning, scoring two runs off of a home run from David LaManna, but Oklahoma answered right back in the bottom half of the inning with a run of their own to make it 6-2. Nobody else could find any more offense for the rest of the game and that’s how it ended, despite a few chances from both teams late in the game.

Ultimately the Notre Dame offense just never got going today. The Irish managed only seven hits from four different players. Brooks Coetzee went 4-for-4, more than half of the total hits for the team. Cade Horton, the Oklahoma started struck out 11 batters and the Sooner staff totaled 14 strikeouts for the game. That obviously won’t get it done.

The good news is the pitching staff held up, allowing only three earned runs despite the potential for a lot more than that throughout the night. They also managed to save some of their best arms, with neither Liam Simon or Jack Findlay pitching tonight, meaning both should be available Tuesday. With some better fielding in the fifth inning and more timely hitting this could have been a different game, but that highlights the thin margin for error at this point in the season. Notre Dame will have to forget this game and move on to the next with their backs now against the wall and facing elimination.

Up Next

Notre Dame now falls into the elimination bracket. After the Texas A&M Aggies beat the Texas Longhorns earlier in the day, the Irish and Aggies will play each other on Tuesday June 21 at 2pm ET on ESPN. The winner will play the Oklahoma Sooners in the final for this side of the bracket, while the season will be over for the loser of that game.