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Notre Dame baseball stokes tourney talk after its 12th win in past 14 games

Notre Dame’s regular-season-ending, three-game series next weekend at Miami will likely carry more weight on the team’s NCAA Tournament résumé when selection day rolls around on May 26 (noon EDT on ESPN2).

But what the Irish are doing in the run-up to the final ACC series of the season and the league’s single-elimination tournament May 20-25 in Durham, N.C., continues to push Notre Dame toward the positive side of the tourney bubble.

That, after sitting in 16th place in the 16-team ACC and possessing a losing record overall just four weeks ago.

On Saturday, a day after a double-digit lead over Bowling Green ended the game early via the run (mercy) rule, the Irish did it again — this time 11-1 in eight innings at Eck Stadium.

Game three of the three-game, non-conference series coming out of exam week shifts Sunday to the Falcons’ venue, Steller Field, in Bowling Green, Ohio. Start time is 3 p.m. EDT.

Grad senior second baseman Connor Hincks drove in five runs and raised his batting average to .329 with a single and a home run as Notre Dame (28-19) won for the 12th time in 14 games. Freshman first baseman Parker Brzustewicz went 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and four RBis.

It was a run-scoring single by Brzustewicz with one out in the eighth that ended the game with a 10-run Irish scoring margin. Grad senior right fielder Brady Gumpf hit a solo home run, his seventh homer of the year, earlier in the inning.

Senior center fielder DM Jefferson went 3-for-4 with three runs scored against the Falcons (31-18). ND’s leading hitter, sophomore catcher Carson Tinney, went 2-for-5 with a run scored. Gumpf finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Junior right-hander Rory Fox (4-3) won for the fourth time in his last four starts and lowered his ERA t0 3.09, hurling five innings of three-hit ball and allowing an earned run. Ricky Reeth and Sammy Cooper combined for three innings of hitless relief.

Following Sunday’s game at Bowling Green, the Irish have a home makeup game with Eastern Michigan on Tuesday (4:30 p.m.), then open a three-game series at Miami on Thursday night.

The Irish were 47th nationally in the RPI rankings heading into Saturday’s game.

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