Irish Sports Daily

Nearly seven years have passed since Notre Dame last qualified for the NCAA Baseball Tournament. The Fighting Irish built a strong early season resume to make a return to the tournament in 2013, but with NCAA selection Monday a week away they have work to do to ensure a bid as they prepare to begin the Big East Tournament on Wednesday.

The Irish (31-23, 10-14 Big East) open play in Clearwater, Fla as the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament and will face No. 2 Seton Hall (36-17, 18-6) in the 1 p.m. ET game Wednesday afternoon. No. 3 seed Pittsburgh (40-15, 18-6) and No. 6 St. John's (23-33, 10-14) are the other two teams on Notre Dame's side of the bracket in the double-elimination tournament.

No. 1 Louisville (46-10, 20-4), No. 4 USF (35-20, 17-7), No. 5 Rutgers (26-28, 14-10), and No. 8 UConn (30-26, 9-15) are on the other side of the bracket. The winner from each pool of four teams advances to play a winner take all championship game at Noon Sunday (ESPNU).

Notre Dame's pool of four teams is a very winnable bracket, but the Irish went just 3-6 against the other three teams in the pool during the regular season. ND took two of three from the Pirates in their Big East-opening series back in mid-March. They lost all three games at Pittsburgh and dropped two of three to the Red Storm in New York last weekend.

Pat Connaughton fired 6.0 shutout innings to lead Notre Dame to a 9-1 win over Cincinnati Friday night at Marge Schott Stadium. The win evens the three-game series at a game apiece and also locks-up the No. 6 seed for the Fighting Irish at next week's Big East Tournament.

Connaughton (3-2) scattered nine hits while striking out four and issuing just two walks while throwing 91 pitches. Connaughton has now pitched 17.0 consecutive scoreless innings in his last three starts. David Hearne and Nick McCarty combined for the final 3.0 innings. The Bearcats scored their lone run in the eighth.

Neither team scored until the Irish cracked the score column in the top of the sixth. Frank DeSico started the inning with a double and then scored a batter later when Zak Kutsulis singled him home. Eric Jagielo and Ryan Bull each collected RBIs in the inning as well.

Trey Mancini continued his hot ways by going 3-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 21 games. Mancini's big hit came in the seventh when he ripped an RBI triple to right centerfield on the Schott Stadium artificial surface. Mancini has collected multiple hits in 15 of his last 17 games. He leads the Big East with a .403 batting average. The first baseman also leads the Irish with seven triples and 52 RBIs.

The Notre Dame baseball team dropped its series-opener 9-5 on Thursday night in Cincinnati. The game is the first of the final Big East Conference set the Fighting Irish will ever play.

Irish starter Adam Norton (9-4) was roughed-up for seven runs (five earned) on 11 hits in six-plus innings on the mound. The Bearcats plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth and then chased Norton with two more runs in the sixth. The 6.0 inning stint marked just the third time in 14 outings this season that Norton has failed to pitch at least 7.0 innings.

Notre Dame first baseman Trey Mancini singled up the middle to open the second inning to extend his career-long hitting streak to 20 games. The Fighting Irish (30-22, 9-13 Big East) collected 11 hits on the night, but stranded seven runners in the loss.

Cincinnati (23-31, 5-17) played an inspired game after learning just hours before first pitch that head coach Brian Cleary will be relieved of his duties at the end of the season. Cleary, a former Notre Dame assistant coach, is 434-528-1 in 17 years as a head coach.

Games two and three of the series will be at 7 p.m. ET Friday night and 4 p.m. Saturday will be televised on CBS Sports network.

The Notre Dame baseball team jumped out to an 11-run lead and then held off a furious Western Michigan rally to beat the Broncos 13-10 Tuesday night in Kalamazoo. The Fighting Irish (30-21) saw Western score eight runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and had the potential tying run in the on deck circle before the game ended with a strikeout.

Freshman reliever Nick McCarty was charged with all eight Bronco runs on six hits in just a third of an inning before Donnie Hissa came in to record the final two outs to seal the victory. Connor Hale (1-0) earned his first collegiate win after allowing two runs on five hits in 3.0 innings of the planned rotation. Cousins Michael Hearne and David Hearne combined to toss 5.0 scoreless innings of middle relief. Michael threw 3.0 perfect innings with four strikeouts.

The Irish broke a close game open in the top of the fourth with seven runs to take an 8-2 lead. Frank DeSico and Zak Kutsulis each had two RBIs in the inning.

Trey Mancini continued swinging his hot bat in the win. The first baseman was 3-for-5 to extend his career-long hitting streak to 19 games. Mancini homered, doubled, drove-in three runs, and scored three more. He has now logged multiple hits in 13 of his last 14 games to raise his Big East-best batting average to .399.