Despite a slow start in a conference play and a disappointing 22-14 record overall – 8-7 Big East – the Irish have a lot to play for in this second half of the season. Over the weekend, the Irish took the home series 2-1 against first-place and nationally ranked West Virginia. It would have been easy for Notre Dame to fold and get swept by the Mountaineers after a 19-3 drubbing Friday at Eck Stadium, but the team stuck together, got some timely hitting in Saturday’s first game and some stellar pitching from junior Eric Maust in the second game of the doubleheader. Sunday’s game three of the series was moved to Saturday afternoon because of impending inclement weather.

With the series win against the Mountaineers, the Irish should have some renewed confidence as they hit the home stretch of the conference season. Notre Dame currently sits in fifth place in the Big East standings but still plays three of the four teams ahead of it (the other is West Virginia), South Florida (24-14, 12-3), Louisville (27-10, 11-4), and St. John’s (20-14, 9-6). There’s really a lot of baseball left to be played, and the Irish, in a way, control their own Big East tournament seeding destiny. Hopefully the West Virginia series can serve as a turning point in this up-and-down season, though the series itself shows Notre Dame’s shoddy inconsistency. The Irish went from doing nothing right in a 19-3 loss to the conference leaders to outplaying the Mountaineers in back-to-back games Saturday.

West Virginia came into the series batting an impressive .363 and 47 home runs as a team. Both of those statistics are still good enough, far and away, for best in the conference. The team batting average is third best in the nation. The Mountaineers lead the conference in batting average by .13 points. In Friday’s opener, Notre Dame sophomore Cole Johnson (4-1), who at times this season has looked unhittable, got roughed up by the powerful West Virginia offense. The righty gave up 11 runs on ten hits in five innings, suffering his first loss of the season. Once Johnson left, the pitching and defense didn’t get much better. The Irish defense had two costly errors, and freshman Dustin Ispas surrendered six runs, two earned. Sam Elam followed, giving up two earned runs. On a day when nothing seemed to go right, the Irish needed a quick turnaround. Saturday would be much different.

Due to impending inclement Sunday weather, t he two Big East rivals played a Saturday doubleheader on Blue-Gold football afternoon. There was a great crowd at the first game, as fans from the football scrimmage made the walk over to the Eck and used their football ticket stubs to get in free. I was at the first game and stayed for as much of the second game as I could before heading back to Chicago to catch a flight. It was great to finally see the Irish in person this season, in beautiful weather.

Sophomore Brian Dupra (4-4) pitched a very solid outing, his third consecutive complete game. Dupra held the Mountaineer offense in check for most of the afternoon before giving up three runs in the sixth inning, one in the seventh, and two in the top of the ninth. Dupra scattered 11 hits, for six runs. It was his early-inning pitching, though, that set the tone for the game and gave the Irish offense a chance to put some runs on the scoreboard against hot-hitting WVU. Sophomore left fielder Golden Tate – who started the game despite suiting up for and playing in the Blue-Gold game at Notre Dame Stadium earlier in the afternoon – paced the offense with a 3-5 game. Junior Casey Martin also pounded three hits, as the Irish totaled 16 in the afternoon. Mick Doyle nailed his first homer in the bottom of the fourth.

Dupra continued to mow down the Mountaineer offense, and the Irish added a three-run fifth to push their lead to 6-0. However, West Virginia got some runs and started to time and tag Dupra, even hitting some deep balls for most of their outs in the later innings. The Mountaineers closed to within 6-4, but the Irish pushed the lead back to four runs 8-4, giving Dupra a little more cushion heading into the eighth and ninth innings. Though West Virginia managed two more runs, Dupra was able to close out the complete game.

In the second game of the afternoon, Maust (5-2) pitched brilliantly, a complete game 3-0 shutout, his first career complete game shutout and second career complete game, earning him Big East Pitcher of the Week honors. It was great to see the Irish get two straight strong pitching performances – two straight complete games – especially after such a rough Friday game for the Irish pitching staff. The staff responded well and quieted the high-powered Mountaineer offense.

Maust allowed only five hits and lowered his season ERA to a respectable 3.93. Not many fans remained from the large first-game crowd, but those who stayed were treated to a great game all around for the improving Irish. David Casey and Doyle each notched two hits. Casey pushed his season batting average to a team high .407. The Irish now have nine players batting .300 or higher. Irish pitching is now in the top five in the Big East in ERA at 4.93.

Notre Dame got two big runs in the bottom of the first after a Golden Tate double to left-center field, a Jeremy Barnes walk, and a Casey line-drive single. David Mills followed with a single of his own. The two runs were enough for Maust, as he held the Mountaineers in check throughout the afternoon.

Notre Dame returns to action Tuesday and Wednesday in midweek non-conference games against rival and perennial Big Ten power Michigan (21-16, 5-7). The Wolverines hosted a regional last season and nearly qualified for the College World Series just two seasons ago – upsetting Vanderbilt on the road in the regionals but falling to Oregon State in Corvalis in the Super Regional - but they have struggled and been a little up-and-down at times this season. Michigan is batting just .296 as a team and holds a slightly higher ERA than Notre Dame’s at 4.96.

The midweek series is a home-and-home, with the Irish traveling to Ann Arbor Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. game, and the Wolverines returning the favor and heading to Eck Stadium Wednesday for a 6:05 contest.

Hopefully the Irish can carry their momentum from the big weekend series win against West Virginia and take two games from a respectable Michigan team. It would be great to see the solid pitching and timely hitting continue as the Irish definitely need momentum on their side heading into the last month of the regular season. Remember, there’s still a lot to play for – the Irish still play three conference series against teams ahead of them in the standings.

Time to keep things rolling. Go Irish!