In just the first two years of its existence, the University of Notre Dame Club Baseball Team has put together an exceptional record of 24-3.  This season, the expectations to compete with the best clubs is very real.  As the club team begins the 2015-2016 season, the schedule looks tougher than ever before. Tryouts were held and some great young talent was added to the roster. After moving up to Division 1 during the off-season, CBND has conference series scheduled for Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois St. and Ball St. We have high expectations this year as we compete with some of the best club teams in the country. Based on our past success, this move to Division 1 was well warranted, and with the increased talent level we look to continue our streak of dominance.

IRISH OPEN SEASON WITH SWEEP OF DEPAUL!!!

We opened the season this past weekend at DePaul in Chicago and picked up right where we ended last season with a three game sweep of the Demons.

We kicked off our season on Saturday, 9/20 with a resounding 9-0 victory.   Connor Brown started the game and threw 4 strong innings of 2 hit ball and 2 strikeouts in the W, while Mike McMannon came in and finished the game with 3 more innings of 2 hit ball and 4 Ks.  The team was paced offensively by Tim Coen (C), Tory King (CF), and John Plantemoli (RF) who all collected 2 hits and scored 1 run each.  Overall, the game was a total team effort with 8 of the 9 starters recording a hit!

The next day, Sunday 9/21, we finished the series with a double header.  In the first game our offensive exploded with 20 runs and we ended up winning the game 20-3.  Jack Winkle started the game and though struggling a little in the first inning by allowing a couple runs, came back out and threw 2 great innings to end the day with a solid line of 3.0 innings, 3 ER, 3H, and 2Ks.  Rob Browne, a sophomore, made his Irish debut with 2 scoreless innings of 1 hit ball and 4 Ks.  The game was paced offensively by two newcomers to the team right fielder Alex Kerschner (3-5, 3B, HR, 3R) and third baseman Chris Silveri (3-3, 3R).  Veterans Sam Zappa (SS), Tory King (CF) and Taylor Gillig (2B) added to the run total with 3, 3, and 4, respectively.

The final game of the series ended up being the closest and most competitive of the three, yet we were able to pull it out with a win 6-5.  The Demons starter went a solid 7 innings but came away with the L.  Mike Cyrocki started the game and gave the Irish a solid 5 innings of 4h, 2R, 1 ER, and 5 K while collecting his first win of the season.  Mike “Elastic Arm” McMannon shut the door on the Demons by closing out the game with 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief, collecting his first save of the season.  The offense came out a little sluggish with only 1 run in the first 4 innings yet exploded in the 6th with 5.  Trailing 2-1 going into the 6th, Irish scored 5 powered by a lead off triple by Alex Kerschner (CF) and a bases clearing double by Chuck “Clutch” Connors (2B).  Again the team was led by Alex Kerschner who went with 3-4, with 2 1B, a 3B and 2 R.  Chuck Connors also added another hit in the fourth that helped led to the first run of the game for the Irish.

Players of the Week

Offensive:

Notes: Alex is one of just two freshmen who cracked the ND travel roster this year, starting off his Club Baseball career with a bang providing both speed and power in the lineup along with stellar play in the outfield this weekend.

Pitching:

Notes: McMannon picked up where he left off last year as ND’s go-to relief man. Errors and walks put Notre Dame in a tight spot in their final game with DePaul, and McMannon entered in the bottom of the 6^th with the tying run on 3rd and the go-ahead at 1^st. He proceeded to induce a shallow fly to right and a groundout to SS to end the inning, breezing through a scoreless 7^th to score himself a save and lock down the win for the Irish.

Overall this weekend was the way we wanted to start the season and we hope to carry this momentum through to Battle Creek!!!

BASEBALL IS HERE!!!

After winning the region in our first season, we return this year with high expectations.

We remain in the same district (District VI-South) of Division 2 of the NCBA.  The district returns Us, Loyola University Chicago, Columbia College Chicago and DePaul, and adds Lewis College and Indiana-Northwest.  Though we lost perennial contender Wisconsin-Madison, we still believe we will be facing top competition this year in the district.  In addition to NCBA games we will also be competing in the Battle Creek Blast over the weekend of 9/26-28.  For a full schedule please see the Schedule tab.

Additionally, though we did not graduate any seniors from the year before, we did add a handful of new players this year.  We want to thank all that came out to tryouts this year and we congratulate those who made the team! For a full roster please view the Roster tab.

Finally we would like to thank all that have supported the club and helped us get off the ground over the past year!  Please feel free to contact any of us officers if you have any questions or would like to come out to any games!

THANKS AND LET”S PLAY BALL!!!

Please pardon the delay.

Last year was our first year as a club and as part of the NCBA (National Club Baseball Association).  We ended up going 10-1 and winning our region which consisted of us, Wisconsin-Madison, Loyola (Chicago), Northern Illinois and Columbia College (in Chicago).  Six of our 11 games were won by run rule and we won two others by 5 runs or more (Please see the Schedule tab for full game results). Though we had this success, we did experience some headaches with the severe winter and we were forced to cancel our series against Northern Illinois and one game against Columbia College.

Unfortunately, though we won our region, we were unable to go to the regional tournament because it happened to fall on the weekend before finals.  The decision not to go to the playoffs was one us officers struggled with for weeks, however our discussion always returned to our mission statement.  We founded the club on the idea that as students at Notre Dame we gave up the chance to potentially play at a lower division of college baseball (D2 or D3) but ended up at Notre Dame for the academic rigor and community it offers.  Ultimately we decided that we could not risk our team members’ performance on their finals in order to compete in the playoffs.

Overall, though we had this setback, we were very proud of our performance and definitely see ourselves as one of, if not, the top team in our region moving forward.

Club Baseball of Notre Dame’s Formal Yearbook Photo!

The Club recently got together to take a formal photo for the Notre Dame Yearbook. Only 17 days until we host our first ever home series and the team is looking good!

We have four series scheduled for this spring. Loyola home (Mar 22-23), Northern Illinois away (Mar 29-30), DePaul home (Apr 5-6), and Wisconsin Away (Apr 12-13). We will also be making up a rain out with Columbia. We hope to continue upon the success we started this fall.

In Club Baseball of Notre Dame’s first ever game (Oct 5), the bats came alive as we throttled Columbia 14-1 in a 5 inning mercy rule game behind some very strong pitching and great plate appearances. In the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday, we won 6-1, powered by a 3-run moonshot from our very own CBND treasurer, John Plantemoli, and a shut down pitching performance (6 Ks, 1 ER) by secretary Mike Cyrocki.

Club Baseball of Notre Dame has officially joined the National Club Baseball Association as of the summer of 2013. We are currently a member of District Five South in Division Two. The division rivals include: The University of Wisconsin (Madison), DePaul University, Northern Illinois University, Loyola University Chicago, and Columbia College Chicago.

We are currently scheduled to volunteer at the Robinson Community Learning Center for the 7 dates listed below. The Robinson Community Learning Center was established in 2001 as an educational initiative between the University of Notre Dame and northeast neighborhood residents of South Bend. The mission of RCLC is to foster educational opportunities through innovation and excellence by providing an after school program for local children. For more information feel free to visit the RCLC website at http://rclc.nd.edu/. If you would like to volunteer for any of the dates below please contact one of CBND’s officers.

Tuesday, February 18, 4:30 pm-5:30 pm
Tuesday, February 25, 4:30 pm-5:30 pm
Tuesday, March 4, 4:30 pm-5:30 pm
Tuesday, March 25, 4:30 pm-5:30 pm
Friday, March 28, 4:00 pm-5:30 pm
Tuesday, April 1(Tues) 4:30 pm-5:30 pm
Tuesday, April 22 (Tues) 4:30 pm-5:30 pm

In addition we are in the process of organizing a baseball clinic for local youth. We will be posting updates soon. If you have any further ideas please let us know.