For the first six innings of Saturday’s game against Stanford, Notre Dame had a case of the jitters befitting the school’s first appearance at the College World Series in 45 years.
During the final three innings the Fighting Irish played like a team that had won 40 of 46 games to reach the Series.
The Cardinal held off Notre Dame 4-3 in front of 21,919 at Rosenblatt Stadium, sending Notre Dame into a loser’s bracket elimination game against Rice at 2:30 p.m. Monday.
Jeremy Guthrie, Stanford’s ace, threw his sixth complete game in his last eight starts, walking one and striking out five.
Guthrie allowed 10 hits, reaching double digits for the first time this season. But only four came in the first six innings, when Stanford opened a four-run lead and the Fighting Irish pushed just one runner as far as second base.
“We came out pretty nervous, and I put some of the blame on myself,” said Steve Stanley, Notre Dame’s All-American leadoff man and center fielder, who had two hits.
“I wasn’t ready to be in front of 21,000 fans. That was tough. But we came back well and leave with a lot of confidence.”
Matt Bok’s one-out double down the left-field line started the seventh-inning comeback off Guthrie (13-1), whom the Cleveland Indians chose with the 22nd pick of the first round in the amateur draft this month.
Two batters later, eighth-place hitter Javier Sanchez launched an 0-1 hanging slider deep to left for his fifth home run. The three-run blast pulled Notre Dame within a run.
“I made a few pitches that weren’t as good as they should have been,” Guthrie said. “They also made adjustments to what I was throwing. That’s a very aggressive team offensively.”
Brian Stavisky and Paul O’Toole delivered one-out singles in the eighth, putting the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first.
But Guthrie retired Bok on a fly to left and struck out Kris Billmaier.
Stanford (46-16), which has finished second at the last two College World Series, scored on Jason Cooper’s two-run single in the first off Notre Dame starter Grant Johnson (9-5), a 19-year-old freshman.
The Cardinal added a run in the fourth on Chris Carter’s RBI triple, which barely eluded Stanley’s diving effort in right-center, and another on Sam Fuld’s seventh home run in the sixth.
With one game of World Series experience behind them, the Fighting Irish (49-17) appeared more confident. They also realize early support for Chris Niesel, Monday’s freshman starting pitcher, is a must to continue their stay in Nebraska.
“Someone has to come out of the loser’s bracket,” Stanley said. “This is just one game, and we still have the pitching and defense to go a long way in this tournament.”
Texas 2, Rice 1: Justin Simmons allowed five hits and one earned run in 7 1/3 innings, improving to 15-1, as the Longhorns (54-15) advanced to face Stanford on Monday night in the winner’s bracket.
Simmons struck out three and walked two before giving way to Houston Street with two runners on in the eighth. Street escaped the inning when Rice’s Vincent Sinisi was thrown out trying to score from second on a two-out error by third baseman Omar Quintanilla, and then pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save.
Jeff Ontiveros and Dustin Majewski drove in runs off Steven Herce (13-3), while Eric Arnold hit a home run to straightaway center in the eighth for the Owls’ only run.
