Fifth-Seeded Virginia Falls to Notre Dame in Final Pool Play Game

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Fourth-seeded Notre Dame (35-13) used five pitchers in a 3-0 shutout of fifth-seeded Virginia (38-17) on Friday (May 27) at Truist Park. The Fighting Irish, who already clinched a spot in the ACC Tournament semifinals, will take on the winner of Friday’s Virginia Tech/North Carolina game tomorrow for a spot in the ACC title game.

In his fifth start of the year, Notre Dame starting pitcher Liam Simon struck out eight batters over five innings to earn the victory. He allowed just two hits and issued a pair of walks to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Graduate student Alex Tappen had three of Virginia’s five hits in the contest and was 4-for-8 in two games in Charlotte.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Notre Dame got on the board in the second inning by Zack Prajzner who lined a ball off starting pitcher Nate Savino and it ricocheted into right field to allow David LaManna to score from second base.
• The Fighting Irish made it 2-0 in the fourth with an RBI double by Jack Penney.
• The final run of the game came across in the seventh when LaManna scored on a Prajzner sacrifice fly.
• Savino pitched into the fifth inning for the 10^th time in 13 starts this season but took the loss. The lefthander struck out five batters and allowed two runs in 4.2 innings of work.
• Making his ACC Tournament debut, graduate student Paul Kosanovich tossed a scoreless seventh inning. Lefty Brandon Neeck also didn’t allow a run in a scoreless eighth.

FROM HEAD COACH BRIAN O’CONNOR

“I’ll just start off by saying Notre Dame played a terrific game and got timely hitting. We just couldn’t get a clutch hit when we needed it and that’s to get to their credit. They have an outstanding team. They showed that today for sure. (Liam) Simon was outstanding. I know he didn’t have very many innings coming in but boy he was really, really special. He did a great job and we just couldn’t put enough together to win the ball game.”

UP NEXT: The NCAA Tournament selection show is scheduled for noon on Monday (May 30) and will air live on ESPN2. The 16 NCAA Regional host sites will be announced on Sunday night on NCAA.com.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• The Cavaliers own a 54-80 overall record in the ACC postseason.
• Under head coach Brian O’Connor, the Cavaliers have a record of 29-26 overall mark in the ACC Tournament.
• Virginia is 2-2 against Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament.
• Over the last two ACC Tournaments, Tappen is 8-for-16 with two homers and three RBI.
• UVA was shutout for the first time this season and the first time since March 5, 2021 at Florida State, a span of 109 games.