Fighting Irish
Baseball Heads To Starkville, Prepares For Tulane
Irish make sixth NCAA appearance in last nine years.
FIGHTING IRISH Aaron Heilman needs six strikeouts to pass David Sinnes for the Irish career record.
FIGHTING IRISH
Aaron Heilman needs six strikeouts to pass David Sinnes for the Irish career record.
 FIGHTING IRISH

May 24, 2000

PDF Formatted Notes

NCAA HISTORY

  • The Irish will be making their 15th appearance in the NCAAs, second consecutive, third in the six-year Paul Mainieri era (1995-2000) and sixth in the last nine years ... ND's last trip to an away regional was in 1996, when the Irish traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala. (1-2).
  • Notre Dame has made one appearance in the College World Series, doing so in 1957.
  • Notre Dame's other NCAA seasons came in 1949, '56, '57, '58, '59, '60, '63, '70, '89, '92, '93, '94, '96 and '99.
  • The Irish reached the title game in the 1992 NCAA Atlantic Regional, losing 5-1 to host Miami in the second championship game.
  • Notre Dame was one of six schools that hosted an NCAA regional for the first time in 1999 (since the tournament shifted from a district to regional format in 1975) ... ND previously played host to NCAA tournament games following the 1949 and 1959 seasons.

TEAM NOTES

  • Notre Dame's 42 regular-season wins rank second in the program's 108-year history ... the Irish were the only BIG EAST team to win all nine of its BIG EAST series during the regular season, including 2-1 vs. Rutgers in the final week and 2-0 at Seton Hall.
  • The Irish went 8-2 this season vs. teams in the NCAA field, including 2-0 vs. Illinois plus a win over Wake Forest and a 9-7, late-inning loss to Minnesota in the Metrodome.
  • Notre Dame has posted 40-plus victories in each of the past 12 seasons, the nation's fourth-longest active streak behind Florida State (23), Wichita State (23) and Clemson (15).
  • Notre Dame's team stats for include a .299 batting avg., 50 home runs, 69 stolen bases, a 3.79 ERA and a .965 fielding percentage (tied for the school record)... the Irish have homered in nine of the last 11 games and have totaled 26 HRs in the last 19 games ... ND was ranked 1st in the nation for team ERA in early April (14th last week, at 3.68).
  • The Irish were 11-1 in regular-season games decided by one run or in extra innings (before losing a pair of one-run games to Boston College in the BIG EAST Tournament).
  • Notre Dame ranked as the seventh winningest team in NCAA Division I baseball for the decade of the 1990s, with a .724 winning percentage (440-168).
  • The Irish played 29 of their first 43 games away from home, posting a solid 22-7 record in those games ... from April 15-26, the Irish played nine road games (plus a home DH) in a span of 12 daysÐand in six different citiesÐwith a 9-2 record during that stretch.
  • ND hit game-ending home runs in each of the final three weekends of the regular season, with three different players providing the clutch long balls: Jeff Felker (vs. SJU), Alec Porzel (vs. Pitt) and Brian Stavisky (vs. RU).
  • The Irish staved off elimination in the BIG EAST Tournament with the highest-scoring inning of the six-year Paul Mainieri, plating 11 runs in the 8th to seize a 15-7 lead (Porzel hit his first career grand slam to break a 7-7 tie).

2000 NCAA BASEBALL STARKVILLE REGIONAL FACT SHEET

NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH

Location: Notre Dame, Ind.Founded: 1842
Enrollment: 10,359 Nickname: Fighting Irish, Irish
Colors: Gold and BluePresident: Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C.
Athletic Director: Kevin WhiteBaseball Administrator: Bill Scholl
Home Stadium (cap.): Frank Eck Stadium (2,100)Surface, Dimensions: Grass, 331-381-401-381-331

Head Coach: Paul Mainieri (Florida International '80)
Career Record: 584-388, .601 (18 seasons)Record at Notre Dame: 252-109, .698 (six seasons)
Assistant Coaches: Brian O'Connor (Creighton '93), Dusty Lepper (Toledo '96)
Athletic Trainer for Baseball: Mike Bean Baseball SID: Pete LaFleur

Conference: BIG EAST1999 Record: 43-18
'99 Conference Record, Finish: 20-5, 1st '99 Postseason: 1-2 BIG EAST Tournament, 1-2 NCAA South Bend Regional
Position Starters Returning From '99: 7 (soph. C Paul O'Toole, sr. 1B Jeff Felker, sr. 2B Jeff Perconte, jr. SS Alec Porzel, sophomore 3B Andrew Bushey, sr. LF Matt Nussbaum, soph. CF Steve Stanley ... Perconte played RF in '99, Porzel played 2B in '99)
Pitchers Returning/Lost From '99: 8/3
Letterwinners Returning/Lost From '99: 16/6
2000 Record: 43-162000 Conference Record, Finish: 20-7, T-2nd
2000 Conference Tournament: 1-2

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

  • ND's top six batters are non-seniors, led by: soph. CF and No. 2 hitter Steve Stanley (.361, 23 RBI, 46 R, 32 BB, 27 SB), soph. DH and leadoff batter Ken Meyer (.358, 44-for-123, 3 HR, 5 3B, 12 2B, 31 R) and jr. SS and 3-hole hitter Alec Porzel (.344, 54 RBI, 9 HR, 4 3B, 21 2B, 9 SB) ... fr. RF Brian Stavisky (.298, 41 RBI, 14 HR, 5 3B, 14 2B) ranks 3rd in the BIG EAST for HRs and has set the ND record for HRs by a freshman (he also leads the BIG EAST in 3Bs).
  • Top Irish pitchers include jr. RHP and three-year All-American Aaron Heilman (3.04, 10-2, 97.2 IP, 113 Ks, 24 BB, 85 H), sr. RHP Scott Cavey (4.15, 6-2, 65 IP, 57 K, 20 BB, 63 H) and fr. RHP J.P. Gagne (3.76, 7-1, 69.1 IP, 43 K, 23 BB, 87 H) ... Cavey (15-3) and Heilman (28-7) have combined to win 81.1 pct. of their career decisions (43-10) ... Gagne is one win shy of becoming the first ND freshman to post eight wins since 1990 ... sr. RHP John Corbin owns the ND records for saves in a career (20) and season (11, in 2000).
  • After beating Pittsburgh on May 6, Heilman was one of three pitchers in the nation with 10 wins and an ERA ranked among the national top 25 ... he is six Ks shy of breaking his ND record for Ks in a season and needs seven for the ND career record (he currently has 309, in 273.1 IP) ... he led the nation as a freshman closer with a 1.61 ERA, plus nine saves and a 7-3 record (his 2.73 career ERA is best ever by an ND pitcher with 150-plus IP) ... Baseball America projected Heilman as the No. 3 prospect in college (in its mid-April issue), prior to Heilmam's 18-K, 6-hit effort in the 3-1, 10-inning win at West Virginia on April 15 (he K'd 10 of the final 12 batters he faced in that game).

NOTRE DAME BASEBALL POSTSEASON NOTES

NCAA Starkville Regional ... May 26-28, 2000

Notre Dame's Probable Starting Lineup
* - lefthanded hitter, # - switch hitter
Pos. PlayerYr.Ht./Wt.Hometown2000 StatsNotes
DHKen MeyerSo.6-0/ 210Fort Myers, FL.358 (44-for-123), 20 RBI, 31 R, 3 HR, 5 3B, 12 2B, 3 BB, 19 KHit .478 in BIG EAST reg.-season gms
CF *Steve StanleySo.5-9/ 150Upper Arlington, OH.361, 23 RBI, 46 R, 3B, 10 2B, 32 BB, 16 K, 27-36 SB, 12 SAC Batting .457 over last 20 gms (32-for-70)
SSAlec PorzelJr.6-0/ 190Lisle, IL.344, 54 RBI, 40 R, 9 HR, 4 3B, 21 2B, 16 BB, 21 K, 9-15 SB, 8 SFMay 7 vs. Pitt: 6-for-6, cycle w/ 2 HRs
1B *Jeff Felker Sr. 6-5/ 190Ellicott City, MD.296, 46 RBI, 37 R, 6 HR, 3B, 18 2B, 14 BB, 24 K, 2-5 SB 4th on ND career doubles list (56)
C/LFMatt NussbaumSr.6-0/ 180South Bend, IN.266, 34 RBI, 33 R, 3B, 9 2B, 13 BB, 14 K, 5-5 SB, 3 SF Caught 75% of IP in final 33 reg.-sea. gms
RF*Brian StaviskyFr.6-3/ 230Port Allegany, PA.298, 42 RBI, 46 R, 14 HR, 5 3B, 14 2B, 16 BB, 33 K, 4-9 SB Owns ND freshman HR record
LF/C*Paul O'TooleSo.6-2/ 210Lakewood, OH.298, 35 RBI, 43 R, 7 HR, 3B, 7 2B, 18 BB, 26 K, 15-16 SB, 3 SF May '99: .353 (18-for-51), 4 HR, 12 RBI
3B*Andrew BusheySo.6-0/ 200Boardman, OH.263, 28 RBI, 25 R, 3 HR, 3B, 9 2B, 21 BB, 12 K, 2-4 SB, 5 SF Team-best 18.3 plate app. per K
2B*Jeff PerconteSr.5-11/ 190Arlington Hts., IL.207, 15 RBI, 18 R, HR, 3B, 4 2B, 8 BB, 26 K, 0-2 SB, 6 SACJust 4 errors in 157 chances (.975)
orKris BillmaierFr.5-11/ 185Woodinvale, WA.333 (21-for-63), 15 RBI, 17 R, 4 HR, 2 2B, 6 BB, 6 K, 0-1 SB4 HRs in last 5 weeks (2-GU, Oak, Pitt.)

RESERVES

DH/LF Matt StrickrothSo.6-5/ 230Mission Viejo, CA.290 (20-for-69), 14 RBI,17 R, HR, 6 2B, 5 BB, 13 K, 2-2 SB Tm-best .435 w/ runners in scor. pos.
DH#Matt Bok So.5-11/ 185Akron, Ohio.250 (19-for-76), 11 RBI, 17 R, 3 2B, 12 BB, 12 K, 1-2 SB, SAC Hitting .389 w/ runners in scor. pos.
UTIL#Ben CookeJr.5-9/ 170Bay Village, OH.234 (11-for-47), 5 RBI, 14 R, 2 2B, 3 BB, 12 K, 2-6 SB, 3 SACTwo 1Bs, 2 R in 6-4 win over Georgia

Probable STARTING PITCHER ROTATION (order is TBA)

RHPAaron HeilmanJr.6-5/ 210Logansport, IN3.04, 10-2, 16 GP/13 GS, 8 CG, 97.2 IP, 103 K/24 BB, .234 opp. avg. Needs seven Ks for ND career record
RHPScott CaveySr.6-5/ 200Omaha, NE4.15, 5-2, 12 GS/11 GS, 65.0 IP, 57 K/20 BB, .250 opp. avg. Career: 15-3 record, just 2.20 BBs/9 IP
RHPJ.P. GagneFr.6-0/ 190Bloomington, MN3.76, 7-1, 17 GP/11 GS, 69.1 IP, 43 K/23 BB, .318 opp. avg.BE Rookie of Week (6 IP, 0 ER vs. BC)
RHPDanny TamayoJr.6-2/ 225Miami, FL5.01, 2-1, 9 GP/4 GS, 23.1 IP, 23 K/16 BB, .280 opp. avg.10-6 win vs. RU: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 4 BB, K
RHPDrew DuffSo.6-0/ 175Sevierville, TN5.40, 4-2, 14 GP/8 GS, 46.2 IP, 40 K/18 BB, .310 opp. avg. ND record for Ks at Eck (10 vs. IUPUI)
RHPMatt LairdFr.6-1/ 190Bellaire, TX4.00, 5-2, 14 GP/9 GS, CG, 45.0 IP, 34 K/14 BB, .289 opp. avg..281 opp. avg. w/ runners on base

BULLPEN

RHPMatt BuchmeierSo.6-0/ 190Greenwood, IN3.50, 3-2, 18 GP/2 GS, 46.1 IP, 38 K/12 BB, .255 opp. avg.Team-best .190 opp. avg. w/ runners on
RHPJohn CorbinSr.6-3/ 200Hollywood, FL4.50, 4-3, 11 SV, 28 GP, 42.0 IP, 52 K/17 BB, .242 opp. avg. ND season & career (20) save leader
LHPMike NaumannJr.6-0/ 180Tucson, AZ3.48, 2-1, 24 GP/33.2 IP, 17 K/7 BB, .361 opp. avg. Only LHP on Irish staff
RHPBrandon ViloriaFr.5-11/ 215Wailuku, HI3.18, 0-0, 11 GP/1 GS, 17 IP, 15 K/1 BB, .284 opp. avg.Lefties hitting just .130 vs. him
RHPMike CarlinJr.6-5/ 210Manhattan, KS4.82, 0-0, 6 GP/9.1 IP, 5 K/8 BB, .229 opp. avg.20 career appearances
RHPTom O'HaganSr.6-3/ 180Crystal Lake, IL1.93, 0-0, 4 GP/4.2 IP, 3 K/2 BB, .133 opp. avg.DNP in 1999

THE SECOND SEASON: The Notre Dame baseball program is making a return appearance in the NCAA Baseball Championship-and its sixth trip the NCAAs in the last nine seasons-as the Irish will participate in the four-team Starkville (Miss.) Regional, to be held May 26-28 at Dudy Noble Field/Polk-Dement Stadium ... Notre Dame (43-16) is the regional's No. 3 seed and will open tournament play on Friday, May 26, in the 2:00 p.m. game versus second-seeded Tulane (37-20-1) ... the top seed and host team Mississippi State (38-17) then will face fourth-seeded South Alabama (27-31) in a 6:00 p.m. night game ... the remainder of the double-elimination format is listed in the chart to the right ... the winner of the Starkville Regional will advance to the super-regional round (June 2-4, with sites TBA), which will feature a best 2-of-3 series versus the winner of the Clemson Regional (which also includes Old Dominion, Illinois and Middle Tennessee State) ... the eight super-regional winners then will compete in the College World Series, June 9-17 in Omaha, Neb.

RADIO, TV & WEBSITES

  • South Bend-based WJVA radio (1580 AM) will broadcast all Notre Dame games live from the BIG EAST Tournament, with real-audio feeds available via the ND website, at www.und.com (broadcasts also are archived on und.com).

  • College Sports Southeast-based in Bessemer, Ala.-will provide live broadcasts of all six/seven games from the Starkville Regional ... should satellite coordinates become available, they will be posted on the Notre Dame website ... likewise, if any stations in the South Bend area opt to pick up the feed of Notre Dame games, that information will be passed along to the public and posted on the website.

  • Mississippi State's official website will provide up-to-the-minute information from the Starkville Regional, at www.msstate.edu/athletics.

  • Other websites for the regional participants include www.TulaneGreenWave.com and www.southalabama.edu/athletics.

  • The official NCAA website for the baseball championship is www.ncaabaseball.com

BLOWING BUBBLES: The Notre Dame baseball program experienced the ultimate rollercoaster of emotion on the afternoon of May 22, as the Irish were among the final group of names that were shown during the NCAA selection show-producing a deafening roar and celebration scene that obscured the wide-screen TV from viewers at the back of the room ... for sixth-year Irish head coach Paul Mainieri, his staff-and for ND coaches before them-the ritual of waiting anxiously by the TV has become all too familiar ... in fact, ND's previous six "bubble seasons" included five that ended with no NCAA bid-making Monday's selection and the ensuing celebration all the more noteworthy ... the 1990 ND team posted a 44-10 regular-season record, went 2-2 in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference Tournament and was left out of the 48-team NCAA field ... that same fate awaited the 1991 team that went 45-16, including a 4-0 run through the MCC Tournament (which did not include an automatic bid) ... Mainieri's '95 team finished 40-21 and without an invite, after going 3-2 in the MCC Tourney, but his '96 Irish squad received an at-large NCAA bid with a 43-16 record that included a spot in the BIG EAST title game ... the Irish then were left out of the NCAAs in '97 (41-19, 2-2 at BET) and '98 (41-17, 3-2 at BET) and were granted an NCAA regional site in '99, after a 41-15 regular season.

KEEP ME MOVING: Notre Dame's 15 trips to the NCAAs have featured 11 different host schools, with the only repeats being Notre Dame ('49, '59, '99), Western Michigan ('57, '58) and Minnesota ('56, '60) ... ND's last 10 trips to the NCAAs have featured 10 different host schools: Minnesota ('60), Illinois ('63), Ohio State ('70), Fresno State ('89), Miami ('92), Florida State ('93), Clemson ('94), Alabama ('96), Notre Dame ('99) and Mississippi State (2000).

NEW EXPERIENCE: None of the current Notre Dame players have experienced NCAA Tournament play away from home, as the current seniors were in their final year of high school when the Irish were playing at the 1996 South I. Regional in Tuscaloosa ... the Irish returned 16 of 22 letterwinners from the 1999 team that played host to an NCAA Regional at Frank Eck Stadium.

PITCHING UNDER PRESSURE: Despite having a group of 10 veteran pitchers on the full 32-player roster, the 2000 Notre Dame baseball team includes just three pitchers that saw time on the mound during ND's three 1999 NCAA Tournament games (see chart at right) ... of those three, only current junior RHP Aaron Heilman threw more than three innings in the '99 NCAAs (he tossed a complete game in the 8-1 opening win over Creighton) ... current senior RHP John Corbin logged 2.2 innings in the 11-5 loss to Michigan while current junior LHP Mike Naumann notched one out in that game ... 1999 graduates Alex Shilliday (5.0 IP as starter vs. Michigan) and Chris McKeown (4.1 relief innings vs. Cal State Fullerton) combined with '99 draftee Tim Kalita (4.2 IP as starter vs. CSUF) to log the bulk of ND's innings in the '99 NCAAs ... ND's current 12-player staff for the NCAAs includes three freshmen, two sophomores and a junior that did not pitch in the NCAAs, a senior (Scott Cavey) who would have started ND's fourth game of the '99 NCAAs, another senior (Tom O'Hagan) who did not play in '99 while preparing for his medical school tests and junior Danny Tamayo (who missed all of '99 due to injury and underwent "Tommy John" surgery).

IS IT STILL A STREAK?: Notre Dame sophomore C Paul O'Toole in '99 became the first ND player ever to hit a home run in four consecutive postseason games, including all three in the NCAAs ... O'Toole was named to the South Bend Regional all-tournament team thanks to his three home runs, .583 batting avg. (7-for-12) and five RBI (see chart) ... current junior SS Alec Porzel (5-for-12, HR, 2B, 5 RBI) joined O'Toole on the '99 all-regional team while current senior LF/C Matt Nussbaum hit .500 in ND's three regional games (6-for-12, 2B, 2 RBI).

CONNECTIONS: ND sophomore DH Ken Meyer (Bishop Verot HS) and Tulane junior OF Matt Groff (Lehigh HS) are natives of Fort Myers, Fla. ... Tulane senior IF Mickey McKee is a transfer from the Air Force Academy while sixth-year ND head coach Paul Mainieri was the head coach at Air Froce from 1990-95 ... ND junior RHP Danny Tamayo (Ransom Everglades HS) and South Alabama freshman IF Omar Rivero (G. Holmes Braddock HS) both are natives of Miami, Fla. ... recently-hired Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White (pictured) served in the same capacity at Tulane from 1991-96 ... first-year Notre Dame assistant coach Dusty Lepper has some familiarity with the Tulane baseball program, after spending the 1999 season as an assistant coach at fellow Conference USA school Cincinnati.

COMMON OPPONENTS: Notre Dame and the other three Starkville Regional teams have faced a hanfdful of common opponents in the 2000 season ... Tulane swept an early-March series from visiting Rutgers (74, 3-0, 9-8) while ND closed the regular season at home by taking two of three from RU (6-16, 4-3, 10-6) ... the Irish posted a 4-3 win at Memphis in the first week of the season, with Tulane posting three wins at Memphis in late April (4-3, 9-3, 10-2) and Mississippi State winning twice at Memphis in early March (14-2, 4-1) ... ND and South Alabama both participated in the Kennel Clubs Classic, with the Jaguars dropping games to St. John's (8-7) and Central Michigan (7-2) while beating Akron (6-3) ... ND topped both CMU (5-0) and Akron (10-3) and took a late-season series from visiting St. John's (8-3, 4-6, 9-8) ... the Irish also beat Georgia (6-4) at Minnesota's Hormel Foods Classic in early March (at the Metrodome) while Georgia eliminated MSU from the SEC Tournament (5-0).

THE ND-TULANE SERIES: The Green Wave owns a 9-3-1 all-time series edge over the Irish, but the last eight meetings have produced nearly a split (Tulane leads during that span, 5-3) ... the most recent games of the series opened ND's 1994 season, with the Irish winning 2-of-3 at Tulane (8-2, 9-0, 2-6) ... the series dates back to a pair of late-March games in 1964 at Tulane (a 5-0 win for the Green Wave and 3-3 tie) ... 10 years later, ND opened its '74 season with a 10-game spring break trip through New Orleans (the Irish dropped three at Tulane to end that trip: 7-8, 0-3 and 1-5) ... ND's seven games at the California Riverside Invitational early in the 1986 season included an 8-6 loss to Tulane ... the final season of the Larry Gallo era (1987) saw ND play three mid-April games at Tulane, with an 8-6 Irish win sandwiched around 11-3 and 7-1 losses ... aside from the '94 series, the only other games between ND and Tulane in the last 12 seasons came at the 1991 Diamond Club Classic in Mobile, Ala. (the Irish lost 5-3, just two days after beating host South Alabama, 9-7).

NEUTRAL GROUND: Friday's game will mark the third neutral-site game in the brief history of the Notre Dame-Tulane baseball series ... Tulane won each of the previous neutral-site games vs. the Irish: 8-6 at the 1986 Cal-Riverside Invitational and 5-3 at the 1991 Diamond Club Classic in Mobile, Ala.

YOU, AGAIN?: Notre Dame's last trip to an away NCAA Regional included a near-matchup with South Alabama at the six-team South I Regional in 1996, held at the University of Alabama ... Notre Dame opened play in the '96 NCAAs by upsetting the regional's No. 2 seed Virginia (12-1) and would have faced South Alabama in the second round, but the Jaguars lost a 9-8 game to Stetson ... South Alabama then lost to Alabama in the second round (9-3) while ND was eliminated by Stetson (7-6) and Virginia (7-1).

ONE-GAME SERIES: Notre Dame has actually played South Alabama just once, a 9-7 win by the host Jaguars at the 1991 Diamond Club Classic in Mobile ... Tulane also was part of that tournament (the Green Wave beat ND two days later, 5-3) while other participants included Michigan and LSU.

ANOTHER ONE-HIT WONDER: The only previous meeting between ND and MSU also came in the postseason, as the Irish opened play at the '93 East Regional with a 15-1 win over 2nd-seeded Mississippi State ... ND then made a spirited run at advancing to the '93 College World Series, with a 10-inning loss to host Florida State (7-3), followed by wins over Central Florida (12-3) and FSU (4-3) before being eliminated by the Seminoles (13-3) ... MSU failed to bounce back from its loss to ND and was eliminated in its next game by Long Beach State (2-1) ... ND's 15-1 win represented the most runs ever scored vs. the Bulldogs in an NCAA regional and the most allowed by any MSU team in Ron Polk's first 18 seasons as head coach ... it also marked MSU's first loss in the first round of a regional since '84 ... senior RHP David Sinnes (8 IP, 6 H, BB, 9 Ks) had the win while ND's 21-hit attack included six players with three-plus hits, led by Edwin Hartwell (3-for-4, 4 RBI, 2 R, HR) and Eric Danapilis (3-for-4, 3 R, 3 RBI, 17-game hitting streak) ... pitcher Chris Michalak was inserted at 1B for defense and responded with a 3-for-6 day while Matt Haas batted 4-for-6 (Hartwell, Michalak and Haas were named to the all-regional team) ... ND-which left 14 runners on base-blew the game open with a six-run 5th vs. ace Carlton Loewer (season-low 4.1 IP, 7 R, 6 ER, 9 H, 5 BB, 2 Ks).

THE BIG STAGE: If ND happens to face host MSU, it won't be the first time the Irish have faced a traditional power in its home park during NCAA action ... the last three NCAA regionals in which ND faced the host team produced victories for the Irish: 6-3 at Miami in 1992, 4-3 at Florida State in '93 and 8-1 at Clemson in '94 (Miami later beat ND in the '92 title game, 5-1, while FSU had posted a 10-inning win over ND earlier in the '93 regional) ... the Irish did not face host Alabama at the '96 South I Regional ... ND's all-time record in the NCAAs when facing a host team is 5-9, with the other wins coming at Minnesota (4-3 in '56) and Western Michigan (6-1 in '57, sending the Irish on to the CWS) ... in addition to the above wins, the ND baseball program has posted noteworthy recent wins in the regular season at Texas (13-4, '91), LSU (6-3, '91), Arizona State (11-4, '93), Wichita State (8-6, '93) and Miami (4-2 in '89, 2-1 in '92, 5-2 in '95) ... the Irish opened '98 season with a 10-1 win over Florida State, at the ACC Disney Blast in Orlando.

ND IN MS: The Notre Dame baseball team has played 14 all-time games vs. teams from Mississippi: 1-6-1 vs. Delta State, 1-4 vs. Mississippi and the lone game vs. MSU in '93 ... the Starkville Regional will mark ND's first visit to Mississippi in 19 years, as the most recent games were on neutral fields: the '93 NCAA win over MSU at FSU (15-1) and an 11-5 loss to Mississippi at the '97 Long Beach State Classic ... ND's first game in Mississippi was April 4, 1953, a 6-5 win over Ol' Miss (in Oxford) ... the Irish played an early-season game at the Univ. of Mississippi in '59 (losing 3-2) and did not return to the state until a split of early-April games at Delta State in '72 ... ND then dropped three games at Delta State (located in Cleveland, Miss.), in both the '77 and '81 seasons, with the latter followed by a pair of '81 games vs. Mississippi in Oxford (11-5, 7-5 losses).

Notre Dame's 1999 NCAA Tournament Stats

Player G/GS AB R H 2B/3B/HR BB/K RBI SB AVG.
Paul O'Toole 3/3 12 6 7 1/0/3 2/1 5 0-1 .583
Matt Nussbaum 3/3 12 1 6 1/0/0 1/0 2 0-0 .500
Alec Porzel 3/3 12 3 5 1/0/1 2/1 5 1-1 .417
Ken Meyer 3/1 7 1 2 0/0/0 0/0 0 0-0 .286
Andrew Bushey 3/3 8 0 2 1/0/0 4/0 1 0-0 .250
J.P. Drevline 1/1 4 0 1 1/0/0 0/2 0 0-0 .250
Steve Stanley 3/3 11 1 2 1/0/0 3/1 0 1-1 .182
Brant Ust 3/3 12 4 2 1/0/0 1/3 2 0-0 .167
Jeff Felker 3/3 11 0 0 0/0/0 1/1 0 0-0 .000
Ben Cooke 2/2 6 0 0 0/0/0 0/3 0 0-0 .000
Ed Golom 2/1 3 1 0 0/0/0 1/3 0 0-0 .000
Matt Strickroth 1/1 3 0 0 0/0/0 0/2 0 0-0 .000
TEAM 3 101 17 27 7/0/4 15/17 15 2-3 .267

Player G/GS W-L (SV) IP H R ER K/BB WP/HB ERA
Aaron Heilman 1/1 1-0 (0) 9.0 5 1 1 7/6 0/0 1.00
Chris McKeown 1/0 0-0 (0) 4.1 3 1 1 0/0 0/0 2.08
Alex Shilliday 1/1 0-1 (0) 5.0 7 4 2 2/1 1/1 3.60
Tim Kalita 1/1 0-1 (0) 4.2 5 5 5 6/4 0/0 9.64
John Corbin 1/0 0-0 (0) 2.2 3 4 4 1/1 2/1 13.50
Mike Naumann 1/0 0-0 (0) 0.1 3 3 2 0/0 0/0 54.00
TEAM 3/3 1-2 (0) 26.0 26 18 15 16/12 3/2 5.19

MEMORABLE THREESOME: Notre Dame head coach Paul Mainieri (pictured below) has as assortment of memories when it comes to recalling past games versus the other three teams in the Starkville Regional, as Tulane, South Alabama and Mississippi State were rivals on various levels during Mainieri's playing career at the University of New Orleans (1978-79).

  • Tulane was the natural cross-town rival that faced UNO several times each season.
  • South Alabama provided the Privateers with tough competition for the Sun Belt Conference title (UNO beat USA twice in the '79 Sun Belt Tournament, 9-2 and 6-1 in the title game).
  • The final games of Mainieri's career were played at Mississippi State, in the NCAA South I. Regional ... UNO came into the NCAAs as one of the nation's top teams (48-12) and handed the host Bulldogs a 13-11 loss before UNO lost a 16-15 heartbreaker to Murray State ... MSU then ended UNO's season with a 13-10 win, with Mainieri making his team's final out of his final game.

NOTRE DAME'S NCAA HISTORY (23-29)

1949 (0-2)
at the University Notre Dame
1R - Wake Forest 4, Notre Dame 1
1R - Wake Forest 10, Notre Dame 7

1956 (1-2)
at the University of Minnesota
DP - Notre Dame 4, Minnesota 3
DP - Minnesota 15, Notre Dame 5
DP - Minnesota 10, Notre Dame 1

1957 (5-3), CWS Participant
at W. Michigan University, Omaha, NE
DP - Notre Dame 18, Alma 2
DP - Notre Dame 4, W. Michigan 2
DP - Northwestern 9, Notre Dame 2
DP - Notre Dame 6, Northwestern 1
CWS - Iowa St. 13, Notre Dame 8 (10)
CWS - Notre Dame 23, Colorado St. 2
CWS - Notre Dame 9, Texas 0
CWS - Penn State 5, Notre Dame 4

1958 (2-2)
at Western Michigan University
DP - Valparaiso 2, Notre Dame 0
DP - Notre Dame 11, Minnesota 7
DP - Notre Dame 10, Valparaiso 4
DP - W. Michigan 5, Notre Dame 4

1959 (2-2)
at the University of Notre Dame
DP - Notre Dame 10, Detroit 0
DP - Notre Dame 12, Minnesota 4
DP - W. Michigan 2, Notre Dame 0
DP - W. Michigan 9, Notre Dame 6

1960 (0-2)
at the University of Minnesota
DP - Minnesota 15, Notre Dame 6
DP - Ohio Univ. 5, Notre Dame 4

1963 (1-2)
at the University of Illinois
DP - W. Michigan 2, Notre Dame 1
DP - Notre Dame 5, Valparaiso 2
DP - Illinois 4, Notre Dame 0

1970 (1-2)
at Ohio State University
DP - S. Illinois 10, Notre Dame 2
DP - Notre Dame 6, Minnesota 2
DP - S. Illinois 1, Notre Dame 0

1989 - West II Regional (1-2)
at Fresno State University
Fresno State 9, Notre Dame 8
Notre Dame 8, Portland 6 (13)
Fresno State 11, Notre Dame 4

1992 - Atlantic Regional (3-2)
at the University of Miami
South Carolina 5, Notre Dame 1
Notre Dame 6, Miami 3
Notre Dame 12, Delaware 6
Notre Dame 11, South Carolina 2
CG2 - Miami 5, Notre Dame 1

1993 - East Regional (3-2)
at Florida State University
Notre Dame 15, Mississippi St. 1
Florida State 7, Notre Dame 3 (10)
Notre Dame 12, Central Fla. 3
Notre Dame 4, Florida State 3
CG1 - Long Beach St. 13, Notre Dame 3

1994 - East Regional (3-2)
at Clemson University (2-2)
Old Dominion 9, Notre Dame 5
Notre Dame 8, Clemson 1
Notre Dame 5, The Citadel 1
CG1 - Auburn 8, Notre Dame 0

1996 - South I Regional (1-2)
at the University of Alabama
Notre Dame 12, Virginia 1
Stetson 7, Notre Dame 6
Virginia 7, Notre Dame 1

1999- South Bend Regional (1-2)
at the University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame 8, Creighton 1
Cal State Fullerton 6, Notre Dame 3
Michigan 11, Notre Dame 5

BIG EAST TOURNAMENT NOTES

HEILMAN NAMED PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Notre Dame junior righthander Aaron Heilman (Logansport, Ind.) was named the BIG EAST Conference pitcher of the year, as presentations on May 16 at the 2000 BIG EAST Baseball Championship banquet ... Heilman also was the only unanimous choice among the 13 players who earned first-team All-BIG EAST honors and was the only repeat selection from the 1999 first team ... Heilman joined current St. John's junior righthander Kevin McGerry as the only pitchers ever to earn all-BIG EAST honors in three consecutive seasons (Heilman was a second-team honoree in 1998 while McGerry earned first team honors in `98 and was a second-teamer the past two seasons) ... ND has produced three major BIG EAST award winners during the past three seasons, including 1998 pitcher of the year Brad Lidge and '98 player of the year Brant Ust ... Heilman finished the regular season ranked 3rd among BIG EAST players with a 2.56 overall season ERA and led the conference in overall victories (10-2), strikeouts (108) and complete games (8) ... he also ranked 4th in the BIG EAST for lowest opponent batting avg. (.222) and innings pitched (91.1) ... Heilman finished the BIG EAST regular season ranked 1st in conference Ks (66), wins (7-1) and complete games (7), plus 3rd in opponent batting avg. (.229), 4th in innings (55.2) and 8th in ERA (3.07) ... Heilman this season became the first BIG EAST player ever to earn four player or pitcher-of-the-week awards from the conference while totaling eight weekly awards from the BIG EAST (no other BIG EAST player has totaled more than four, since the awards began in 1985).

PORZEL, STAVISKY EARN SECOND TEAM: Notre Dame junior shortstop Alec Porzel (Lisle, Ill.) and freshman rightfielder Brian Stavisky (Port Allegany, Pa.) were named second team All-BIG EAST for the 2000 season ... Porzel likely would have earned first-team honors in any other season but had to contend with the player-of-the-year recipient at that position in Rutgers' Darren Fenster ... Porzel's play during BIG EAST regular-season conference games produced the league's 6th-best batting avg. (.375) while he led the BIG EAST in RBI (27) and doubles (11) ... Porzel ranked 2nd in conference slugging pct. (.667), 3rd in total bases (125) and 4th in hits (36), home runs (5) and triples (4) ... is overall regular-season season totals included ranking 2nd among BIG EAST players in doubles (20), 3rd in hits (73) and total bases (125), 4th in triples (4), 6th in RBI (50), 7th in home runs (8) and 9th in slugging (.601) ... Stavisky (pictured) was one of two freshmen-and the only position player-to earn All-BIG EAST honors for the 2000 season (a distinction earned in '99 by current Irish sophomore centerfielder Steve Stanley) ... Stavisky finished second during the BIG EAST regular season with seven home runs in conference play while his 14 overall home runs ranked 3rd among BIG EAST players during the regular season ... the 6-3, 230-pound lefthander also led the league with five regular-season triples and was 2nd with three triples in BIG EAST play ... he finished the BIG EAST regular season ranked 3rd in slugging pct. (.663) and 6th in RBI (21) while ranking 2nd for total bases both overall (126) and in league play (61) ... his .586 overall slugging pct. ranked 10th among BIG EAST players while his 23 runs scored in BIG EAST play ranked 4th.

TWO NAMED ALL-ROOKIE: RF Brian Staviksy was joined on the 12-player BIG EAST All-Rookie team by Irish freshman righthander J.P. Gagne (Bloomington, Minn.) and the Notre Dame duo were two of six unanimous picks to the all-rookie team ... Gagne emerged in midseason as one of ND's top weekend starters and compiled a 7-1 overall record that placed him 4th on the wins chart for BIG EAST players in the regular season ... he ranked 4th for victories in BIG EAST games (5-1) while his other overall regular-season season statistics included a 3.98 ERA, 38 strikeouts, 21 walks and 80 hits allowed in 63.1 innings pitched ... Gagne-who is one win shy of becoming the first Irish freshman to post eight wins since 1990-ranked 2nd on the Irish squad with a 3.76 ERA in BIG EAST regular-season games, plus 17 Ks, 15 BB and 49 hits allowed in 38.1 IP.

BIG BUGABOO: Despite repeated success in the BIG EAST regular season, ND has yet to solve the tournament ... ND's first three trips resulted in losses to the same team twice (West Virginia in '96, Villanova in '97 and Rutgers in '98) ... ND opened the '99 tournament with a win over WVU but dropping games to Seton Hall and Providence and lost a pair of one-run games to BC this season.

WALK THIS WAY: Notre Dame closed the regular season by posting a game-winning home run in each of the final three weekend series, with three different players providing the "walkoff" blasts: senior 1B Jeff Felker (vs. St. John's, 9-8), junior SS Alec Porzel (vs. Pittsburgh, 11-8 in 10 innings) and freshman RF Brian Stavisky (two-run shot vs. Rutgers, 4-3).

IRISH AMONG ERA LEADERS: ND entered last week ranked 14th in the nation with a 3.68 team ERA (now 3.79, with the new rankings yet to be released) ... the Irish pitchers have allowed 0-3 earned runs in 36 games while the ND defense has played 37 games with 0-1 errors ... the Irish held the national ERA lead for one week, after owning a mark of 2.72 on April 24.

SUPER STAFF: Notre Dame finished '98 ranked 12th in the nation with a 4.02 ERA and posted a 5.15 ERA in '99, with 12 of 13 current ND pitchers having an ERA that is lower than that number (8 are under 3.70) ... 6th-year ND pitching coach Brian O'Connor-who pitched in the CWS while at Creighton-has overseen the ND pitching staff's rise among the national ERA leaders ... the 13-member staff includes four freshmen, two sophomores, a junior who missed most of '98 and all of '99 before "Tommy John" surgery (Danny Tamayo) and a senior who did not pitch in '99 while preparing for his medical school tests (Tom O'Hagan) ... just three of the nine veterans had logged 50-plus career innings prior to 2000: junior Aaron Heilman (176) and seniors Scott Cavey (94.1) and John Corbin (66.1) ... the Irish lost three top pitchers from '99: senior Alex Shilliday (career stats of 65 GP, 290 IP, 25-17, 4.41, 265 Ks), senior LHP Chris McKeown (53 GP, 182.1 IP, 13-7, 3.85, 153 Ks) and junior LHP Tim Kalita (47 GP, 214 IP, 11-3, 4.00, 214 KS) ... that threesome combined for 165 appearances, 687 IP, a 49-27 record and 664 Ks.

MORE ON THE ND STAFF: The current 3.79 ERA would rank best by an ND staff since the '94 Irish pitchers finished at 3.25 (and 5th-best since 1971) ... the ND pitchers have nearly a 3-to-1 K-to-walk ratio (2.69, 441/164), which would blow away the team record of 2.40 (set in '63) ... the staff's 2.95 BB/9 IP (164/501) also is on pace to challenge the team record (2.82 in '94) ... the ND defense (.965) remains a threat to the team record for season fielding pct. (.965, '82, '92) and has turned nearly one double play per game (50 in 59) ... ND's opponents in 2000 have included four of the nation's top hitting teams (five games vs. BC, plus games vs. Air Force, Chicago St. and Wis.-Milwaukee) and two of the nation's top-scoring teams (Wake Forest and Georgia), plus noteworthy games vs. Ohio State, Minnesota, Georgia, North Florida (the nation's top-ranked Div. II team) and Illinois (2) ... two of Brian O'Connor's former pitchers-RHP Brad Lidge ('96-'98, 17th pick in 1st round by Houston) and LHP Tim Kalita ('97-'99, 7th-round in '99 by Detroit)-developed into high draft picks while at ND (Lidge was a 42nd-rounder out of HS, Kalita was not drafted) ... junior RHP Aaron Heilman currently is rated as high as the No. 3 prospect in college baseball, after being a 54th-round pick out of HS.

PUSHING 40: A May 6 sweep of Pittsburgh landed the ND baseball team (40-12) on 40 victories in the 2nd-fewest games in team history (trailing only the 1990 team, which opened 40-10) ... ND has secured the Irish baseball program's 12th consecutive season with 40-plus victories ... ND owns the nation's 4th-longest active streak of consecutive seasons with 40-plus wins (Florida State is 45-15, for its 23rd straight 40-win season, while Clemson is 45-16 and owns 14 straight 40-win seasons) ... Wichita State (42-19) last week secured its 23rd straight season with 40-plus wins while Oklahoma State (36-22) saw an end to its streak of 20 straight seasons with 40-plus wins.

EASY AS 1-2-3: Despite sporting just a .298 team batting avg., averaging just 7.1 runs/gm and lacking a true cleanup hitter, the ND offense has shown signs of awakening in recent weeks-led by the first three batters in the lineup: sophomore DH Ken Meyer, sophomore CF Steve Stanley and junior SS Alec Porzel ... Meyer has been a spark at the leadoff spot, starting each of the last 15 games while helping the Irish hit .320 in that stretch ... in particular, Meyer's presence appears to have boosted the play of Stanley and Porzel ... in fact, Porzel (38-for-95) and Stanley (32-for-80) both hit an even .400 in the first 22 games that Meyer started this season (compared to .311 and .328 in games where Meyer had not started) ... the Irish headed into early April with just a .289 team batting avg. before inserting Meyer into the lineup, for his second start of the season ... since that April 2 game at UConn, Meyer has started 27 of the last 36 games and the Irish are hitting .306 during that 36-game stretch ... not surprisingly, Meyer (.364), Porzel (.340) and Stanley (.291) also lead the team for batting avg. in games decided by one run or in extra innings (the rest of the team is hitting .241 in those games).

MORE ON THE TOP OF THE LINEUP: Leadoff batter Ken Meyer (.358, 20 RBI, 31 R, 3 HR) leads the Irish with a .610 slugging pct. and had hits in 11 of the last 12 BIG EAST games ... Meyer's regular position in the lineup helped him surge to a 2nd-place finish on the BIG EAST hitting charts for conference games, at .438 (28-for-64, with a min. of 63 ABs to qualify) ... RU's Joe Cirone claimed the batting title (.457) but Meyer's .797 slugging in conference games ranked higher than any player on the batting avg. list (the slugging leaders require player in 75 pct. of the team games, Meyer played in 17 of 25a) ... Steve Stanley-who hit primarily leadoff in '99 and for much of 2000-has made 38 starts at the No. 2 spot, where he can utilize his tough bunting skills and speed to wreck havoc with runners on base ... Stanley carried a career-best, 16-game hitting streak into the Rutgers series (28-for-59/.475, longest by an ND player this season) but it was snapped in the opener (0-for-3) ... Stanley owns a .361 overall batting avg., plus 46 runs, 23 RBI, 32 walks and 27 stolen bases ... Alec Porzel has spent most of 2000 in the No. 3 spot (55 games, after hitting there in 50 games in '99)-a spot that most coaches view as being more crucial than cleanup ... Porzel has a .344 season avg., including a 14-for-27 effort (.519) from May 1-7, and has proven to be one of the BIG EAST's top all-around offensive players, with nine HRs, four 3Bs, 21 2Bs and a team-best 54 RBI.

SUBTLE BUT OFTEN CRUCIAL: Despite seeing its team batting avg. drop from .307 in '99 to .298 this season, the ND offense has made noteworthy improvements in some often-overlooked areas ... specifically, the Irish batters have grounded into just 21 double plays this season (compared to 41 in '99) while the ND hitters have dropped the team strikeout total from 316 in '99 to 240 this season ... ND's current average of 8.18 at-bats per strikeout is the best AB-to-K ratio by an Irish team since 1982.

BACK ON THE ROAD: Notre Dame closed the regular season with a 13-game homestand, after playing 29 of its first 43 games away from home and posting a 22-7 record in those games (including wins in 12 different stadiums) ... from April 15-26, the Irish played nine road games (plus a home DH) in a span of 12 days-and in six different cities-with ND posting a 9-2 record during that stretch.

A WINNING TRADITION: In five BIG EAST seasons, ND has posted 34 series wins, five series losses and five series ties ... the Irish have won 17 of their last 19 BIG EAST series (with a '99 series tie at RU and a '99 series loss to SJU) and 29 of the last 34 (with three ties) ... Notre Dame has played 42 all-time BIG EAST doubleheaders, sweeping 21 of them (with 17 splits and just two sweeps by the opponent) ... the Irish have played 33 straight BIG EAST doubleheaders since the last time they were swept by the opponent (at Seton Hall, on March 22, 1997) ... the only other doubleheader sweep by a BIG EAST team over ND was by West Virginia in '96 (at ND) ... the Irish have played 23 BIG EAST series at Eck Stadium, winning 19 (plus one tie) ... the Irish have won their last nine home BIG EAST series, since dropping a series to SJU late in '98.

ND's BIG EAST SERIES HISTORY
(includes two 1-0 weekends)

Series wins Series losses Series ties
1996 5 2 (WVU, RU) 2 (PC, UConn)
1997 6 1 (SHU) 2 (WVU, Pitt)
1998 6 1 (SJU) 0
1999 8 1 (SJU) 1(RU)
2000 9 0 0
Totals 34 5 5

ND's BIG EAST DOUBLEHEADER HISTORY

ND sweep Splits Opp. Sweep
1996 3 4 1 (WVU)
1997 4 3 1 (SHU)
1998 4 3 0
1999 6 4 0
2000 5 4 0
Totals 22 18 2

SERIE-OUS WINNERS: The Irish have won all 12 multiple-game series that they have played this season, including seven three-game BIG EAST series, two BIG EAST doubleheaders, two games vs. Illinois and DHs vs. Chicago State and Oakland ... ND was the only BIG EAST team to win all nine of its conference series during the 2000 season, but the Irish failed to sweep any of their three-game league series (ND did sweep doubleheaders at Seton Hall and Georgetown during Easter weekend) ... the BIG EAST title ultimately came down to results vs. the teams that failed to make the BIG EAST Tournament, as the Irish lost to Villanova, St. John's and West Virginia (Rutgers swept three from both SJU and WVU but was rained out of a DH vs. Villanova) ... ND posted a 6-2 record vs. the other top-four finishers (RU was a combined 4-5 vs. ND, SHU and UConn).

THREE MORE?: Despite a noticeable dropoff in the team's home run numbers (70 in '99, 46 in 2000), ND once again has a shot to post three players with 10-plus home runs-something which the Irish accomplished in '97 and '98 before coming up short in '99 ... freshman RF Brian Stavisky ranks 3rd in the BIG EAST with 14 HRs while junior SS Alec Porzel has left the park nine times-including six HRs in the last 14 games (he closed '99 with five HRs in his last 8 games) ... another surging ND player, sophomore C/LF Paul O'Toole, has seven HRs for the season but three in the last eight games ... O'Toole had a late HR flurry of his own in '99, when he became the first ND player ever to homer in four straight postseason games (three in the NCAAs) ... ND's 70 HRs in '99 included 17 from junior SS Brant Ust and 13 from Porzel while current senior 1B Jeff Felker had nine last season (O'Toole finished with eight, as did senior DH Jeff Wagner) ... Wagner (17) and Ust (11) were part of the first Irish threesome with 10-plus HRs, joining Mike Amrhein (14) in '97 ... Wagner (14) and Ust (18) repeated the feat in '98, alongside J.J. Brock (13).

IRISH SWEEP WEEKLY AWARDS: ND became the first team to sweep the weekly BIG EAST Conference baseball awards in 2000, as junior SS Alec Porzel (see note later in release), junior RHP Aaron Heilman and freshman 2B Kris Billmaier were honored for their accomplishments during May 1-7 ... Porzel was named player of the week while Heilman earned his 8th career pitcher-of-the-week award and his 4th of the 2000 season ... no other player in BIG EAST history has totaled more than four career player or pitcher-of-the-week awards while Heilman's four awards in 2000 represent the most in one season ever by a BIG EAST player (he shared the previous record, with three in '99) ... Billmaier shared BIG EAST rookie-of-the-week honors with Pittsburgh 1B Brant Colamarino.

INJURY REPORT: Compared to a 1999 season that saw three ND starting position players miss 88 combined games, the 2000 season has featured a fairly consistent cast of characters for the Irish ... starting 2B Jeff Perconte missed 11 games (March 5-22) after reaggravating a shoulder injury and has struggled to regain his form at the plate, as he no longer is able to switch hit ... starting C Paul O'Toole was limited to not playing (he did not start in a total of nine games) and DH duty for a 25-game midseason stretch, due to an elbow problem (he returned to platooning as starting catcher in late April) ... junior RHP Danny Tamayo missed a month (mid-March to mid-April) due to tendonitis (he was inactive for 23 games) but steadily has gained strength and could play a key role in the BIG EAST Tournament ... freshman RHP Peter Ogilvie has missed the entire season due to a sprained elbow (he was expected to be a key member of the middle relief crew).

GOING, GOING ... NOT GONE: Home runs truly have been at a premium in college baseball during the 2000 season, as the national average has dipped 20 percent-from 0.95 per game to 0.77 ... the HR production has dropped even more among BIG EAST teams (from 1.01/gm in '99 to 0.70 this season-a drop of 30 percent) ... ND totaled 46 home runs in the 2000 regular season (compared to 60 in '99) and the Irish likely will post their lowest season home run total since the 1996 season (58, followed by season HR totals of 66-73-70 from '97-'99) ... freshman RF Brian Stavisky (14) has accounted for roughly one-third of the Irish home run total in the 2000 season, with just three others players owning more than four HRs: junior SS Alec Porzel (9), sophomore C/LF Paul O'Toole (7) and senior 1B Jeff Felker (6) ... the loss of the team's top two career HR leaders (Jeff Wagner, 49, and Brant Ust, 46) has left a void in the Irish lineup, but several players are capable of leaving the yard.

THE PRECIOUS LONG BALL: The dropoff in home runs has made them even more pivotal to the Irish success this season, as ND is just 16-12 in games this season when not hitting a home run, compared to 27-4 when the Irish hit a least one homer (8-2 with two-plus) ... the Irish head into the NCAAs with home runs in nine of the last 11 games and have totaled 26 home runs in the last 19 games.

SIX-RUN PLATEAU: Despite ND's dropoff in team batting average (.307 in '99, .298 in 2000) and scoring (from 7.5 runs/9 IP to 7.2), the Irish have used consistently effective pitching and defense to compile one of the nation's top won-loss records ... in fact, ND is 26-4 this season when scoring six-plus runs-with the losses coming in the second week of the season to Minnesota (9-7) and in recent losses to Western Michigan (11-7), Pittsburgh (22-18) and Rutgers (16-6).

SAVE SOME FOR ME!: The Notre Dame pitching staff has tied the team record for saves in a season, matching the 15 posted last season ... senior RHP John Corbin has the bulk of the team's saves-with an Irish season record total of 11-while junior LHP Mike Naumann (1) and sophomore RHPs Matt Buchmeier (2) and Drew Duff (1) also have picked up saves during the 2000 campaign.

K CREW STILL KICKING: The Irish pitching staff, under the direction of sixth-year assistant coach Brian O'Connor, has surged in the second half of the 2000 season en route to totaling the third-most strikeouts (432) ever by an ND staff (trailing just the 478 in '99 and the 456 in '98) ... the ND pitchers averaged 8.2 Ks per 9 IP during the month of April before posting 16 in the seven-inning nightcap vs. Oakland on May 3 (setting an Eck Stadium record for Ks by one team) ... ND's overall season average is 7.9 Ks per 9 IP ... based on that average, the Irish would need to play three more games to post the 2nd-most Ks ever by an ND staff and would need six more games to challenge the '99 record total of 478.

MAKING 'EM EARN IT: The ND position players have compiled one of the top defensive seasons in Irish baseball history and defense has played a tangible role in the won-loss column, as five of ND's 16 losses in 2000 have been a result of unearned runs ... the Irish are just 11-11 this season when making two-plus errors but own a sparkling 32-5 mark when making 0-1 miscues in the field ... the current .965 season fielding pct. (78 errors in 59 games, 1.4/gm) is even with the team record set in '82 and matched in '92 (.965) ... ND has posted 19 error-free games in 2000, plus 18 with one error, 13 with two errors and nine with three-plus Es ... the Irish defense also is averaging nearly one double play per game (50), on pace to challenge the team record of 60 DPs set in 1998 ... senior 2B Jeff Perconte opened the season with 34 error-free games and has totaled just four errors for a .975 fielding pct. ... the other starter on the leftside has just five errors, as senior 1B Jeff Felker owns a .991 fielding pct. ... sophomore 3B Andrew Bushey (.934, 11 E) has turned in a solid season at the hot corner while sophomore CF Steve Stanley has made just two errors (.986).

STRESS RELIEVER: The strength of ND's pitching and defense in 2000 has led to a downturn in the team's number of close finishes and comeback wins ... the Irish have needed to rally in their final turn at-bat just eight times in 2000 (and four of those came in extra innings)-compared to 13 final-AB wins in '99 (one in extra innings) ... ND has posted just 11 wins with a margin of 1-2 runs (17 in '99) ... the Irish have totaled 17 "blowout" wins (5-plus runs) this season (just 11 in '99), with the team's average margin of victory rising from 3.6 in '99 to 4.4 this season ... ND has totaled 19 comeback wins in each of the last two seasons (five of the last 11 wins have seen ND battle from behind).

1999 2000
Comeback wins 19 19
Wins in final turn at-bat 13 8
Record in 1-run games 10-4 8-3
Record in extra-innings 1-1 4-0
Record in 1 or 2-run games 17-6 11-6
Wins by 5-plus runs 11 17
Average win margin 3.6 4.4

NARROWEST OF MARGINS: The ND baseball team posted an 8-1 mark in one-run games during the regular season (before losing twice to BC in the BIG EAST Tournament, 4-3 and 6-5), with wins in eight straight close games after a 5-4 defeat to Ohio State in the second game of the season ... the one-run wins include: Memphis (4-3), Butler (3-2), Iowa (3-2), Bowling Green (2-1), West Virginia (4-3), Michigan (5-4, 11 inn.), St. John's (9-8) and Rutgers (4-3) ... the Irish are 11-3 overall in games decided by one run or in extra innings, with the best ND hitters in those "close games" including sophomore DH Ken Meyer (.364, 12-for-33), sophomore CF Steve Stanley (.340, 18-for-53) and junior SS Alec Porzel (.291, 16-for-55)-with the rest of the team hitting just .240 in those 14 close games.

THAT'S WHY THERE'S FOUR BASES: The ND pitching staff opened the season with solid success versus leadoff batters, but the season average of leadoff batters reaching base has risen to 35.1 percent ... despite allowing an average of three leadoff batters to reach base in every 9-inning game, the Irish pitchers typically have buckled down with runners on base (.277 opponent batting average), with runners in scoring position (.280) and with two outs (.287)-all of which rank near the overall opponent batting avg. (.275).

WINS & LOSSES: ND's team stats have some glaring differences when comparing the 43 wins to the 16 losses, including: a .313 team batting avg. in the wins, .258 in the losses, a .973 team fielding pct. in the wins, .944 in the losses, and 20 unearned runs allowed in the wins (0.5/gm), compared to 41 in the losses (2.7/gm).

CLEARING THE COBWEBS: After repeated first-inning struggles during the first half of the season, ND now owns a 33-26 scoring edge in the 1st inning and a 121-84 edge in the first three innings ... the Irish have dominated most in the 4th inning (41-17) and own a 195-142 scoring edge from the 5th-8th innings (+53, in 59 games).

IN THE CLUTCH: Despite hitting just .298 as a team, the ND offense has performed noticeably better with runners on base (.319) and is hitting .311 with runners in scoring position ... top Irish hitters with runners in scoring position include four sophomores: LF/DH Matt Strickroth (.435), DH/1B Ken Meyer (.394), DH/C Matt Bok (.389) and CF Steve Stanley (.380).

SELECT COMPANY: ND's Aaron Heilman (2.21, 10-1) was one of three pitchers in the nation who are ranked among the top-25 ERA leaders and had 10-plus wins as of May 6 ... the others were former teammates of Heilman's from the 1999 USA Baseball national team: Stetson's Lenny Dinardo (2.13, 13-1) and Houston's Kyle Crowell (1.98, 11-2).

HEILMAN UPGRADED TO NO. 3 PROSPECT: Baseball America magazine upgraded ND junior RGP Aaron Heilman to the No. 3-rated prospect in college baseball, based on reports filed in early April (prior to Heilman's 18-K game at WVU) ... Heilman entered the 2000 season as the No. 9-rated prospect in college baseball, according to BA's annual survey of major league scouting directors.

BASEBALL AMERICA UPDATED DRAFT FORECAST (April 15): " ... The best attribute among other top pitching prospects has been consistency. No scouting director with a pick among the first 10 in the draft will come out and say, 'Id love to get a shot at Justin Wayne or Aaron Heilman or Beau Hale,' but most acknowledge that all three would be on a short list. ... Wayne has compiled a 22-2 record in three years at Stanford and has been unhittable at times this spring. His stuff is solid across the board and he pitches with maturity and purpose. ... Heilman had limited opportunity to impress scouts because of Notre Dame's early schedule, but his 93 mph sinking fastball is one of the most effective pitches in college baseball. ... Hale throws harder than either Wayne or Heilman, consistently touching 94-95 mph, but he doesn't have the secondary pitches or movement on his fastball of the other two. ... "

BA's TOP 25 COLLEGE PROSPECTS (April 15): 1. Ben Diggins, rhp/1b, Arizona , 2. Justin Wayne, rhp, Stanford, 3. Aaron Heilman, rhp, Notre Dame, 4. Dane Sardinha, c, Pepperdine, 5. Tyrell Godwin, of, North Carolina, 6. Xavier Nady, 3b, California, 7. Beau Hale, rhp, Texas, 8. Daylan Holt, of, Texas A&M, 9. Joe Borchard, of, Stanford, 10. Chris Bootcheck, rhp, Auburn, 11. Patrick Boyd, of, Clemson, 12. Taggert Bozied, 1b, San Francisco, 13. Jason Young, rhp, Stanford, 14. Rob Henkel, lhp, UCLA, 15. Adam Johnson, rhp, CS Fullerton, 16. Chase Utley, 2b, UCLA, 17. Chad Qualls, rhp, Nevada , 18. Tim Hummel, ss, Old Dominion, 19. Mike Tonis, c, California, 20. Eric Henderson, lhp, North Carolina, 21. Lance Niekro, 3b, Florida Southern, 22. Tommy Murphy, ss, Florida Atlantic, 23. Aaron Krawiec, lhp, Villanova, 24. Bill Traber, lhp, Loyola Marymount, 25. Cory Vance, lhp, Georgia Tech.

2000 DRAFT ORDER (June 5-7): 1. Florida, 2. Minnesota, 3. Chicago Cubs, 4. Kansas City, 5. Montreal, 6. Tampa Bay, 7. Colorado, 8. Detroit, 9. San Diego, 10. California, 11. Milwaukee, 12. Chicago White Sox, 13. St. Louis, 14. Baltimore, 15. Philadelphia, 16. N.Y. Mets, 17. Los Angeles, 18. Toronto, 19. Pittsburgh, 20. California, 21. San Francisco, 22. Boston, 23. Cincinnati, 24. St. Louis, 25. Texas, 26. Cleveland, 27. Houston, 28. N.Y. Yankees, 29. Atlanta.

HEILMAN'S STREAK ENDS AT 10: Aaron Heilman headed into the Rutgers series with victories in each of his last 10 decisions but the Knights handed Heilman his second loss of the 2000 season ... his previous loss came to Ohio State in the first week of the season (5-4), after his errant throw starting a double play led to two unearned runs and a squandered 4-0 lead) ... Heilman became the second ND pitcher-and the first since 1908-to win 10 straight decisions (Frank Scanlan posted a 10-0 record in '08).

HEILMAN IN THE ND RECORD BOOK: Irish junior RHP Aaron Heilman needs six Ks to break his own ND season record (118, '99) and needs seven to surpass David Sinnes' ND career record (315) ... he also ranks 7th at Notre Dame in career appearances (67), 8th in innings (273.1) and 6th in career victories (28, two out of 4th) while his .800 career winning pct. (28-7) ranks 6th all-time at ND and best since 1924 (among pitchers with 20-plus decisions) ... Heilman's other single-season stats have him tied for 6th in the ND record book for complete games (8), tied for 7th in wins (10-2) and 11th in low opponent batting avg., since 1991 (.234) ... he needs two more wins to join Tom Price as the only ND player ever to post 12-plus wins in a season (Price won 14 in '94, 12 in '93) ... Heilman's 2.70 career ERA ranks 5th-best in ND history, behind the 1959-61 duo of Nick Palihnich (2.36) and Jack Mitchell (2.44), Larry Mohs (2.52, '94-'97) and Phil Donnelly (2.65, '61-'63) ... Heilman (273.1) has logged considerably more innings in his career than the above four players (Palihnich and Mitchell each totaled 149 IP, Mohs 118, Donnelly 113) ... Heilman (12 vs. Georgia, 18 at WVU) is the 2nd ND player-and 1st in 96 years-to post 12-plus Ks in multiple games, joining future Chicago Cubs World Series championship team member Ed Reulbach (who had 16 vs. both Indiana and Beloit in the 1904 season) ... Heilman actually owns a better career record in away games (15-2) than at Eck Stadium (13-5).

HEILMAN TIES BIG EAST MARK WITH 18 Ks: Notre Dame junior RHP Aaron Heilman (Logansport, Ind.) tied a BIG EAST Conference record and came just shy of the ND record with an 18-strikeout effort and a 3-1 victory in 10 innings at West Virginia on April 15 (the game was scheduled for seven innings) ... Heilman-whose previous career best was 12 Ks, earlier this season vs. Georgia-seemingly became stronger as the game wore on, spotting his patented tough slider with regularity in the closing innings while delivering a fastball that still touched 91 miles-per hour in the lategoing ... he retired 15 straight batters from the 5th-10th innings and struck out 10 of the final 12 batters he faced, including seven straight before yielding a single by Todd Cisneros with two outs in the 10th ... Kevin Olkowski-who had two of WVU's six hits-went down swinging on three pitches to end the game.

Heilman tied the BIG EAST record set by Seton Hall's Jason Grilli in a 7-2 win over UConn '97 (Grilli went on to become the 4th pick in the '97 draft, by the S.F. Giants) ... Frank Carpin is the only other ND pitcher ever to record 18-plus Ks in a game, with 19 in a 10-inning win over Indiana on April 16, 1958 (12-10) ... one mark that did fall was the Hawley Field record for Ks in a game, as former WVU pitchers Kim West (vs. Geneva, '71) and Wes Shaw (vs. Fairmont State, '89) had shared that record with 16-strikeout games.

Heilman's memorable day included just six hits and two BB, with 11 groundball outs and just one flyout ... all nine WVU starters--plus reserve Matt McGee--were K victims, with Mike Frownfelter and Eddie Weightman each registering three (four others had two) ... Heilman's Ks by inning progressed as follows: 1-3-0-2-2-0-2-2-3-3 ... six came on called third strikes while just two came on 3-2 counts (three on 0-2) ... Heilman reached three-ball counts vs. just seven of the 39 batters he faced ... WVU scored its lone run in the 2nd inning.

WE REALLY MISS THAT GUY: Senior 1B and cleanup hitter Jeff Felker has missed four games to an assortment of injuries in 2000 and the Irish have struggled in each game, dropping an early 6-1 game to Division II power North Florida (ND's backup 1B made a costly error in that game) before struggling to get by Bowling Green in midseason, 2-1 (Felker missed the game after taking a ball off the face in BP) ... he then missed the final two games of the May 6-7 Pittsburgh series with a foot injury and ND had to rally to win the May 6 nightcap, 11-8 in 10 innings, before losing the series finale, 22-18.

ND RECORD BOOK UPDATE: Junior SS Alec Porzel is tied for 7th on the ND career home runs list (29) ... Porzel's 10 triples rank 9th in ND history (Gene Duffy had 11 from '57-'59) and he also ranks 9th with 46 career doubles (Joe Binkiewicz had 48 from '89-'92) ... in terms of single-seasons stats, Porzel's 21 doubles in 2000 already are tied for 5th in the ND record book while his eight sacrifice flies are tied for 2nd, one back of the record set by Robbie Kent in 1994 ... senior 1B Jeff Felker ranks 4th at ND for career games played (223) and career starts (215) ... Felker also ranks 4th in career at-bats (770), is tied for 10th in career triples (9) and ranks 8th on the career hits list (237) ... Felker's 56 career doubles rank 4th in ND history, trailing only Danapilis (61), Peltier (60) and Amrhein (58), while he also ranks 10th for times hit-by-pitch in a career (16) ... Felker (237, 56, 9), J.J. Brock (272, 42, 16) and Amrhein (269, 58, 9) are the only players currently ranked among ND's top-10 career leaders for hits, doubles and triples ... senior RHP John Corbin's 65 appearances rank 10th in Irish history ... Corbin also owns the ND career and season saves records, with 20 overall and 11 in 2000 ... sophomore CF Steve Stanley (27-for-35) has joined Pesavento (38 in both '88 and '89) as the only ND players ever to steal 24-plus bases in consecutive seasons (he also had 24 in '99) ... Stanley already stands 5th on the ND career SB list, with 51 (his 27 SBs this season rank 7th in ND history, one behind Matt Haas' '93 total) ... freshman RF Brian Stavisky (14) is the 10th ND player to hit 14-plus HRs in a season (only six have hit 16-plus).

GOOSE ON THE LOOSE: Sophomore DH Ken Meyer-nicknamed "Mongoose" due to his deceptive speed-continues to spark the Irish from the leadoff spot and turned in an impressive series vs. St. John's on April 29-30, batting 8-for-12 (.667) with 18 total bases, including a home run, two triples and three doubles ... he reached base nine times in the SJU series (also a HBP) and scored six runs in the three games (he reached on 11-of-15/.773 of his leadoff at-bats during the entire week) ... in the 8-3 win over SJU, Meyer doubled and scored in both the 1st and 3rd before tripling and scoring in the 6th (all were leadoff ABs) ... in the 6-4 loss to SJU, he hit another leadoff triple and scored ... the 'goose continued his strong play the next week in the Pitt series (5-for-13, 3 2B, 3 RBI, 2 R) before closing the regular season with a 5-for-12 series (2 RBI, 5 R, 2B, 3B) vs. a Rutgers pitching staff that was ranked 3rd in the nation for team ERA ... Meyer collected hits in 10 straight BIG EAST games before going 0-for-4 in the second game of the RU series and hit .447 in the final 13 BIG EAST games of the 2000 season.

GO THE DISTANCE: ND surprisingly has produced the BIG EAST's top-three leaders in triples: freshman RF Brian Stavisky (5), sophomore DH Ken Meyer (5) and junior SS Alec Porzel (4) ... Stavisky totaled just three triples in his entire prep career (due to the smaller ballparks) while Meyer did not have a triple in 60 ABs as a freshman ... Porzel tripled in four consecutive games early in '99 (that ended up being his season total) and is tied for 9th in Irish history with 10 career three-baggers.

IRON MAN: Due to a midseason arm injury to sophomore Paul O'Toole, senior Matt Nussbaum has shouldered much of the recent catching duties for ND and logged 57 percent of the innings behind the plate during the regular season (270 of 474) ... Nussbaum caught 19 straight games from April 1-22 (he caught 136 of 160 innings in that stretch, or 85%) and turned in an 11-game stretch from April 11-22 that saw him behind the plate for 88 of 91 innings.

PRIME-TIME PLAYER: ND junior SS Alec Porzel has made a name for himself when it comes to game-ending home runs ... in addition to his 10th-inning blast vs. Pittsburgh (11-8) this season on May 7, Porzel also beat Pitt with a first-pitch, walkoff HR to cap the 1999 ND-Pitt series (3-2, in the 9th) ... as a freshman, he ended the longest game in Eck Stadium history with a 15th-inning homer vs. West Virginia (5-3) ... most recently, Porzel's first career grand slam broke an 7-7 tie in the 8th inning of the BIG EAST Tournament win over Pitt (15-7).

DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?: Junior SS Alec Porzel (Lisle, Ill.) closed the week of May 1-7 in the series finale vs. Pitt (a 22-18 loss) with one of the most noteworthy accomplishments in the history of ND baseball, by batting 6-for-6 and hitting for the cycle-including both a traditional and an inside-the-park home run ... he became the first player to record six hits in a game in the 109-year history of ND baseball and is the first Irish player to hit for the cycle since at least the mid-1980s (boxscore records are incomplete prior to '85)-with the addition of an inside-the-park HR making his day one of the more unique accomplishments in baseball ... Porzel tied the BIG EAST single-game hit record, joining former SHU players Dana Brown (vs. Villanova, '89) and Josh Vath (vs. UConn, '98), and his 15 total bases came three shy of the BIG EAST record set by UConn's Jeff Uccello in a '96 game vs. BC (4 HRs, 2B) ... he is just the second known ND player to record 5-plus hits in a losing effort (Dan Peltier went 5-for-7 in a 16-15 loss to Detroit at the '89 MCC Tournament) ... despite playing in 165 career games with ND, Porzel had registered 4-plus hits just once previously: 4-for-5 earlier this season at UConn (April 2) ... it also marked just the second game in his ND career that Porzel has been credited with two home runs ... his previous 2-HR game also was unconventional, as he hit one on May 19, 1999, and one the next day-in a rain-suspended BIG EAST Tournament game vs. WVU ... Porzel's six-hit game included: an RBI triple to RC in the 1st (1 out, 0-2 pitch), a 2-out, 2-1 hit to shallow LC that kicked past the sliding CF and rolled to the track for an inside-the-parker, a 2-out, 1st-pitch single to CF in the 5th, a leadoff HR to left in the 8th (his third 2-strike hit of the game), and a 1-0, leadoff single through the left side in the 9th.

MULTI-HEADED MONSTER: Like Irish junior SS Alec Porzel-who has 29 home runs and 10 triples in his career-freshman RF Brian Stavisky has proven to be more than a simple power hitter (Baseball America tabbed him as having the "best raw power" of any player in the BIG EAST) ... Stavisky has fashioned possibly the top all-around offensive season by any BIG EAST rookie, ranking 3rd in the BIG EAST with 14 home runs, plus a .298 batting avg., 41 RBI, a league-leading five triples and 14 doubles ... the 6-3, 230-pound lefty also ranks 2nd in the BIG EAST with 134 total bases and 10th with a .588 overall slugging pct. ... in BIG EAST games only, Stavisky ranked 2nd in total bases (61, behind Porzel's 64) and 3rd in conference slugging pct., at .663 ... despite his struggles at times this season, Stavisky had hits in 44 games this season and has gone hitless in consecutive games just twice (both were two-game slumps): April 12-13 vs. Bowling Green and Toledo and May 7 and 13th vs. Pitt and Rutgers ... after that first pair of hitless games, Stavisky batted .322 (29-for-90) in the next 24 games ... one of two ND players to start all 59 games this season (sophomore CF Steve Stanley is the other), Stavisky also has made strides in cutting down his strikeouts-as he totaled 25 Ks in the first 28 games but has just eight in the last 21 (and just two Ks in the last 11 games).

HEATING UP IN MAY: During the past two seasons, Paul O'Toole has posted impressive numbers in 24 games during the month of May (not including the 200 BIG EAST Tournament): 35-for-88 (.398), 8 HRs, 3B, 7 2Bs, .773 slugging, 25 RBI, 25 runs, 5-8 SBs, 5 BB and just 5 Ks ... in 16 career May games at Eck Stadium, O'Toole is hitting .458 (27-for-59) with .915 slugging (7 HR, 3B, 4 2B), 18 RBI and 19 runs.

WINDING ROAD TO SAVE RECORD: ND senior RHP John Corbin (Hollywood, Fla.) set the Irish single-season record with his 11th save of the 2000 campaign, in the 5-3 nightcap vs. Oakland on May 3 ... Corbin-who had squandered two save chances during the previous weekend in the St. John's series-also is the ND career save leader with 20, well ahead of the three players who previously had held the record with 12 (current junior Aaron Heilman was one of those previous record-holders).

SEE THE BALL, HIT THE BALL: Sophomore DH Ken Meyer has compiled an unusually high ratio of hits to walks during the 2000 season, as the righthander has totaled 44 hits while drawing just three walks (two of which came in the final two regular-season series) ... Meyer also has shown an affection for extra-base hits, as roughly half of his hits (24) have produced singles, plus 12 2B, five 3B and three HRs- producing his team-best .610 slugging pct.

PENCIL THEM IN: Freshman RF Brian Stavisky and sophomore CF Steve Stanley have started all 59 games at their respective positions while junior Alec Porzel has started 57 at SS (he missed two early games in Jacksonville due to a foot injury) ... Stanley was one of two ND players to start in all 61 games of the '99 season (SS Brant Ust was the other) and has started in 120 straight to begin his career (Ust started every game ND played in his three-year career, logging 179 straight starts) ... senior 1B Jeff Felker has played in 223 of 239 ND games during his career (with 215 starts) while Porzel has played in 171 of 179 during the past three seasons (with 166 starts).

INDECISION: Despite ranking 2nd on the ND staff with 11 starts, senior RHP Scott Cavey has posted just eight decisions (6-2) ... his last three regular-season outings resulted in no-decisions: he left the April 29 nightcap vs. St. John's with a 2-1 lead in the 8th onto to see the Red Storm rally for a 6-4 win, a week later, he headed into the 5th inning of a 2-2 game with Pitt but gave up four runs while registering just two outs (ND rallied to win 11-8 in 10), finally, in the second game of the RU series, Cavey entered the 6th with a 2-1 lead but gave up a leadoff HR before leaving the game moments later (the Irish went on win in the 9th, 4-3).

THE X FACTORS: Three Notre Dame players have shown noticeably different production in the Irish wins and losses this season: sophomore DH Ken Meyer (.419 batting avg. in wins, .216 in losses-for a .203 differential), senior 1B Jeff Felker (.338 in wins, .173 in losses, .165 differential) and sophomore C/LF Paul O'Toole (.347 in wins, .200 in losses, .147 diff.) ... in fact, during ND's last eight losses, the above three players have combined to hit just 17-for-87 (.195):

  • West Virginia (1-for-12): Meyer 0-for-4 ... O'Toole 0-for-4 ... Felker 1-for-4
  • Western Michigan (1-for-12): Meyer 0-for-4 ... O'Toole 0-for-4 ... Felker 1-for-4
  • St. John's (2-for-10) Meyer 1-for-3 ... O'Toole 1-for-3 ... Felker 0-for-4
  • Northwestern (1-for-13) Meyer 0-for-5 ... O'Toole 0-for-4 ... Felker 1-for-4
  • Pittsburgh (3-for-11) Meyer 1-for-5 ... O'Toole 2-for-6 ... Felker dnp (inj.)
  • Rutgers (3-for-6) Meyer 2-for-4 ... O'Toole dnp ... Felker 1-for-2
  • Boston College (3-for-11) Meyer 2-for-4 ... O'Toole 1-for-4 ... Felker 0-for-3
  • Boston College (3-for-12) Meyer 1-for-5 ... O'Toole 1-for-4 ... Felker 1-for-3

HEAD COACH PAUL MAINIERI: Sixth-year ND head coach Paul Mainieri owns a 584-388 (.601) record in 17-plus seasons as a college head coach, surpassing the 500-win milestone in the Feb. 27, 1999, win at New Orleans (14-11) ... in addition to his 252-109 (.698) mark with the Irish, Mainieri's teams were 180-121 in his six seasons at St. Thomas (Fla.) and 152-158 in six seasons at Air Force ... Mainieri experienced two noteworthy homecomings in '99, making his third return to the University of New Orleans (where he played) with the Irish baseball program and his third return to his hometown of Miami as the Notre Dame coach ... Mainieri coached his 800th career game on Feb. 20, 1998, at the University of Miami, after a Feb. 15 game at UNO was rained out ... he notched his 499th career win in the 1999 season opener versus James Madison, in a game played in Miami at Florida International (Feb. 19) ... Mainieri's 252 wins rank third at ND, behind Pat Murphy (318, '88-'94) and Jake Kline (558, '34-'75) ... Mainieri has seen 20 of his Irish players go on to pro baseball, with 14 selected in the major-league draft ... 15 of his players at St. Thomas went on to pro baseball, including three-Joe Klink, Dane Johnson and Dan Rohrmeier-who have played in the major leagues ... Mainieri and his father Demie are the only known father-son combo in college baseball history to top 500 career coaching wins ... Demie won 1,018 in his 30-year career at Miami-Dade North CC ... Mainieri picked up his 200th win at Notre Dame in the 7-6 win over Oakland on April 30 ,1999 ... he coached his 900th college game in the opener at Georgetown on May 8, 1999.

CONFERENCE WINNING PCT.: Over the course of its first five seasons in the BIG EAST Conference, ND ranks first in the conference with: a .710 overall winning pct. (210-86, Rutgers is second at .629/165-97-1), a .736 BIG EAST regular-season winning pct. (81-29, Rutgers is second at .711/82-33-1) and a .711 winning pct. in combined BIG EAST regular-season and tournament games (91-37, Rutgers is second at .686/88-40-1) ... St. John's owned the best BIG EAST Tournament winning pct. during the past four seasons (.625, 9-6), followed by ND at .524 (11-10) ... in fact, the double-elimination tournament has been the ultimate bugaboo for ND, with the same team providing the Irish losses during four of the five seasons (WVU in '96, Villanova in '97, RU in '98, BC in 2000) while the Irish were beaten by complete game-efforts from Seton Hall and Providence in Ô99. softball 46-14).

BET Game Notes

BOSTON COLLEGE 4, ND 3: BC's Mike Quirk was thrown out at the plate twice in the early innings but he hit a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the 9th (just his 2nd HR of the season, on an opposite-field shot to left) ... ND's J.P. Gagne turned in a solid six-inning performance (1 R, 7 H, 2 BB, 5 Ks) ... BC's Steve Langone tossed a compete game (2 ER, 8 H, 5 Ks) ... prior to the loss, ND had been 11-1 in games decided by one run or in extra innings (the previous close loss came on the second day of the season, 5-4 vs. Ohio State) ... ND's home run streak ended at eight games.

ND 15, PITTSBURGH 7: ND stared elimination in the face before staging an 8th-inning rally that saw eight straight batters reach base and produced 11 runs ... the 18-hit win was a breakthrough for the ND offense, which had averaged just five runs and nine hits in 19 previous BET games ... ND's big 8th inning set a BET record for runs in an inning and are the most ever scored in one inning by an ND team in the six-year tenure of head coach Paul Mainieri ... Brian Stavisky (4-for-5, 2 R, 2 R)) collected the most hits ever by an Irish player in the BET ... Alec Porzel hit the first grand slam of his Irish career-pushing the Irish to an 11-7 lead in the 8th ... Aaron Heilman suffered one of the roughest outings of his career, yielding a career-high seven earned runs in 6.1 innings, plus two walks and 11 hits (second-highest in his 67 career appearances) ... the ND offense bailed out their ace with the big 8th inning while Scott Cavey (6-2) logged 1.2 strong innings to minimize the damage and help set up the winning rally.

BC 6, ND 5: BC overcame an early 5-2 deficit and rode the first complete game of the season from senior LHP Brendan Nolan (9 H, BB, 6 Ks) ... Danny Tamayo (2-1) yielded the six runs on 12 hits and two walks over six innings, with two strikeouts ... the Eagles also received an assortment of stellar defensive plays in the infield ... Steve Stanley continued his strong play vs. BC, batting 4-for-4 with two runs scored (he is batting 18-for-30 in eight career games vs. BC) ... each of ND's last five losses in the BET have been to a complete game.

NOTRE DAME AMONG THE 2000 BIG EAST

Offensive Stat Leaders 

Conference Batting Average
	2.	Ken Meyer	.438
	6.	Alec Porzel	.375


Overall Hits
	3.	Steve Stanley	78
	6.	Alec Porzel	76


Conference Hits
	4.	Alec Porzel	36


Overall RBI
	6.	Alec Porzel	54


Conference RBI
	1.	Alec Porzel	27
	6.	Brian Stavisky	21


Overall Home Runs
	3.	Brian Staviksy	14
	7.	Alec Porzel	9


Conference Home Runs
	2.	Brian Staviksy	7
	4.	Alec Porzel	5


Overall Triples
	1.	Brian Stavisky	5
		Ken Meyer	5
	4.	Alec Porzel	4


Conference Triples
	1.	Ken Meyer	4
	2.	Brian Stavisky	3


Overall Doubles
	3.	Alec  Porzel	21
	6.	Jeff Felker	18


Conference Doubles
	1.	Alec  Porzel	11
	4.	Ken Meyer	9
	5.	Jeff Felker	8


Overall Total Bases
	2.	Brian Staviksy	134
	4.	Alec  Porzel	132


Conference Total Bases
	1.	Alec  Porzel	64
	2.	Brian Staviksy	61
	8.	Ken Meyer	51


Overall Slugging Percentage
	(-)	Ken Meyer	.610
	8.	Alec Porzel	.597
	9.	Brian Staviksy	.588


Conference Slugging Percentage
	(-)	Ken Meyer	.797
	2.	Alec  Porzel	.667
	3.	Brian Staviksy	.663


Overall Stolen Bases
	2.	Steve Stanley	27


Conference Stolen Bases
	3.	Steve Stanley	10


Conference Runs Scored
	4.	Brian Stavisky	23


Overall Walks
	5.	Steve Stanley	32

Pitching Stat Leaders 

Overall ERA
	8.	Aaron Heilman	3.04


Conference ERA
	8.	Aaron Heilman	3.07


Overall Wins
	1.	Aaron Heilman	10-2
	6.	J.P. Gagne	7-1


Conference Wins
	1.	Aaron Heilman	7-1
	4.	J.P. Gagne	5-1


Overall Strikeouts
	1.	Aaron Heilman	113


Conference Strikeouts
	1.	Aaron Heilman	66
	7.	Scott Cavey	45


Overall Saves
	1.	John Corbin	11


Conference Saves
	2.	John Corbin	3


Overall Innings Pitched
	3.	Aaron Heilman	97.2


Conference Innings Pitched
	4.	Aaron Heilman	55.2


Overall Opponent Batting Average
	5.	Aaron Heilman	.234
	10.	Scott Cavey	.250


Conference Opp. Batting Average
	3.	Aaron Heilman	.229


Overall Complete Games
	1.	Aaron Heilman	8


Conference Complete Games
	1.	Aaron Heilman	7


Overall Appearances
	1.	John Corbin	28
	2.	Mike Naumann	24


Conference Appearances
	2.	John Corbin	9


Overall Shutouts
	2.	Aaron Heilman	2


Conference Shutouts
	2.	Aaron Heilman	2

Team Stats (Overall)

Batting Average 7th (.298)
Slugging Pct. 6th (.451)
Home Runs 2nd (48)
On-Base Pct. 9th (.358)
Stolen Bases 7th (69)
ERA 3rd (3.79)
Strikeouts Per 9 IP (7.92)
Low Walks Per 9 IP (2.95)
Low Home Runs Allowed 5th (28)
Low Opp. Batting Avg. 4th (.275)
Complete Games 4th (9)
Saves 1st (15)
Fielding Pct. 1st (.965)
Double Plays 2nd (50)

Team Stats (Conference Games)

Batting Average 3rd (.305)
Slugging Pct. 4th (.490)
Home Runs 1st (28)
On-Base Pct. 5th (.369)
Stolen Bases 7th (21)
ERA 5th (4.52)
Strikeouts Per 9 IP (7.28)
Low Walks Per 9 IP (3.23)
Low Home Runs Allowed 3rd (13)
Low Opp. Batting Avg. 4th (.287)
Complete Games 9th (6)
Saves 1st (5)
Fielding Pct. 2nd (.968)
Double Plays 3rd (21)

Notre Dame Baseball Career Record Book
(Offensive Categories)

Games Played
1. J.J. Brock (1994-98) 238
2. Craig Counsell (1989-92) 236
3. Mike Coss (1988-91) 235
4. Jeff Felker (1997- ) 223
5. Cory Mee (1989-92) 219
6. Pat Pesavento (1986-89) 218
7. Joe Binkiewicz (1989-92) 217
Games Started
1. J.J. Brock (1994-98) 238
2. Craig Counsell (1989-92) 233
3. Mike Coss (1988-91) 218
4. Jeff Felker (1997- ) 215
4. Mike Amrhein (1994-97) 213
6. Eric Danapilis (1990-93) 209
At-Bats
1. J.J. Brock (1994-98) 860
2. Pat Pesavento (1986-89) 806
2. Craig Counsell (1989-92) 795
4. Jeff Felker (1997- ) 770
Runs Batted In
10. Ryan Topham (1993-95) 165
- Alec Porzel (1998- ) 152
- Jeff Felker (1997- ) 150
Hits
5. Dan Peltier (1987-89) 257
6. Brant Ust (1997-99) 243
7. Scott Sollmann (1994-96) 239
8. Jeff Felker (1997- ) 237
9. Craig Counsell (1989-92) 235
Home Runs
1. Jeff Wagner (1996-99) 49
2. Brant Ust (1997-99) 46
3. Frank Jacobs (1989-91) 37
Mike Amrhein (1994-97) 37
5. Ryan Topham (1993-95) 34
6. Joe Binkiewicz (1989-92) 33
7. Eric Danapilis (1990-93) 29
Alec Porzel (1998- ) 29
9. Tim Hutson (1985-88) 28
Dan Peltier (1987-89) 28
- Jeff Felker (1997- ) 22
Triples
8. Gene Duffy (1957-59) 11
9. Alec Porzel (1998- ) 10
10. Dan Voellinger (1977-80) 9
Greg Layson (1991-94) 9
Robbie Kent (1993-94) 9
Mike Amrhein (1994-97) 9
Jeff Felker (1997- ) 9
Doubles
1. Eric Danapilis (1990-93) 61
2. Dan Peltier (1987-89) 60
3. Mike Amrhein (1994-97) 58
4. Jeff Felker (1997- ) 56
5. Brant Ust (1997-99) 50
6. Craig Counsell (1989-92) 50
Jeff Wagner (1996-99) 50
8. Joe Binkiewicz (1989-92) 48
9. Alec Porzel (1998- ) 46
Runs Scored
10. Jeff Wagner (1996-99) 158
- Jeff Felker (1997- ) 143
Stolen Bases
4. Dan Bautch (1990-92) 68
5. Steve Stanley (1999- ) 51
Hit By Pitch
8. Rowan Richards (1993-96) 17
Allen Greene (1996-98) 17
10. Jeff Felker (1997- ) 16

Notre Dame Baseball Career Record Book

(Pitching Categories)

Earned Run Average
1. Nick Palihnich (1959-61) 2.36
2. Jack Mitchell (1959-61) 2.49
3. Larry Mohs (1994-97) 2.52
4. Phil Donnelly (1961-63) 2.65
5. Aaron Heilman (1998- ) 2.70
Strikeouts Thrown
1. David Sinnes (1990-93) 315
2. Aaron Heilman (1998- ) 309
2. Tom Price (1991-94) 276
Innings Pitched
7. Alex Shilliday (1996-99) 290.0
8. Aaron Heilman (1998- ) 273.1
Victories
3. David Sinnes (1990-93) 32-8
4. Al Walania (1990-93) 30-12
Darin Schmalz (1994-97) 30-13
6. Aaron Heilman (1998- ) 28-7
Appearances
7. Brian Piotrowicz (1987-90) 67
Aaron Heilman (1998- ) 67
9. Alex Shilliday (1996-99) 65
10. John Corbin (1997- ) 65
Saves
1. John Corbin (1997- ) 20
2. Mike Coffey (1988-90) 12
Chris Michalak (1990-93) 12
Aaron Heilman (1998- ) 12
Winning Pct.
(min. 16 decisions)
1. Herb Kelly ('12-'14) .917 (22-2)
2. Frank Scanlan ('07-'09) .864 (19-3)
3. Hugh Mageveney ('22-'24) .857 (18-3)
4. Scott Cavey ('97- ) .833 (15-3)
5. Bill Heyl ('09-'11) .818 (18-4)
6. Aaron Heilman ('98- ) .800 (28-7)
David Sinnes ('90-'93) .800 (32-8)
Tom Price ('91-'94) .800 (40-10)

Notre Dame Baseball Season Record Book
(Offensive Categories)

At Bats
3. Steve Stanley (1999) 242
4. Randall Brooks (1997) 235
5. Craig DeSensi (1995) 232
J.J. Brock (1998) 232
7. Mike Amrhein (1997) 231
8. Scott Sollmann (1995) 229
9. Brian Stavisky (2000) 228
10. Craig Counsell (1992) 227
- Alec Porzel (2000) 219
- Steve Stanley (2000) 216
- Jeff Felker (2000) 206
Hits
10. Pat Pesavento (1988) 87
- Steve Stanley (2000) 78
- Alec Porzel (2000) 76
RBI
10. Mike Amrhein (1995) 69
Jeff Wagner (1997) 69
- Alec Porzel (2000) 54
- Jeff Felker (2000) 46
Home Runs
1. Frank Jacobs (1991) 20
2. Tim Hutson (1988) 18
Ryan Topham (1995) 18
Brant Ust (1998) 18
5. Jeff Wagner (1997) 17
Brant Ust (1999) 17
7. Dan Peltier (1989) 15
Joe Binkiewicz (1991) 15
Alec Porzel (1999) 15
10. Mike Amrhein (1997) 14
Brian Stavisky (2000) 14
Doubles
1. Dan Peltier (1989) 32
4. Craig Counsell (1992) 22
5. Dan Peltier (1988) 21
Jeff Wagner (1997) 21
Alec Porzel (2000) 21
8. Craig DeSensi (1995) 20
Allen Greene (1997) 20
Brant Ust (1998) 20
11. George Restovich (1996) 19
- Jeff Felker (2000) 18
Times Hit-By-Pitch
10. Ed Lund (1989) 10
- Dan Bautch (1991) 10
- Paul O'Toole (2000) 8
- Ken Meyer (2000) .7
Stolen Bases
6. Matt Haas (1993) 28
7. Steve Stanley (2000) 27
8. Scott Sollmann (1994) 26
Steve Stanley (1999) 24
Stolen Base Percentage (min. 10 att.)
1. Greg Layson ('94) .969 (31-32)
2. Paul O'Toole ('00) .938 (15-16)
Sacrifice Flies
1. Robbie Kent (1994) 9
2. Alec Porzel (2000) 8
George Restovich (1996) 7
Steve Stanley (1999) 7
Alec Porzel (1999) 7
Sacrifice Bunts
1. Mike Moshier (1988) 14
Pat O'Brien (1988) 14
Scott Sollmann (1996) 14
4. Dan Bautch (1991) 13
Cory Mee (1995) 13
6. Steve Stanley (2000) 12
Hardest to Strike Out (ABs per K, since '69)
10. Greg Rodems ('82) 17.50
- Andrew Bushey (2000) 16.17

Notre Dame Baseball Season Record Book
(Pitching & Fielding)

Appearances
1. Mike Coffey (1989) 37
2. Aaron Heilman (1998) 31
3. Chris Michalak (1990) 28
John Corbin (1999) 28
John Corbin (2000) 28
6. Rich Sauget (1996) 25
8. Al Walania (1991) 24
9. Chris Michalak (1991) 23
Mike Naumann (2000) 24
Innings Pitched
5. Aaron Heilman ('99) 109.00
6. Erik Madsen ('89) 104.0
7. Sta Konopka ('53) 101.0
8. Aaron Heilman (2000) 97.2
Victories
1. Tom Price (1994) 14
2. Tom Price (1993) 12
3. Brian Piotrowicz (1989) 11
Al Walania (1991) 11
Chris Michalak (1993) 11
Aaron Heilman (2000) 11
7. Frank Scanlan (1908) 10-0
Hugh Mageveney (1924) 10
Erik Madsen (1989) 10
Chris Michalak (1992) 10
David Sinnes (1993) 10
Aaron Heilman (1999) 10-2
Winning Percentage (min. 8 dec.)
8. Jean Dubuc (1908) .889 (8-1)
David Sinnes (1992) .889 (8-1)
Aaron Heilman (1998) .889 (8-1)
11. J.P. Gagne (2000) .875 (7-1)
Saves
1. John Corbin (2000) 11
2. Mike Coffey (1989) 10
Opponent Average (since '91)
1. David Sinnes (1992) .163
2. David Sinnes (1993) .198
Aaron Heilman (1998) .198
4. Larry Mohs(1994) .201
5. Chris Michalak(1992) .205
6. Aaron Heilman (1999) .217
7. Pat Leahy (1992) .224
Tim Kraus (1994) .224
9. Tom Price (1993) .231
10. Rich Sauget (1996) .232
- Aaron Heilman (2000) .234
Complete Games
6. Bill Fleet ('01), Ed Reulbach ('03), Jean Dubuc ('08), Bill Heyl ('10), Mickey Karkut ('70), Bob Bartlett ('81), Chris Michalak ('92), Aaron Heilman ('00) 8
Strikeouts
1. Aaron Heilman (1999) 118
2. Aaron Heilman (2000) 113
3. Frank Carpin (1958) 102
Putouts (since '82)
4. Tim Hutson (1988) 503
5. Jeff Felker, 1B (2000) 474
Assists (since '82)
5. J.J. Brock (1998) 186
6. Mike Coss (1990) 175
7. Randall Brooks (1996) 167
Paul Turco (19960 167
Alec Porzel (2000) 167

Notre Dame Baseball Season Record Book
(Team Categories)

Team Doubles

1. 1997 127
2. 1993 125
1998 125
4. 2000 117
Team Triples
4. 1996 29
5. 1963 23
1993 23
- 2000 20
At-Bats Per Strikeout
2. 1982 9.09
3. 1979 8.27
4. 2000 8.18
Team Victories
1. 1989 48
1992 48
3. 1990 46
1993 46
1994 46
- 2000 43
Team Saves
1. 2000 15
1999 15
Earned Run Average (since '71)
1. 1975 2.83
2. 1990 3.00
3. 1992 3.06
4. 1994 3.25
5. 2000 3.79
Opponent Batting Average (since '82)
1. 1992 .239
2. 1990 .246
3. 1994 .252
4. 1991 .254
5. 1996 .257
2000 .275
Team Strikeouts Thrown
1. 1999 478
2. 1998 456
3. 2000 432
Team K-to-Walk Ratio
1. 2000 2.69
2. 1963 2.40
Fewest Walks Allowed Per 9 IP
1. 1994 2.82
2. 1992 2.90
3. 2000 2.95
Innings Pitched
1. 1989 543.0
2. 1999 513.2
3. 1994 513.0
4. 1990 512.0
1993 512.0
- 2000 501.1
Team Fielding Percentage (since '82)
1. 1982 .965
1992 .965
2000 .965
Double Plays (since '69)
1. 1998 60
2. 1989 58
3. 1997 53
4. 1988 52
5. 1990 51
1992 51
- 2000 50

ND'S TOP SITUATIONAL HITTERS

Two-Out Batting Average
1. Ken Meyer .378
2. Alec Porzel .342
3. Matt Strickroth .320
4. Steve Stanley .271
Team Average .270
5. Jeff Felker .269
6. Brian Stavisky .263
Matt Bok .263
8. Matt Nusbaum .260
9. Andrew Bushey .259
10. Kris Billmaier .250
11. Paul O'Toole .236
12. Jeff Perconte .196
('99 team avg. was .283)
Two-Out RBI
1. Alec Porzel 18
2. Brian Stavisky 17
3. Jeff Felker 15
Matt Nussbaum 13
5. Ken Meyer 12
Batting with Runners in Scoring Pos.
1. Matt Strickroth .435
2. Ken Meyer .394
3. Matt Bok .389
4. Steve Stanley .380
5. Kris Billmaier .360
6. Paul O'Toole .344
7. Matt Nusbaum .329
8. Alec Porzel .325
9. Jeff Felker .293
Team Average .311
10. Brian Stavisky .276
11. Andrew Bushey .254
12. Jeff Perconte .173
('99 team avg. was .319)
Leadoff On-Base Percentage
1. Alec Porzel .474
2. Ken Meyer .472
3. Steve Stanley .420
4. Paul O'Toole .418
5. Matt Nusbaum .400
Team Average .375
6. Kris Billmaier .333
Matt Bok .333
8. Andrew Bushey .318
9. Brian Stavisky .313
10. Jeff Felker .291
11. Jeff Perconte .273
12. Matt Strickroth .176
('99 team avg. was .419)
Runners Advanced
1. Andrew Bushey 35
2. Alec Porzel 22
3. Steve Stanley 19
*Plate Appearances Per Strikeout

1. Andrew Bushey 18.33
2. Matt Nussbaum 15.71
3. Steve Stanley 16.38
4. Alec Porzel 11.67
5. Kris Billmaier 11.50
6. Jeff Felker 9.42
Team Average 9.26
7. Paul O'Toole 8.12
8. Matt Bok 7.75
9. Brian Stavisky 7.55
10. Ken Meyer 7.05
11. Matt Strickroth 6.08
12. Jeff Perconte 5.31
* AB, BB, HP, SF, SH / Ks ('99 tm avg.: 7.24)
#Best Double Play Ratios
1. Kris Billmaier 38 ABs (0)
2. Matt Strickroth 36 ABs (0)
3. Alec Porzel 117.0 (1)
4. Brian Stavisky 107.0 (1)
5. Matt Nussbaum 104.0 (1)
6. Steve Stanley 85.0 (1)
Team Average 45.8 (21)
7. Matt Bok 38.0 (1)
8. Jeff Felker 36.0 (3)
9. Ken Meyer 24.5 (2)
10. Jeff Perconte 23.7 (3)
11. Andrew Bushey 21.3 (4)
12. Paul O'Toole 20.5 (4)
# Lowest grounded into DP ratio, vs. ABs with runners on base ('99 team avg.- 23.7)
 

 

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