Baseball: Irish look to bounce back in home game with Toledo
By COLIN BOYLAN
Sports Writer
After two heart-breaking losses to Virginia Tech over the weekend, the Notre Dame men's baseball team is suffering through its first losing streak of the season. But don't expect the Irish players to lose too much sleep over that fact.
"We're not concerned about that at all," said coach Paul Mainieri. "I think anyone who follows baseball knows that every game is a new opportunity to prove yourself, and I think we're going to do great against Toledo and Seton Hall this week."
The team has good reason to be optimistic. Despite the back-to-back losses, the Irish are still ranked 13th in the Collegiate Division I poll and in good position to challenge for a Big East title. More importantly, the team's slumping hitters finally exploded for eight runs in the 9-8 loss to Virginia Tech.
Notre Dame hopes to carry some of that offensive momentum over to its game today against a streaking Toledo squad. While Toledo (11-9) may not look like much a match for the Irish (16-4-1) on paper, the Rockets have won eight of their last nine games, posting 19 and 11 runs in their last two contests.
The Irish will be taking the field behind starting pitcher Peter Ogilvie (1-0, 0.00), who has been almost perfect in his two appearances this season. Despite his relative inexperience, Ogilvie is not overly concerned about Toledo's offensive firepower.
"I'm going into this start like all the others and hopefully we'll come out of this with a win," Ogilvie said.
However, earning wins as the season progresses will likely be contingent on whether or not the Irish can increase their run production at the plate. The team's .292 batting average is seven points below last year's average and their home run production is also notably lower. Nonetheless, Mainieri is not overly concerned with such numbers. He likes what he has seen in recent practices and hopes that success at the plate will come soon.
"Our hitters are definitely ready to break out," said Mainieri.
Similar sentiments are echoed by the rest of the team. When asked if he felt confident that his teammates could give him enough run support to win the game against Toledo, Ogilvie responded, "Definitely."
It appears that confidence is high around the Notre Dame squad and any residual disappointment from the weekend losses has been eliminated.
"As a team, you've got to be able to bounce back from a tough loss. I think we've got the make of a champion and we'll be able to do that," said centerfielder Steve Stanley.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, March 28, 2001
