John Michael Bertrand and two relievers held Texas' potent offense in check and Notre Dame scored in all kinds of ways in a 7-3 victory Friday night in its first College World Series game in 20 years.
The Irish carried over their momentum from eliminating No. 1 national seed Tennessee in the super regionals with a strong all-around performance against the program making its record 38th appearance in Omaha.
“It just wasn’t our day,” Texas coach David Pierce said. “We couldn’t get that flow going and we just couldn’t get their traffic off the bases all day. We were constantly under stress defensively and pitching.”Bertrand , roughed up in his start against Tennessee last week, limited the Longhorns to three runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Alex Rao and Jack Findlay gave up no hits in 3 1/3 innings, with Findlay earning his fourth save.
Last year, the Longhorns lost their CWS opener and then won three straight to reach their bracket final, where they lost to eventual national champion Mississippi State.