The full-circle irony framing college baseball’s perhaps most improbable late-May storyline isn’t lost on Carson Tinney, who’s the undeniable face of the Notre Dame baseball team’s uncanny surge into NCAA Tournament relevance.
And perhaps an enduring turning point for the coach Shawn Stiffler Era as well.
For now, the sophomore catcher and the Irish (32-20) are projected in the 64-team field in D1baseball.com’s latest projection with more work to do this week in its final NCAA precursor, the ACC baseball tournament in Durham, N.C. The goal is to provide a little more girth to their résumé as well as protect against a potentially shrinking at-large pool of teams brought on my upsets in other conference tourneys.