Notre Dame baseball: Connaughton to GCL

Former Notre Dame right-hander Pat Connaughton starts his major-league journey this week with the Baltimore Orioles in the Gulf Coast League.

Also a starting swingman on the Irish men’s basketball team, Connaughton signed his rookie contract late last week with the Orioles for $428,100. Connaughton will join the Orioles’ rookie league affiliate in Sarasota, Fla. The team’s pitching coach is former major league left-hander Wilson Alvarez.

The Orioles’ rookie-league team opens play Friday against Tampa Bay. Baltimore expects Connaughton to remain with the squad until around Aug. 1, when he’ll return to Notre Dame to focus on basketball and his senior year. Connaughton will rejoin the Orioles at the end of the 2014-15 college basketball season.