April 18, 2017
| Central Michigan Game | Stat Pack | WatchND |
By Michael Scholl
Five Things to Know
- The University of Notre Dame baseball team will play in its fifth Major League stadium on Tuesday night when it travels to Detroit to take on Central Michigan. The Clash at Comerica is set for 7 p.m. can be heard live on WatchND and 103.1 FM. Charlie Vorsheck is slated to take the mound for the Irish up against Central Michigan’s Michael Brettell.
- This will be the 38th game in a Major League stadium in program history for Notre Dame. The Irish hold a 22-15 record all-time in big league ballparks and have outscored opponents 212-177 in those games. The most recent contest was a 5-1 loss to Northwestern on April 15, 2009, at what is now Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. The Irish also appeared on the southside in 2008, defeating Northern Illinois, 5-4 , as Jeremy Barnes narrowly missed hitting for the cycle on a dropped fly ball that could have given him the elusive triple.
- Guaranteed Rate Field is the only Major League Stadium the Irish have played in that is still in operation. The majority of the 38 games came at the Metrodome in Minneapolis and the Kingdome in Seattle. Notre Dame posted a 3-9 record in 12 games at the home of the Minnesota Twins, making four trips to a tournament hosted by the University of Minnesota. Notre Dame also visited the Kingdome for tournaments hosted by the University of Washington six times from 1990-96, going 16-5 at the former home of the Seattle Mariners. The final two games in Notre Dame’s MLB history came in 1998, a doubleheader sweep of the Pitt Panthers at Three Rivers Stadium, former home of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
- Mik Aoki’s team is looking to continue a recent run of success against unranked teams. Notre Dame has won 12 of its last 14 games against teams outside the Top 25. The two losses in that stretch came to Pittsburgh and NC State, with the Irish still winning the three-game series against the two ACC foes. The club looks to keep that run of success going in the midst of a stretch with 10 games in 12 days. The run opened April 11 and included midweek wins over Michigan State and Toledo last week, a three-game series at No. 20 Wake Forest this past weekend, the Central Michigan game Tuesday, a home game with Illinois State on Wednesday, and a three-game series at No. 19 Virginia this weekend.
- Second baseman Nick Podkul has reached base in 23 straight games, the longest streak by an Irish player since 2015 when Kyle Fiala reached in 47 straight. Podkul got a basehit in game one at Wake Forest, and was hit by a pitch in games two and three to keep the streak alive. He has spent the last 14 games as the leadoff hitter, with Notre Dame going 8-6 in those contests.
On Deck
The Irish return to Frank Eck Stadium for their only home game in an eight-game stretch on Wednesday against Illinois State. First pitch between the Redbirds and Irish is set for 6:05 p.m. and the game will be available on ACC Network Extra, WatchND and 103.1 FM.
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Michael Scholl joined Fighting Irish Media in August 2016, coordinating communications for the baseball program and assisting with the football team at his alma mater. The South Bend native earned a degree in political science from the College of Arts & Letters in 2009 before going on to work in athletics communications at Providence College, Vanderbilt and Cincinnati.