March 31, 2003

Friday’s BIG EAST baseball doubleheader between Notre Dame and Boston College has been shifted from the BC campus to Campanelli Stadium in Brockton, Mass. (directions below), due to poor field conditions at the on-campus field. With the availability of lights, the start of the doubleheader also has been pushed back from noon to 2:00 p.m.

Notre Dame’s doubleheader scheduled for Sunday at St. John’s also could be moved up to an 11:00 a.m. start, pending conference approval.

Campanelli Stadium – home of the independent Brockton Rox of the Northeast League – opened in 2002 and has a capacity of 6,000.

Friday’s doubleheader is scheduled to feature two strong pitching matchups, with the seven-inning opener featuring BC sophomore righthander and 2002 BIG EAST pitcher of the year Chris Lambert (3.13 ERA, 3-0 record, 38 strikeouts, 14 walks, 29 hits allowed and .252 opponent batting average in 31.2 innings) and ND sophomore RHP Chris Niesel (3.12, 2-1, 41 Ks, 6 BB, 17 H, .204, 40.1 IP). Both teams also are set to send sophomores to the mound in game 2, with BC lefthander Kevin Shephard (2.30, 3-1, 20 Ks, 11 BB, 20 H, .215, 27.1 IP) and Irish RHP John Axford (2.31, 5-0, 35 Ks, 16 BB, 28 H, .222, 35 IP) getting the nods.

The respective pitchers from both matchups – Lambert (3.13) and Niesel (3.12) and Shephard (2.30) and Axford (2.31) – boast nearly identical season ERAs heading into this week’s action.

Notre Dame is slated to 30 games away from home but only 13 of those games will be on the opponent’s on-campus field (two at Arizona State, the spring games at North Florida and Jacksonville University, the SJU games, an April 13 game at Creighton and three-game series at Rutgers and Virginia Tech). Notre Dame’s road schedule also includes two neutral-site games at ASU, three games at the Metrodome in Minnesota’s Dairy Queen Classic, four neutral-site games at UNF and one at JU, the three-game Villanova series at the off-campus Villanova Ballpark, the BC game at Campanelli, an April 12 game vs. Creighton at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium, and the annual Michigan game in Grand Rapids (at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark).

Directions to Campanelli Stadium (from Boston College, in Chestnut Hill): take Route 9 West to Route 95 South to Route 93 North … merge onto Route 24 until exit 17A Brockton/123 East (Belmont Street) … stay east on123/Belmont St. for approximately one mile … the stadium is located on the right, next to the high school … turn right onto Lexington Ave. (first street on the right).

Photos of Campanelli Stadium may be viewed at the following website address:

http://users.aol.com/charliezeb/stadiums/brockton.htm