PREVIEW: Irish Travel to Pitt

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (15-11) are back on the road as they head to Pittsburgh, PA to take on the Pitt Panthers (13-13) at Charles L. Cost Field. The Irish enter the matchup 5-7 as they’re coming off of an ACC win over the UNC Tar Heels on Sunday, April 2.

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Notre Dame vs. Pitt Game Notes

Conference Play Resumes at Pitt

• This will be the first road game for the Irish since taking down the No. 4 Wake Forest Demon Deacons at their place in a 3-1 victory on March 19, 2023.
• The Irish take on Pitt for the 77th time in program on Thursday, as the Irish lead the overall series 51-25.
• Notre Dame is 26-4 at home, 17-17 at Pitt, and 8-0 at neutral sites. 
• The Irish last faced the Panthers at Frank Eck last season (5/13/22-5/15/22), where the Irish took the series after winning games one and two. 
• Brooks Coetzee had a monster night at the plate in the 8-3 game one win. He started the game with hits in his first three at-bats, including a two-run home run in the fourth. He finished the game 3-of-4 from the plate with two runs and two RBI.
• The Irish took game two 8-1 and fell in the final game of the series 5-2.

Irish Take on Northwestern

• The Irish are now five-for-five in midweek matchups as they defeated the Northwestern Wildcats 12-0 on Tuesday at Frank Eck.
• Notre Dame is now 6-3 after their second shutout win of the season. 
• Jack Penney recorded his sixth homerun of the year in the bottom of the seventh and Joey Spence would record his first career home run in the bottom of the eight for a two-run homerun to extend the Irish lead 12-0 heading into the ninth.
• The Irish will face the Wildcats again on the road on Tuesday, May 16. 

UNC Heads to South Bend for Another ACC Series 

• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-11) dropped the three-game series at Frank Eck as they fell to No. 13 North Carolina (20-8) in games one and two of the series. 
• Looking for redemption after a tough loss to the Tar Heels on Friday night, the Irish fell 5-2 in the first game of day, but were able to take home the final game in a 9-1 victory on the home turf. 
• Jackson Dennies recorded a career-high seven strikeouts across 4.2 innings in the game three win. He also allowed just two hits, while giving up no runs and walking no batters. 
• Vinny Martinez had himself a weekend at the plate, recording five hits and five runs on the weekend, as well as three home runs and seven RBI. 

Midweek Matchup at Frank Eck Against Butler 

• The Irish are 4-for-4 in their midweek matchups so far this season, with two neutral site wins over Saint Joseph’s in Holly Springs, a win over Valpo in the 2023 home opener, and a 4-0 win over Butler at Frank Eck.
• Jackson Dennies started on the mound as he recorded a career-high six strikeouts across a career-high four innings pitched.

Irish Make History in Series Win Over No. 2 Louisville

• The Notre Dame Fighting (12-9) Irish defeated the No. 2 Louisville Cardinals (19-4) in a historic fashion, taking the first game of the series on Friday, March 24 and the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday, March 26.
• The 5-4 win on Sunday afternoon clinched the first-ever home series win over Louisville in program history. After falling 2-1 in the second game of the doubleheader, the Irish are now 4-5 in conference.
• In game one, Notre Dame trailed 2-0 heading into the fifth.
• The Irish held Louisville scoreless in the top of the inning, while the Irish offense really started to get hot in the bottom of the frame. The Irish led off with singles from DM Jefferson and TJ Williams, and a sac bunt from Jack Penney would put runners on second and third for Notre Dame.
• Zack Prajzner scored both as he doubled down the left field line to add two Irish runs to the board and make it an even 2-2 ballgame. Zyska followed with a double of his own as he sent it to the wall in the left field gap to score Prajzner and take the lead 3-2.
• The Cardinals would score another run in the top of the sixth to tie it up at 3-3.
• The Irish immediately responded as Estevan Moreno ripped a home run to deep left, his second of the season, to put the Irish back on top at 4-3 and lead them to eventual 4-3 victory to take game one.
• In Saturday’s doubleheader, the Cardinals would put their first run of the day on the board on the first pitch of the game as they opened up with a home run to right field to take an early 1-0 lead. And after leading off the top of the fifth with another home run, Louisville led 3-0.
• Notre Dame wasn’t going anywhere, as the Irish bats started to get hot in the fifth. Notre Dame would score all five of their runs in the bottom of the inning. The Irish’s five runs would come off of just three three hits, all of which were home runs. Jack Penney would hit the first homer, followed by back-to-back home runs from Carter Putz and Brooks Coetzee.
• The five-run inning lifted the Irish to a 5-4 win to clinch the series win over the Cardinals.

Notre Dame Opens up at Home Against Valparaiso

• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish took down the Beacons in the 106^th matchup between Valpo and Notre Dame as the Irish lead the overall series 86-21 with the very first game taking place on May 14, 1918.
• The Irish defeated Valpo in a 8-4 victory in their home opener on Tuesday, March 21 at Frank Eck. 
• Both graduate students, Zack Prajzner and Jack Zyska both recorded their first home runs of the season in Tuesday’s win. Prajzner’s homer to left field came in the bottom of the third and Zyska followed with his left field home run in the bottom of the fourth. 
• David Lally Jr. made his second career start on the mound, throwing 2.1 innings before he was relieved in the third inning by Carter Bosch.  Bosch recorded a season-high six strikeouts across 3.2 innings and gave up no runs while allowing only two hits. Sammy Cooper came in to close in the top of the seventh, taking home his second win of the season.

Irish Resume Conference Play at No. 4 Wake Forest

• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish finished the series 2-1 at no. 4 Wake Forest last weekend after falling in both doubleheader games on Saturday, but taking home Sunday’s game in a 3-1 victory. 
• The Irish are now 9-8 on the year and 2-4 in the ACC after the road series. 
• Due to Friday’s game being postponed for inclement weather, the Irish and Demon Deacons played a doubleheader on Saturday, March 18. 
• Wake Forest took game one 4-1 and game two 12-3.
• Jackson Dennies started on the mound for the Irish in game one, finishing the day with three strikeouts while allowing two runs and five hits across 3.2 innings pitched. 
• Aidan Tyrell came in relief with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, throwing 3.1 innings, recording four strikeouts, and giving up just one run and one hit.
• Trailing 1-0 heading into the top of the third, Danny Neri led off for the Irish with a double down the left field line and advanced to third on a sac bunt from TJ Williams. Estevan Moreno followed with his first hit of the day as he singled through the left side to score Neri for Notre Dame’s only run of the game
• The Irish struggled to score in game two on Saturday. Trailing 12-1 heading into the top of the ninth, Connor Hincks singled to center field for his first career hit and was sent home on a two-run home run from Tony Lindwedel. Lindwedel’s first career home run would close the gap to 12-3 as Wake Forest took home the second game of the series.
• Wake Forest was undefeated 14-0 at home so far this season until Notre Dame took game three with a score of 3-1.
• The Irish offense sparked in the top of the second with a double to right center from Carter Putz, who scored after Jack Zyska hit a single to left field. 
• The Irish posted an early 1-0 lead, while Findlay continued to shut down the Demon Deacons from the mound as he closed the first two innings with three strikeouts.
• DM Jefferson started the third with a lead-off single to center field and advanced to second on a passed ball with TJ Williams up to bat. Jefferson was able to score and tack on another run for the Irish as an RBI single from Brooks Coetzee brought Jefferson home for the 2-0 lead.
• Coetzee led off the sixth with a double to right center field, which was followed by a walk from Putz. With runners on first and second and Jack Penney up to bat, Coetzee was able to steal third on a wild pitch. Penney reached on a fielder’s choice, recording an RBI as Coetzee ran home to give the Irish a 3-0 edge heading into the bottom of the sixth.
• Findlay recorded his 10th strikeout of the day before he was relieved by Blake Hely with two outs in the sixth. Findlay absolutely dominated from the mound, throwing 10 strikes across 5.2 innings and allowing just two hits and no runs.