Game Thread | (G3) Notre Dame at Lipscomb

Notre Dame (1-1) at Lipscomb (1-1) 

When: Feb. 19th

Time: 2:00 PM ET 

Where: Ken Dugan Field at Stephen Lee Marsh Stadium | Nashville, Tenn.

Watch: ESPN+

QUICK FACTS

- Notre Dame has seven hits through 61 at-bats in 2023. 

- Lipscomb pitchers have hit eight Notre Dame batters in two games, including Brooks Coetzee getting beamed three times on Saturday afternoon. 

- LHP Aidan Tyrell gave the Irish 4.0 innings on Saturday. Tyrell gave up one run on zero hits, one walk and recorded three strikeouts. 

- Junior RHP Jackson Dennies has appeared in 23 games over his first two seasons in South Bend and holds a record of 1-1. Dennies will make his first career start on Sunday afternoon. 

- Dennies was a classmate of Notre Dame running back Logan Diggs at Archbishop Rummel in Louisiana. 

PROBABLE STARTERS
 

WHAT TO WATCH 

- If game three follows the script of the first two games, then Sunday’s rubber match will come down to pitching mistakes. Both teams have put a ton of runners on base with walks and by hitting batters. It’s somewhat expected in the opening series of the year, but the numbers are high at the same time. Lipscomb pitchers have walked 12 batters while they’ve also hit eight Irish batters in 18 innings. On the flip side, Notre Dame has walked 10 and hit five Bison batters. Perhaps the biggest difference is Lipscomb has been charged with four wild pitches while the Irish have yet to record a wild pitch.

- Notre Dame will also need to get the bats going. The Irish have just seven hits through two games and are batting .143 as a team. The good news was Shawn Stiffler’s team started to get good contact at times on Saturday, but Notre Dame needs to get the ball in play more as the Irish have struck out 29 times in the series, which is super high. 

- Irish pitchers have struck out 19 and have held the Bisons to just a .115 batting average. 

- It will be interesting to see if Stiffler shakes up the top of his lineup on Sunday. The top of the Irish order is experienced, but Jack Zyska, Carter Putz and Jack Penney have struggled to this point.

Zyska: 1-for-7 (.143)
Carter Putz: 1-for-9 (.111)
Jack Penney: 0-for-7 (.000) 

The issue is the heart of the order has also failed to produce as freshman Estevan Moreno and Zack Prajzer are batting a combined 0-for-13. TJ Williams batted lead-off a year ago, so he could be a candidate to get out of the nine-hole and get moved up in the lineup as he’s batting .250 with two hits and a home run this series. 

Lipscomb Lineup

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Love To Hear This Terry Shorts