Game Thread | (G1) Akron at Notre Dame
Akron (18-30) at Notre Dame (26-19)
When: May 12th
Time: 7:00 PM ET
Where: Frank Eck Stadium | South Bend, Ind.
Watch: ACC Network Extra
QUICK FACTS
- Notre Dame leads the overall series 2-0.
- Akron and Notre Dame have only met at neutral sites (Jacksonville and Macon).
- Notre Dame is projected as a No. 3 seed in the latest Field of 64 projections by D1Baseball.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday
| SCHOOL | NAME | RECORD (APPEARANCES) | ERA | IP | STRIKEOUTS |
| Akron | LHP Sammy Tortorella | 4-3 | 5.35 | 70.2 | 64 |
| Notre Dame | LHP Aidan Tyrell | 7-2 | 3.17 | 54.0 | 44 |
Saturday
| SCHOOL | NAME | RECORD (APPEARANCES) | ERA | IP | STRIKEOUTS |
| Akron | LHP Brett Dietrich | 1-4 | 8.85 | 39.2 | 39 |
| Notre Dame | RHP Blake Hely | 3-2 | 4.57 | 61.0 | 60 |
Sunday
| SCHOOL | NAME | RECORD (APPEARANCES) | ERA | IP | STRIKEOUTS |
| Akron | RHP Joe Roth | 1-6 | 4.98 | 65.0 | 37 |
| Notre Dame | - | - | - | - | - |
OFFENSIVE STATS (Entering the series)
| STAT | Akron | Notre Dame |
| Batting Avg. | .243 | .248 |
| Runs | 271 | 265 |
| Hits | 390 | 369 |
| 2B | 73 | 65 |
| 3B | 14 | 6 |
| Home Runs | 44 | 56 |
| RBI | 237 | 240 |
| SLG% | .389 | .412 |
| Walks | 218 | 173 |
| Hit by Pitch | 52 | 75 |
| Strikeouts | 450 | 407 |
| OB% | .351 | .353 |
PITCHING STATS (Entering the series)
| STAT | Akron | Notre Dame |
| ERA | 7.63 | 4.56 |
| Hits | 496 | 362 |
| Runs | 417 | 229 |
| ER | 346 | 200 |
| Walks | 219 | 170 |
| Strikeouts | 300 | 368 |
| Opponent Batting Avg. | .298 | .242 |
- Notre Dame enters the weekend as a No. 3 seed in the Lexington regional in D1Baseball’s latest Field of 64 projections. What does that mean for this weekend’s series? Don’t lose it. A sweep would be great and even taking the series 2-1 wouldn’t have a negative impact on Notre Dame’s postseason goals, but the Irish can’t afford to lose the series.
The good news is Akron is bad. In a year where Notre Dame’s offense has struggled, the Zips have struggled more at the plate as Akron enters the weekend with a team batting average of .248 and have struck out 450 times in 48 games.
Shawn Stiffler’s group shouldn’t take this series lightly, but it’s a chance to gain momentum heading into the final week of the regular season as the Irish will have a few distractions next week. On Tuesday, Notre Dame will travel to Wrigley Field to take on a poor Northwestern (8-35) team before heading to Boston College for a massive series, which includes playing game two at Fenway Park.
- On the mound, Notre Dame should have a chance to let its starters get solid work as the Zips aren’t a threat offensively - at least they shouldn’t be. The Irish didn’t play a midweek game, so it will be interesting to see if Stiffler wants his starters to push it or if he wants to let his bullpen get some extra work if things are in hand.
RHP Jackson Dennies made his return last weekend, but threw under 30 pitches and didn’t make it out of the second inning due to a likely pitch count. Stiffler mentioned they were going to be super cautious with Dennies and that’s a reflection of it. That said, it will be interesting to see how much work he gets this weekend with the series with Boston College looming.
Notre Dame Lineup
| NAME | POSITION | BATTING AVERAGE |
| TJ Williams | CF | .240 |
| Zack Prajzner | SS | .291 |
| Carter Putz | 1B | .296 |
| Jack Penney | 3B | .253 |
| Vinny Martinez | DH | .297 |
| Brooks Coetzee | RF | .273 |
| Brady Gumpf | LF | .250 |
| Danny Neri | C | .226 |
| Estevan Moreno | 2B | .209 |
Akron Lineup
| NAME | POSITION | BATTING AVERAGE |
| Ian Pennington | CF | .253 |
| Jack Firestone | RF | .241 |
| Jack Poist | DH | .295 |
| Nick Arrivo | 3B | .287 |
| Sam Seeker | LF | .260 |
| Max Bowman | 1B | .239 |
| Breydan Cavey | 2B | .294 |
| Andrew Horvath | C | .174 |
| Kaito Hara | SS | .251 |
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Classic Jacquard Polo
