Game Thread | (G1) Notre Dame at No. 22 Boston College

Notre Dame (29-20, 14-13) vs. No. 22 Boston College (32-16, 14-13)

When: May 18th

Time: 5:30 PM ET 

Where: Eddie Pellagrini Diamond | Brighton, Mass. 

Watch: ACC Network Extra 

QUICK FACTS

- Notre Dame leads the overall series 37-19. 

- The Irish are 15-9 at Boston College and 7-5 at neutral sites. 

- Game two will be played at Fenway Park as part of Boston College’s 11th Annual ALS Awareness Game.

- Notre Dame is projected as a No. 3 seed in the Morgantown Regional in D1Baseball’s latest Field of 64 projection. 

PROBABLE STARTERS
Thursday 

Friday

Saturday

OFFENSIVE STATS (Entering the series)

PITCHING STATS (Entering the series) 

- It’s the final regular season series of the year and it’s an important one for Notre Dame. The latest D1Baseball Field of 64 projection has the Irish as a No. 3 seed, but a series win could be a statement for Notre Dame as Boston College enters the weekend ranked No. 22 in the country. 

That said, Notre Dame has similar data points to several other ACC programs that made the NCAA Tournament with a .500 conference record. That .500 mark in the ACC seems like the cut-off between making and missing the tourney, but Notre Dame can make it easy and win two games this weekend. 

- There isn’t anything ground-breaking heading into the series with Boston College. Notre Dame needs to hit, move runners and score runs. The Eagles pitching staff isn’t electric and teams are hitting .281, so there will be opportunities for the inconsistent Irish offense. 

With third baseman Jack Penney out, it will be interesting to see what Shawn Stiffler does as he moved second baseman Estevan Moreno to third and inserted Connor Hincks at second late in Tuesday’s game against Northwestern. Moreno had worked at third during fall ball, so there is a familiarity there. Hincks transferred from Virginia and has played in just seven games, but Casey Kmet (.167) and Nick DeMarco (.065) have struggled at the plate for most of the year and they were the first out of the dugout to replace Penney last weekend. 

- LHP Aidan Tyrell will get the nod on Thursday and he’s been consistent for much of the year. Tyrell sits at a 2.87 ERA in 59.2 innings and he’s coming off a season-high seven strikeouts against Akron last weekend. The graduate student has given up hits lately, but limited the runs for the most part. 

Notre Dame’s relief pitching will be an interesting study this weekend. The Irish have to win at least one game, so will Stiffler use Caden Spivey and the big guns on Thursday if it’s a close game or stick to his normal rotation? 

LHP Will Mercer had to be used in Tuesday’s loss vs. Northwestern, so he probably won’t throw until Friday at the earliest. 

Overall, huge weekend for Notre Dame baseball as it relates to postseason play, but also the Irish will play at Fenway Park. 

Notre Dame Lineup

Boston College Lineup

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