Game Thread | Purdue at Notre Dame
Purdue (8-3) at Notre Dame (8-2)
When: March 25th
Time: 4:30 PM ET
Where: Frank Eck Stadium | South Bend, Ind
Watch: ESPN+
QUICK FACTS
- Notre Dame leads the all-time series 80-40-3
- Purdue won the last meeting 8-7 in February of 2018 in San Antonio
- The Boilermakers haven’t traveled to South Bend since 2007 and haven’t won at Notre Dame since April of 2000
- Notre Dame is tied for the ACC lead in home runs with 29 through three weekends
- The Irish pitchers enter the week last in the ACC in ERA at 6.44
- Notre Dame also leads the ACC in fielding percentage at .988
PROBABLE STARTERS
| SCHOOL | NAME | RECORD (APPEARANCES) | ERA | IP | STRIKEOUTS |
| Notre Dame | RHP Matt Bedford | 0-1 (3) | 4.50 | 10.0 | 7 |
| Purdue | LHP Jonathan Blackwell | 0-1 (2) | 8.64 | 8.1 | 6 |
NOTRE DAME LINEUP
| NAME | POSITION | BATTING AVERAGE |
| Jack Penney | SS | .200 |
| David Glancey | DH | .308 |
| Connor Hincks | 1B | .303 |
| Tito Flores | RF | .243 |
| Simon Baumgardt | 3B | .282 |
| Carson Tinney | C | .211 |
| Brady Grumpf | LF | .238 |
| Estevan Moreno | 2B | .263 |
| TJ Williams | CF | .519 |
PURDUE LINEUP
| NAME | POSITION | BATTING AVERAGE |
| Mike Bolton Jr. | LF | .095 |
| Camden Gasser | SS | .419 |
| Connor Caskenette | C | .244 |
| Luke Gaffney | 1B | .463 |
| Logan Sutter | DH | .400 |
| Keenan Spence | RF | .344 |
| Couper Cornblum | CF | .209 |
| Jo Stevens | 3B | .364 |
| Ty Gill | 2B | .083 |
Notre Dame is fresh off a sweep of Tennessee Tech where offense was king. The Irish offense batted .336, hit 15 home runs and scored 43 runs on 41 hits in three games. It was a performance Notre Dame needed to build confidence, but also show they could be a dangerous team at the plate.
The Irish are tied with Duke for the ACC lead in home runs with 29, but still could use more consistency in the box. Notre Dame is last in batting average at .269 and No. 10 in runs scored (97). There is always an adjustment for the Midwest teams, so the weekend could have been a preview of what’s to come now that the Irish have 10 games under their belt.
On the mound, Notre Dame has been all over the place. The 6.44 ERA is last in the ACC and fell behind by six on Saturday and seven on Sunday. Starter Jackson Dennies and Caden Spivey combined to throw 1.1 innings giving up 15 hits and 18 runs (17 ER). Not what you want to see.
The early season struggles for Dennies are a bit unexpected as he started a year ago, while Spivey is in his first year in a starting role. It’s not time to panic, but Notre Dame does need to start to figure out roles and when to throw guys even if it’s as simple as when bullpens are thrown as ACC play begins this weekend.
Tuesday’s starter RHP Matt Bedford went 3 innings giving up one hit, one walk and three strikeouts during his Friday start against Tennessee Tech.
The good news is the relief pitching dominated Tennessee Tech as Rory Fox, Ricky Reeth and Nate Hardman gave up just two runs in 7.2 IP on Saturday and then Jack Radel, Tobey McDonough, Will Jacobsen, Keenan Mork and Hardman combined to give up just two runs on four hits over the final nine innings on Sunday.
Radel has been impressive in his 7.1 innings of work on the year. The South Dakota native holds an 1.23 ERA and struck out five. Fellow freshman Keenan Mork has yet to give up a hit in 2.1 IP.
Tuesday will be a step up in competition and a good test for this group before the Irish hit the road for 10 days. Notre Dame will open ACC play this weekend at Virginia Tech (8-3) before playing two mid-week games at Radford and then ending the trip in Tallahassee.
*Lineups will be added when released
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