Game Thread | (G3) Notre Dame at Virginia Tech
Notre Dame (9-4, 0-2) at Virginia Tech (10-3, 2-0)
When: March 10th
Time: 2:00 PM ET
Where: English Field at Atlantic Union Bank Park | Blacksburg, Va.
Watch: ACCNX
QUICK FACTS
(Entering the series)
- Notre Dame leads the all-time series 18-10, including a record of 6-3 at Virginia Tech
- The Irish enter the series No. 4 in the nation in home runs with 32 and No. 2 in home runs per game at 2.91
- INF Estevan Moreno has hit six home runs in the last three games with hat tricks last Saturday at Tennessee Tech and on Tuesday against Purdue
- Notre Dame has combined for five savers entering the weekend, which is tied for No. 1 in the ACC
- The Irish lead the ACC in fielding percentage at .990
PROBABLE STARTERS
SUNDAY
| SCHOOL | NAME | RECORD (APPEARANCES) | ERA | IP | STRIKEOUTS |
| Notre Dame | RHP Matt Bedford | 1-1 (4) | 3.46 | 13.0 | 7 |
| Virginia Tech | RHP Griffin Stieg | 1-1 (3) | 3.55 | 12.2 | 12 |
NOTRE DAME LINEUP
| NAME | POSITION | BATTING AVERAGE |
| Jack Penney | SS | .220 |
| David Glancey | CF | .278 |
| Connor Hincks | 1B | .333 |
| Tito Flores | RF | .241 |
| Simon Baumgardt | 3B | .327 |
| DM Jefferson | DH | .179 |
| Brady Gumpf | LF | .323 |
| Tony Lindwedel | C | .000 |
| Estevan Moreno | 2B | .257 |
VIRGINIA TECH LINEUP
| NAME | POSITION | BATTING AVERAGE |
| Christian Martin | 2B | .378 |
| Carson DeMartini | 3B | .306 |
| Eddie Micheletti Jr. | RF | .302 |
| Gehrig Ebel | C | .421 |
| Ben Watson | CF | .388 |
| Sam Tackett | 1B | .238 |
| David McCann | DH | .316 |
| Eddie Eisert | LF | .111 |
| Clay Grady | SS | .341 |
- Saturday’s performance was extremely disappointing for the Irish as eight of the first nine outs were strikeouts. Struggling at the plate would be putting nicely for Notre Dame through the first five innings as Wyatt Parliament finished with 10 strikeouts.
The positive from the day was Notre Dame finished strong on offense by scoring five runs in the final four innings, including pulling the game to 6-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth. David Glancy and Simon Baumgardt hit home runs, but for the second day in a row, Notre Dame struggled at the plate with runners in scoring position where the Irish batted .091.
Through two games against the Hokies, Notre Dame has struck out 25 times and that will need to come down on Sunday if the Irish want to avoid a sweep. Virginia Tech has thrown strikes over 70 percent of the time this weekend and Notre Dame simply needs to dial in and hit the baseball.
- On the mound, Notre Dame has to get off to a better start. Tennessee Tech jumped on the Irish last weekend early and Virginia Tech has done the same this weekend. Virginia Tech has batted in 16 innings this weekend and they have scored in 10.
RHP Rory Fox had a very solid performance in relief on Saturday as he went 3.1 innings giving up two hits, one run and struck out three. It’s something for him to build on as he’s starting to stack positive appearances.
It was the opposite for RHP Jackson Dennies, who is the heart of this team. The senior continued his early season struggled as he gave up back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the ninth to put the game out of reach.
Notre Dame will start RHP Matt Bedford on Sunday and he’ll enter with a 3.46 ERA on the year. One thing to watch is Bedford did pitch three innings of scoreless baseball during Tuesday’s win against Purdue.
The Irish should have several of its heavy hitters in the bullpen available today as Radek Birkholz, Bennett Flynn and Nate Hardman have yet to pitch this weekend.
- Notre Dame also needs to play smart baseball and show some heart. There were times on Saturday when the effort was simply poor getting to the baseball on defense or bad decisions were made.
It will also be interesting to see if Shawn Stiffler sends a message by getting younger players in if the Irish struggle early. Given how some of the innings have gone this weekend, there's not a lot to lose.
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