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Notre Dame Baseball

Game Thread (G3) Notre Dame at Florida State

March 17, 2024
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Notre Dame (11-7, 0-5) at Florida State (17-0, 2-0) 


When: March 17

Time: 1:00 PM ET 

Where: Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium | Tallahassee, Fla. 

Watch: ACC Network Extra (ESPN+)


QUICK FACTS

- Florida State leads the all-time series 24-16.

- The Irish hold a record of 7-10 in Tallahassee. 

- Notre Dame enters the weekend No. 5 in the nation with 38 home runs. 

- 11 players have hit home runs for Notre Dame this season. 

- INF Estevan Moreno is the only player in Division I baseball to hit three home runs in two separate games this season. 

- Notre Dame’s .982 fielding percentage ranks No. 3 in the ACC and No. 14 nationally. 

PROBABLE STARTERS

SUNDAY

SCHOOL NAME RECORD  ERA IP STRIKEOUTS
Notre Dame RHP Jack Radel 2-0 3.65 12.1 10
Florida State RHP Conner Whittaker 2-0 (3) 3.63 17.1 23

 

WHAT TO WATCH 

There is still plenty of baseball to play in the 2024 season, but Notre Dame is on the verge of starting ACC play 0-6 if Florida State completes the series sweep on Sunday afternoon. It’s a place not many thought Notre Dame would be in entering the season as the Irish have struggled in all areas of the game to this point. 

During Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Seminoles, Notre Dame once again let an opponent jump out in the first inning and had to play catch up. RHP Matt Bedford did settle down and finished his day giving up two runs on three fours with four strikeouts in 4.0 innings of work. It was a solid performance and Bedford has found his groove over the last few weeks. 

Bennett Flynn and Radek Birkholz finished the game off giving up just four hits and two runs over the final four innings. It was a step in the right direction for the pitching staff. 

At the plate, Notre Dame didn’t help its pitchers as the Irish batted .188 for the game, and .167 with runners in scoring position. In fact, FSU pitcher Jamie Arnold recorded eight strikeouts in the first nine outs on the way to career-high 12 strikeouts in the game. Now, it’s not a huge surprise given Arnold entered the game with a perfect 4-0 record and an impressive 0.00 ERA. The Irish were able to tag a run on him, but he allowed just four hits in 5.2 innings of work. 

Notre Dame has to start getting hits with runners on base and simply needs more timely hits. Every game isn’t going to be 10-8 and good teams find ways to score runs in low-scoring games. The Irish also need to be better leading off innings as Notre Dame went 1-for-9 on Saturday. 

The Notre Dame staff also can’t be afraid to make subs in game. Connor Hincks, Jack Penney and Tito Flores combined to go 0-for-10 with nine strikeouts. Yes, Notre Dame isn’t overly deep and it would be risky to make the defense a little weaker if you were to move Penney, but you also have to give players a chance to make plays, especially when there’s a real possibility of starting ACC play 0-6. 

NOTRE DAME LINEUP

NAME POSITION BATTING AVERAGE
TJ Williams CF .382
David Glancey LF .263
Connor Hincks 1B .353
Simon Baumgardt 3B .347
Jack Penney SS .208
Tito Flores RF .250
Brady Gumpf DH .300
Joey Spence C .333
Estevan Moreno 2B .255

FLORIDA STATE LINEUP

NAME POSITION BATTING AVERAGE
Max Williams CF .300
Cam Smith 3B .486
James Tibbs III RF .391
Jaime Ferrer LF .323
Drew Faurot 2B .384
Marco Dinges DH .340
Daniel Cantu 1B .362
McGwire Holbrook C .433
Alex Lodise SS .333

OFFENSIVE STATS (Entering the series)

STAT NOTRE DAME FLORIDA STATE
Batting Avg. .277 .376
Runs 145 180
Hits 157 207
2B 29 41
3B 4 8
Home Runs 38 27
RBI 131 154
SLG% .543 .627
Walks 72 96
Hit by Pitch 25 15
Strikeouts 143 99
OB% .379 .468

PITCHING STATS (Entering the series) 

STAT NOTRE DAME FLORIDA STATE
ERA 6.73 2.93
Hits 143 108
Runs 109 56
ER 104 44
Walks 70 74
Strikeouts 128 202
Opponent Batting Avg. .268 .218

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