Notre Dame baseball will start its fourth season under Shawn Stiffler and there are once again expectations to make postseason play in South Bend.
The Irish enter 2026 coming off a 30-plus win campaign that featured a strong late push, winning five straight series to close the regular season.
That finish instilled confidence in a relatively young roster and created momentum that carried into a productive offseason in South Bend.
D1Baseball projects Notre Dame to make the Field of 64 as they have the Irish starting in the Arkansas Regional.
Notre Dame opens the new season with a three-game road series at FAU, a 37-21 club last year that also narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament. It should immediately test whether that late-season growth was a springboard or just a flash.
Stiffler’s club will still be young on paper, but he’s hoping the growing pains of 2025 put the Irish in a better spot to hit the ground running this weekend.
“We played a decent amount of younger people, underclassmen and they become a year older as you get back in the late part of April and then into the early part of May,” explained Stiffler. “They're no longer freshmen. They've been through 150 at-bats in the college season and they start to understand what the day-to-day grind looks like.”
Maturity and experience allowed Notre Dame to finish strong and it set a strong tone for an offseason that was productive for the program.
“We just matured and I don't want to say it came quicker than I thought, but it was a great way to end the year,” said Stiffler “I think we just have to advance on that. It's not about necessarily trying to repeat what we did, but it's about learning, taking away what we've learned from it, and then advancing on it.”
If Notre Dame is going to break through into postseason play, depth on the mound will likely determine it. That’s an area that has plagued the Irish in recent seasons, but Stiffler believes 2026 is different.
It starts with preseason All-American Jack Radel, who will anchor Friday nights. Behind him, Notre Dame boasts a mix of transfers, veterans and promising freshmen.
Stanford transfer Ty Uber brings ACC experience in multiple roles.
“Ty Uber has started games in the ACC,” Stiffler said of the Stanford transfer. “He's closed games in the ACC. He's pitched him in relief in the ACC. He's going to play a huge part and have an opportunity to take on some of that, probably some of that rotational piece.
“Noah Rooney, left-hander from Minnesota. Another guy who had started, closed, relieved in his career, done everything from Minnesota. He's left-handed, which is not something we've had a lot of in this program for sure.”
Perhaps one of the x-factors is Eli Thurmond, who is a transfer from Tampa.
“Eli Thurmond is a guy that a lot of people aren't talking about,” explained Stiffler. “He's a Division II transfer. He won two national titles as a guy who pitched in rotation for the University of Tampa. When you can bring and add somebody who's at the winning pedigree to you, you obviously want to do that.”
There are two left-handed freshmen to keep an eye on. Top 100 player Caden Crowell passed on starting his professional career, while classmate Dylan Singleton has impressed during the offseason work.
“Caden Crowell from down the road in Valparaiso,” stated Stiffler. “He's going to be special. He's just right where Jack Radel was as a freshman, just left-handed and a guy that we're going to give opportunity to right away and look to develop him.
“Another young man by the name of Dylan Singleton has thrown the baseball really, really well for us, a left-hander from Florida. He's come on and is a strike thrower for pitch mix. So all these guys have the opportunity to compete for that rotation.”
Sophomore RHP Chase Van Ameyde flashed at times in 2025. The Michigan native finished 2-2 with 31 strikeouts in 23.2 innings, despite a misleading 8.37 ERA.
“Van Ameyde is somebody, a side-archer who throws 92 mph,” Stiffler explained. “He's a nice addition to have.”
The 6-foot-6, 200-pounder Oisin Lee has a leg up on the closer position for the Irish after making 16 appearances as a freshman a year ago. He finished with 26 strikeouts and an ERA of 6.16.
“The one thing that we haven't had in a little while is we have a guy who’s established on the back end in Oisin Lee,” Stiffler said. “We're a little bit ahead of that this year because we think Oisin has the ability to finish. He finished games in the ACC last year. I don't know if he will end up being our closer. We have some time to play on that, but he can do it and so you have to feel confident there.”
Heading into opening weekend, the projected rotation features Radel, Crowell and Uber.
Notre Dame’s infield will look similar, but a few guys will shuffle positions to start the season.
“Parker Brzustewicz is going to move over to third base and play quite a bit,” said Stiffler. “It doesn't mean he won't go back to first base at times, depending on match-ups, but he'll have the opportunity to play some third base for us this year.
“Noah Coy is going to play shortstop and replace Estevan (Moreno), who started there for three years before he moved on to pro ball. So excited for Noah. He had an unbelievable summer in the Northwoods League and we believe he's got an opportunity to really solidify that position.”
Freshman Jamie Zee is expected to start at second base after a prolific career at Bergen Catholic.
First base will be the position to watch as Notre Dame expects to treat it by game-by-game basis to start the year.
“Freshman Dylan Passo will be over there,” explained Stiffler. “Left-handed hitter out of New Jersey. He's done a great job for us. He'll be over there. Parker will be over there and then I think you'll also see, a couple times a year, depending on match-ups, Bino Watters getting an opportunity to slide in there as well. I saw him last night make a couple plays that were really impressive as well. We're going to rotate that position.
“Van Ameyde is another guy who can see some time over there as well. That position will rotate a little bit based on match-ups and where our health is and who needs a day.”
The outfield will have a familiar look with South Bend native Jayce Lee manning right field, while Watters and Davis Johnson will split time in left.
Watters enters the year with high expectations as he’s Baseball America’s No. 7 MLB draft prospect in the 2027 class after hitting .317 with nine home runs and 39 RBI as a freshman.
“Bino and Davis Johnson will kind of rotate again,” said Stiffler. “Davis will be a catcher as well. He’ll serve as one of the catchers, play left field. Bino will serve as left fielder, first base and DH. Davis will slide into that DH role at times.
“Drew Berkland will play in center field to start the year. Jayce (Lee) will play in right field. The other piece is that Brandon Logan will come in as he gets adjusted to the speed and he gets to self-acclimate to college baseball. We're going to get him in the mix as quickly as possible.”
At catcher, Mark Quatrani will get the starting nod. He was named first-team All-Ivy league last year at Cornell after hitting .318 with six home runs and 24 RBI.
There is depth there as Notre Dame can go three-deep.
“Quatrani and Davis will be our catching core for the most part,” Stiffler explained. “I'm excited about the rest of that group as well. Several other kids, Troy Reader's been in the program for a couple of years and understands, and will help out the catching position as well. I think we have some veteran depth there, which is nice as well.”
Scoring runs will be important to start the year, as the defense finds itself, as Notre Dame hasn’t taken many reps outside leading up to opening day.
Stiffler believes this group can score in a variety of ways.
“I think when we need to lengthen the field, we can do that,” said Stiffler. “When we need to shorten the field, we'll be able to do that as well. We've worked very hard the last two years to continue to shape the roster to score runs when the wind's blowing in. We play here and you're not always going to get a favorable weather condition or wind blowing out, we need to get better at scoring runs when the wind is blowing in. I don't call manufacturing, we're just being able produce more.”
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