Notre Dame baseball’s season ended in a frustratingly familiar fashion Wednesday night.
The Fighting Irish couldn’t find enough timely pitching and didn’t make enough routine plays defensively in a 17-10 loss to Virginia Tech in the second round of the ACC Championship.
Where does Notre Dame go from here?
The future is bright if Shawn Stiffler can keep his nucleus of young players in South Bend. Notre Dame rolled out seven freshmen or sophomores in Wednesday’s starting lineup, including First-Team All-ACC selection Bino Watters and Jayce Lee, who was one of the hottest hitters in the league to close the season.
The Irish will lose centerfielder Drew Berkland, who hit .330 and led the team with 16 home runs. Notre Dame already appears to have its replacement waiting in the wings in freshman Brandon Logan, one of the highest-rated recruits the program has signed in years, but he’ll need to have a productive offseason.
Second Team All-ACC catcher Mark Quatrani is likely headed to the MLB Draft after a year in South Bend, after leading the team with an impressive .376 batting average, 15 home runs and a team-high 66 RBI.
Notre Dame isn’t empty-handed behind the plate, however. Davis Johnson, Troy Reader and Shane Miranda all return. Johnson missed most of the year due to injury, while Miranda flashed real promise late in the season with 15 hits over his final eight games.
The Irish also appear to have found their shortstop of the future in sophomore Noah Coy. The Indiana native hit .281 with a .959 fielding percentage and made some high-level plays as the season progressed. He now seems firmly entrenched as Notre Dame’s answer up the middle for the next two seasons.
It appears Notre Dame has also found a first baseman with freshman Dylan Passo, who started 33 games and batted .295. Passo recorded a fielding percentage of .996 and made some incredible plays in Charlotte over the last two days.
At first base, freshman Dylan Passo showed he’s ready for a major role after starting 33 games and batting .295. Passo posted a .996 fielding percentage and made several outstanding defensive plays in Charlotte this week.
The Irish do need to figure out second base and third base heading into next year. Freshman Mason Barth started at second, and classmate Jamie Zee started at third for most of the year before they flipped-flopped toward the end of the year. It was a good move as both seemed more comfortable after the switch.
Sophomore Parker Brzustwucz will also factor heavily into the infield picture. The versatile corner infielder hit .275 with eight doubles across 42 appearances and 38 starts.
A projected 2027 lineup could look something like this:
1B: Passo/Brzustwucz
2B: Zee
SS: Coy
3B: Barth/Brzustwucz
C: Johnson/Miranda/Reader
LF: Watters
CF: Logan
RF: Lee
That doesn’t even account for the development of other underclassmen, and Notre Dame will almost certainly explore the transfer portal for additional outfield help. If a proven third baseman becomes available, that’s a spot worth aggressively pursuing for either an immediate starter or quality depth.
The X-factor incoming freshman outfielder Eric Zdunek, who is a top 100 recruit and plays for the No. 2 team in the country, Orange Lutheran (Calif.).
On the bump, Notre Dame has work to do as RHP Jack Radel is a lock to leave early after being named First Team All-ACC.
Radel was the lone consistent arm on the roster this year, finishing with 116 strikeouts in 87.2 innings and walking just 22 batters.
The talent is there, but developing it will be the biggest offseason challenge for pitching coach Seth Voltz. Freshman lefties Caden Crowell and Dylan Singleton both flashed intriguing upside during their freshman campaigns while having some normal freshmen moments of adversity.
Crowell, in particular, looked more comfortable late in the season out of the bullpen, finishing 5-2 with 57 strikeouts in 51.2 innings.
Freshman Aiden Zerr is another guy who needs to take a step forward. The South Dakota native made four mid-week starts and flashed some positive stuff in 20.0 innings.
Sophomore RHP DJ Helwig (0-0, 5.68) was hurt for most of the year, so coming back healthy could give the Irish a boost out of the pen. Classmate Oisin Lee (3-0, 5.40) also has the talent to be a difference maker out of the pen, but needs to find consistency.
Freshman RHP Will Jaisle and sophomore RHP Kellen Klosterman are two other names to watch as their development moves forward.
Still, the bottom line is simple: a 5.97 team ERA won’t be good enough to reach the NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame failed to get timely strikeouts, ground balls or outs and it starts on the mound.
The young arms must develop, but Notre Dame also has to land impact pitching through the portal this offseason.
Notre Dame is close to breaking through the plateau Stiffler has been stuck on for three of the first four years of his tenure. The Irish could very well have made two NCAA Tournament appearances under Stiffler, but have been a few pieces short.
If the staff can keep its young offensive core intact while upgrading the pitching staff around it, there’s a legitimate reason to be bullish about where the program is headed over the next couple of seasons.
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