The Notre Dame baseball team will return home to face Michigan State on April 8, with the game scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. start at Frank Eck Stadium, according to an announcement on Apr. 7.
This matchup is significant as it marks only the third midweek contest of the season for Notre Dame and features two teams aiming to rebound from recent series losses.
Notre Dame comes into the game after dropping a series at NC State, while Michigan State recently lost its own series against Northwestern. The two programs share a long history, with Michigan State being one of nine teams that Notre Dame has faced more than 100 times in program history. Other members of this “century-plus club” include Detroit Mercy (discontinued), Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern, Purdue, Valparaiso, Western Michigan and Wisconsin.
Several statistical highlights characterize Notre Dame’s current season. Seven Irish players are hitting .300 or above so far this year, led by Mark Quatrani’s .361 batting average. Jack Radel recently retired 38 consecutive batters across games against Florida Atlantic University and Alabama A&M and threw six perfect innings with nine strikeouts against UCF using just 68 pitches. The Irish currently hold the No. 23 spot in this week’s D1Baseball Top 25 Poll and have six players featured in D1baseball.com preseason rankings by position: Bino Watters (No.19 first baseman), Jack Radel (No.29 starting pitcher), Mark Quatrani (No.49 catcher), Drew Berkland (No.63 outfielder), Oisin Lee (No.74 relief pitcher) and Davis Johnson (No.132 outfielder).
The roster includes sixteen returning players from last year’s squad that finished their regular season with a strong record of sixteen wins and two losses over their final eighteen games; twelve true freshmen have joined for this campaign—six ranked among top recruits in their states—and seven transfer student-athletes are also new additions.
Looking ahead to Wednesday’s contest broadcast on ACC Network, right-handed pitchers Chase Van Ameyde for Michigan State and JD Greeley for Notre Dame are listed as probable starters.
