A win is a win is a win. There’s no doubt about it — the Notre Dame baseball team is massively struggling with its ACC schedule this year, and just dropped a home series over the weekend to Boston College. Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy some midweek wins from the Irish, and this week, Notre Dame took out Central Michigan and Milwaukee in back-to-back days.
4/28 Irish Take Down Chippewas
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame baseball team took a 5-3 win over visiting Central Michigan on Tuesday
night at Frank Eck Stadium.
Central Michigan pushed a pair of runs across in the top of the first. The Irish got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the opening frame. Drew Berkland reached on an error and moved into scoring position on a ground out. Berkland advanced 90 feet on an errant throw on a pick-off attempt, and Dylan Passo drove in Berkland with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1.
Ty Uber retired the side in order in the top of the second and capped off the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. Uber continued his solid outing by retiring the side in order in both the third and fourth innings on the hill as the righty amassed five strikeouts on the night.
Chase Van Ameyde got the runner leaning the other way as the Irish closed out a scoreless fifth inning. The Irish then took the lead in the bottom half of the inning. Andrew Graham led off the inning with a single. Two batters later, Drew Berkland laced a single through the left side. Bino Watters drilled a two-strike double to left-center field as Graham came around to score. Mark Quatrani used a sacrifice fly to drive in Berkland from third as the Irish took a 3-2 lead.
Eli Thurmond retired the Chippewas in order in the top of the sixth. Jayce Lee led off the bottom half of the inning with a single up the middle, and Parker Brzustewicz drove in Lee with a double down the left field line for a 4-2 Irish advantage. Mason Barth drew a walk, and Andrew Graham moved the pair up with a sacrifice fly. Brzustewicz then scored on a sacrifice fly by Jamie Zee to put the Irish ahead 5-2.
The Chippewas scored an unearned run in the top of the seventh, but Eli Thurmond posted back-to-back strikeouts to force Central Michigan into stranding runners on first and second. Radek Birkholz continued to keep the Central Michigan bats at bay with a strikeout to end the top of the eighth.
Oisin Lee came in for the ninth inning and closed out the game with the save to preserve the 5-3 win.
Parker Brzustewicz went 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run. Bino Watters was 2-for-4 at the dish with two doubles and an RBI. Drew Berkland had a hit and scored twice while Jayce Lee and Andrew Graham each tallied a hit and scored a run. Mark Quatrani, Dylan Passo and Jamie Zee each drove in a run in the win.
DJ Helwig earned his first start of the season for the Irish, and Ty Uber went 3.1 innings of work with five strikeouts and no hits allowed. Chase Van Ameyde went 1.0 with a strikeout while garnering the win. Eli Thurmond posted 2.0 innings of work with three strikeouts. Radek Birkholz had a shutout inning with a strikeout, and Oisin Lee held the Chippewas hitless in the ninth while earning the save.
4/29 Irish Run-Rule Panthers in Midweek Win
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame baseball team took a 16-2 (7 innings) win over visiting Milwaukee on Wednesday night at Frank Eck Stadium.
Aiden Zerr closed the door on the Panthers in the top of the first with a strikeout to force Milwaukee into stranding a runner on third base. Drew Berkland then led off the bottom of the first with a walk, and Bino Watters singled through the right side to put runners at the corners. Two batters later, Dylan Passo used a sacrifice fly to drive in Berkland for the 1-0 lead.
Parker Brzustewicz started the bottom of the second with a double to left-center field. Mason Barth flared a single to right field to put runners on the corners, and Jamie Zee drilled a deep single off the left field wall to plate Brzustewicz. Drew Berkland then went the other way with a three-run homer to right for a 5-0 Irish lead.
Zerr made quick work of the Panthers in the third with a three-up, three-down effort on the hill. Evan Clark then added a shutout effort in the top of the fourth for the Irish.
Drew Berkland singled and moved to second on an error, and Mark Quatrani drove in Berkland with an opposite-field single to right field for a 6-0 advantage. Dylan Passo kept the inning going with a two-out double to right-center, and Jayce Lee drove in the pair with a single to right field for an 8-0 lead. Parker Brzustewicz drew a walk, and Mason Barth bounced a single up the middle to drive in Lee to make it 9-0.
The Panthers used a double to drive in two runs in the top of the fifth for a 9-2 score.
The Irish came right back with a three-spot in the bottom of the fifth. Drew Berkland hit a single to right and capitalized on an error to get to third. Bino Watters and Mark Quatrani laced back-to-back doubles as Berkland and Watters scored. Dylan Passo then added a single to left field to drive in Quatrani for the 12-2 Irish lead.
Dylan Singleton then struck out the side in the top of the sixth to get the Irish back up to bat quickly. Mason Barth led off with a single, and Jamie Zee hit a double to drive in Barth. Brandon Logan drew a one-out walk, and Caleb Ricks drove in Zee and Logan with a triple to the right-center gap. Troy Reader used a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Ricks for a 16-2 lead.
Singleton then closed out the game with a pair of strikeouts on either side of a Shane Miranda to Jamie Zee caught stealing attempt at second base.
Ten different players registered a hit as the Irish compiled 22 hits – the first 20-plus hit effort by the baseball team since February 2022. Drew Berkland went 3-for-3 with a home run, three RBI and four runs scored. Mark Quatrani was 3-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBI. Jayce Lee was 3-for-5 at the dish with a double, two RBI and a run. Mason Barth added a 3-for-4 showing at the plate with two runs and an RBI.
Bino Watters, Dylan Passo, Parker Brzustewicz and Jamie Zee all collected three hits on the night as each of the four Irish players posted a double and scored at least once. Jonathan Holt tallied the first hit of his collegiate career, and Caleb Ricks posted the first triple of his Irish career. Troy Reader drove in a run with a sacrifice fly on the night, and Brandon Logan scored a run.
Aiden Zerr started and went 3.0 innings with two strikeouts and no runs on the night. Evan Clark picked up the win in relief with a strikeout in a shutout inning. Kellan Klosterman went 1.0 on the bump and struck out two, and Dylan Singleton went the final 2.0 innings on the mound and struck out five.
The Irish (21-20) continue their homestand this weekend when they host Stanford for a three-game ACC series starting on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
