Irish Travel to Pitt – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Website

SOUTH BEND, Indiana — The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (15-11) are back on the road as they head to Pittsburgh, PA to take on the Pitt Panthers (13-13) at Charles L. Cost Field. The Irish enter the game at 5-7 as they are coming off an ACC win over the UNC Tar Heels on Sunday, April 2nd.

Date	time	Opponent	Location	Likely beginners	television
April 6	3 in the afternoon	Pete	Charles L. Cost Field	RHP Blake Healy (1-1, 4.28) vs. RHP Jack Sokol (3-1, 6.47)	ACCNX
April 7	3 in the afternoon	Pete	Charles L. Cost Field	RHP Jackson Dennis (0-2, 3.04) vs. RHP Kyle Mosley (0-3, 7.71	ACCNX
April 8	1 in the afternoon	Pete	Charles L. Cost Field	LHP Jack Findlay (4-1, 2.73) vs. RHP Logan Evans (1-1, 8.53)	ACCNX

Thursday | Live Stats | ACCNX

Friday | Live Stats | ACCNX

Saturday | Live Stats | ACCNX

Notre Dame vs. Pitt Game Notes

The conference resumes at Pitt

• This will be the first road game for the Irish since defeating the No. 4 Wake Forest Demon Deacons at their place in a 3-1 victory on March 19, 2023.
• The Irish face Pitt for the 77th time in the program on Thursday, with the Irish leading the overall series 51-25.
• Notre Dame is 26-4 at home, 17-17 at Pitt and 8-0 at neutral sites.
• The Irish last faced the Panthers at Frank Eck last season (5/13/22-5/15/22), where the Irish took the series after winning games one and two.
• Brooks Coetzee had a monster night in the game with an 8-3 win. He started the game with hits in his first three at-bats, including a two-run home run in the fourth. He finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs and two RBI.
• The Irish took game two 8-1 and fell in the final game of the series 5-2.

Irish Take on Northwestern

• The Irish are now five-for-five in midweek games after defeating the Northwest Wildcats 12-0 on Tuesday at Frank Eck.
• Notre Dame is now 6-3 with its second win of the season.
• Jack Penny hit his sixth home run of the year in the bottom of the seventh, and Joey Spence would hit his first career home run in the bottom of the eighth for a two-run home run to extend the Irish lead to 12-0 heading into the ninth.
• The Irish will face the Wildcats again on the road on Tuesday, May 16.

UNC heads to South Bend for another ACC series

• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-11) dropped Frank Eck’s three-game winning streak as they fell to No. 13 North Carolina (20-8) in games one and two of the series.
• Looking for redemption after a tough loss to the Tar Heels on Friday night, the Irish fell 5-2 in the first game of the day, but were able to come home in the final game with a 9-1 win on home turf.
• Jackson Dennis recorded a career-high seven strikeouts over 4.2 innings in three game wins. He also allowed just two hits, while giving up no runs and no hits.
• Vinny Martinez had a weekend at the plate, recording five hits and five runs on the weekend, along with three home runs and seven RBI.

Frank Ek v Butler midweek clash

• The Irish are 4-for-4 in midweek games so far this season, with two neutral-site wins over St. Joseph’s in Holly Springs, a win over Valpo in the 2023 opener and a 4-0 win over Butler on Frank Eck.
• Jackson Dennis started on the mound, recording a career-high six strikeouts over a career-high four innings.

Irish make history in series win over No. 2 Louisville

• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-9) defeated No. 2 Louisville Cardinals (19-4) in historic fashion, taking the first game of the series on Friday, March 24 and the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday, March 26.
• Sunday afternoon’s 5-4 victory clinched the first home win over Louisville in program history. After falling 2-1 in the second game of the doubleheader, the Irish are now 4-5 in conference play.
• In the first game, Notre Dame trailed 2-0 going into game five.
• The Irish held Louisville scoreless in the top of the inning until the Irish offense really started to get hot in the bottom of the frame. The Irish led off with singles by DM Jefferson and TJ Williams, and a sac bunt by Jack Penney would put runners on second and third for Notre Dame.
• Zach Preisner scored both runs as he doubled down the left field line to put two Irish runs on the board and tie the game 2-2. Zyska followed with a double of his own that he sent over the wall in left field to score Preisner for a 3-2 lead.
• The Cardinals would score another run in the top of the sixth to tie the game at 3-3.
• The Irish answered right away when Estevan Moreno hit a home run to deep left, his second of the season, to put the Irish back on top at 4-3 and lead them to an eventual 4-3 victory to take game one.
• In Saturday’s matchup, the Cardinals would put their first run of the day on the board on the first pitch of the game when they opened with a home run to right field to take an early 1-0 lead. And after leading off the top of the fifth with another home run, Louisville took a 3-0 lead.
• Notre Dame would go nowhere as the Irish bats began to heat up in the fifth. Notre Dame would score all five of its runs in the bottom of the inning. The Irishman’s five runs would come off just three hits, all of which were home runs. Jack Penny would hit the first homer, followed by back-to-back home runs from Carter Putz and Brooks Coetzee.
• The five-run inning lifted the Irish to a 5-4 victory to clinch the series over the Cardinals.

Notre Dame opens at home against Valparaiso

• Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish took down the Beacons in 106^th game between Valpo and Notre Dame, as the Irish lead the overall series 86-21, with the first game taking place on May 14, 1918.
• The Irish defeated Valpo in an 8-4 home win on Tuesday, March 21 at Frank Eck.
• Sophomores Zach Prazner and Jack Ziska both hit their first home runs of the season in Tuesday’s win. Prajzner’s home run to left field came in the bottom of the third, and Zyska followed with his home run to left field in the bottom of the fourth.
• David Lally Jr. made his second career start on the mound, tossing 2.1 innings before being relieved in the third inning by Carter Bosh. Bosh recorded a season-high six strikeouts in 3.2 innings and didn’t give up a run on just two hits. Sammy Cooper came close in the top of the seventh, picking up his second win of the season.

Irish Resume Conference Play No. 4 Wake Forest

• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish finished the series 2-1 at No. 4 Wake Forest last weekend after dropping both back-to-back games on Saturday, but clinched Sunday’s game with a 3-1 victory.
• The Irish are now 9-8 on the year and 2-4 in the ACC following road series.
• Due to the postponement of Friday’s game due to inclement weather, the Irish and Demon Deacons played a doubleheader on Saturday, March 18.
• Wake Forest took the first game 4-1 and the second 12-3.
• Jackson Dennis started on the mound for the Irish in Game 1, finishing the day with three hits while allowing two runs and five hits in 3.2 innings.
• Aidan Tyrrell came on in relief with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, threw 3.1 innings, recorded four strikeouts and gave up just one run and one hit.
• Trailing 1-0 heading into the top of the third, Danny Neary led off for the Irish with a double down the left field line and advanced to third on a hit by TJ Williams. Estevan Moreno followed with his first hit of the day as he singled to left to score Neri for Notre Dame’s only run of the game
• The Irish struggled to score in game two on Saturday. Trailing 12-1 heading into the top of the ninth, Connor Hincks singled to center field for his first career hit and was sent home on a two-run homer by Tony Lindwedel. Lindwedel’s first career home run would cut the deficit to 12-3 as Wake Forest took game two of the series.
• Wake Forest was undefeated 14-0 at home this season until Notre Dame took Game 3 by a score of 3-1.
• The Irish offense erupted in the top of the second with a double to right center by Carter Putz, who scored after Jack Ziska hit a single into left field.
• The Irish jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Findlay continued to shut the Demon Deacons off the mound, closing out the first two innings with three hits.
• DM Jefferson started the third with a leadoff single to center field and advanced to second on a passed ball with TJ Williams at bat. Jefferson was able to score and tack on another hit for the Irish as an RBI single by Brooks Coetzee brought Jefferson home for a 2-0 lead.
• Coetzee led off the sixth with a double to right-center field that was followed by a single by Putz. With runners on first and second and Jack Penny up to bat, Coetzee was able to steal third on a wild pitch. Penney reached on a fielder’s choice, recording an RBI when Coetzee homered to give the Irish a 3-0 advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth.
• Findlay recorded his 10th hit of the day before being relieved by Blake Healy with two outs in the sixth. Findlay absolutely dominated from the mound, throwing 10 hits over 5.2 innings and allowing just two hits and no runs.

	WITH THE NUMBERS
.500	Vinny Martinez led the Irish last weekend by hitting .500 in the series against UNC as well as recording five hits, five runs and seven RBI. He sent three of five deep, hitting three home runs over the weekend (3/31/23-4/2/23).
1	Sean Stifler is in his first season with the Irish and comes to South Bend after spending the last 10 seasons at the helm of the VCU program, where he compiled a 340-198 overall record and dominated the Atlantic 10 with a 146-71 record.
2.17	Sophomore Jack Findlay returns to the Irish to claim the mound second season after leading the team with a 2.17 ERA and four saves in the 2022 season.
4	Brooks Coetzee was HBP four times in game two against Saint Joseph’s, the last coming as the game was tied at 9-9. The Irish finished the game with a loaded HBP in the out as Coetzee was HBP for the fourth time in this game for the out win. He has been hit 16 times so far this season.
6	Jack Penny leads the Irish with six home runs so far this season, with his last homer coming in the seventh inning in the win over Northwestern (4/4/23).
7	Alumnus Carter Bosch recorded a season-high six strikeouts in 3.2 innings in Frank Eck’s Tuesday, March 21 win over Valparaiso, striking out the side in the fifth inning.
10	Sophomore Jack Findlay brought the heat, finishing with a career-high ten strikeouts in 5.2 innings in a win over No. 4 Wake Forest on the road (3/19/23).
13	Joey Spence (#13) hit his first career home run in the bottom of the eighth in Frank Eck’s win over Northwestern on Tuesday (4/4/23).
14	The Irish feature 14 newcomers, including 10 freshmen, and four graduate transfers on the 2023 roster.
41	The Fighting Irish finished the season 41-17 overall in 2022 as Irish eclipsed the 40-win plateau for the first time since 2006.
79	The Irish set a program record for most home runs in a season with 79 in 2022. Notre Dame had 75 home runs in the College World Series last year, while the previous record of 73 was broken in the final game of the Knoxville Super Regional on June 12.