Coming off a 2-1 opening series win against North Florida, the Notre Dame baseball team heads back to the Sunshine State this weekend. The Irish will face Iowa at noon on Friday, UMBC at noon on Saturday and Stetson at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday in DeLand, Florida.
Last weekend, Notre Dame outscored North Florida 25-17, winning 5-3 on Friday and 19-6 in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader before losing 8-1 in the finale. Sophomore right-hander Jack Radel made the Opening Day start and was terrific, shutting out the Ospreys on 1 hit and 1 walk across four innings with 4 strikeouts. Saturday afternoon starter Jackson Dennies impressed as well, the graduate right-hander bouncing back from a rocky first inning to last four frames and strike out 3. Graduate right-hander Dylan Heine didn’t have his best stuff Saturday night, giving up 3 runs on seven hits in 3 ⅓ innings, but he did strike out 5.
Graduate right-hander Tobey McDonough and freshman right-hander Kellan Klosterman starred out of the bullpen, with McDonough collecting a 5-out save on Friday and Klosterman striking out the side in a perfect seventh in his collegiate debut on Saturday.
Of the 10 Irish hitters who received seven or more at-bats in Jacksonville, six finished the weekend with a batting average above .300 and an on-base plus slugging (OPS) north of .900. Freshman infielder Bino Watters jumped off the page in his debut series, starting all three games and going 4 for 11 with a home run, 4 RBI, 5 walks, a stolen base and 5 runs scored for an 1.199 OPS. Outfielder Jayce Lee (3 for 7 with a terrific diving catch in left field) and infielder Parker Brzustewicz (4 for 8 with 3 RBI) got in on the first-year fun as well. Another newcomer, graduate outfielder Jared Zimbardo, led the Irish with 5 hits and 2 stolen bases in his first action since transferring from Quinnipiac.
A few of Notre Dame’s returning bats delivered, too. Sophomore catcher Carson Tinney was 4 for 10 with a long ball and 5 RBI in his first game since April 21. Junior Estevan Moreno crushed a grand slam and added a double, going 4 for 13 with 5 runs scored. Even though graduate infielder Connor Hincks, senior infielder Nick DeMarco, graduate outfielder Brady Gumpf and freshman infielder Noah Coy combined to go 2 for 36 as multi-game starters, all four of them drove in at least 1 run.
Iowa also heading back to Florida
The 1-2 Hawkeyes visited South Florida last week, dropping 5-4 and 9-5 results to bookend an 8-2 Saturday win in Tampa. Iowa made the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago but took a step back with a 31-23 record and a winless Big Ten Tournament appearance in 2024. Iowa’s effectiveness at the plate remained the same, but its pitching regressed from a 4.19 earned run average to a 5.74 with the losses of bullpen studs Luke Llewellyn and Will Christophersen and the down years of Saturday starter Marcus Morgan and reliever Jack Whitlock. Overall, the Hawkeyes have 11 consecutive winning seasons under 1000-game-winning head coach Rick Heller.
Iowa plans to throw left-hander Cade Obermueller, a preseason All-Big Ten Team selection and Perfect Game’s preseason Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, against the Irish on Friday. The Iowa City native was drafted in the 19th round by the Texas Rangers in 2024 and made 13 starts last season, striking out 73 and posting a 3.92 ERA in 59 ⅔ innings. He was dominant against the Bulls last week, punching out 10 in 5 innings of 1-hit baseball.
The Hawkeyes lost each of their five best hitters from last season. Two of their top returners, Daniel Rogers and Reese Moore, alternate between catcher and designated hitter. Rogers was seeing beach balls at the plate last weekend, as he slugged .909 with a double and 2 home runs. Infielder Gable Mitchell and left fielder Ben Wilmes are also both back after each producing an OPS higher than .800 in 2024. The two paced the Hawkeyes with 6 hits apiece in Tampa.
Iowa largely lost the USF series on defense, making eight errors across the weekend. The Hawkeyes trail Notre Dame 41-28 with one tie in the all-time series and last faced the Irish in 2012.
UMBC meeting Notre Dame for the first time
The Retrievers from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County will play their first game of the year on Friday before battling the Irish a day later. UMBC, a school best known for its upset of Virginia in the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, competes in the America East Conference. The Retrievers went 27-25 last season and have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2017, when they made their third appearance.
According to the probables listed on UMBC’s team website, the Retrievers will start Brady Fox against Notre Dame on Saturday. Fox, a freshman left-hander out of Delaware, would be making his collegiate debut as the Retrievers look to replace two-time AEC Pitcher of the Year Luke Johnson on the pitching staff.
This season, UMBC benefits massively from returning redshirt sophomore infielder Leewood Molessa. The West Virginian put together one of the best seasons in program history as a freshman two years ago, collecting a UMBC record 66 RBI on 16 home runs, 15 doubles and a .294 batting average. He finished as the America East Rookie of the Year before missing nearly all of 2024 with an injury. His supporting cast features infielders Kyle Eddington and Danny Wyatt, two America East All-Rookie Team players last year. Wyatt’s 11 doubles, 45 RBI, .301 batting average and .903 OPS from last season lead all UMBC returners.
Stetson back on the mainland
The Hatters spent the season’s first weekend in the Caribbean, competing in the Puerto Rico Challenge. There, they defeated UConn (10-6), Penn State (8-4) and Missouri (9-7) before dropping one to No. 25 Michigan (6-1) in the Monday finale. They’ll have a marquee home matchup against No. 10 Florida coming up two days after their date with Notre Dame.
Stetson comes off a terrific season in which it reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 by winning the ASUN Tournament. Outfielder Jayden Hylton led the Hatters offense last week, going 5 for 13 with 2 home runs and 2 doubles on his way to ASUN Player of the Week honors. Shortstop Lorenzo Meola, the ASUN Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, contributed with his first home run of the season. Infielders and Preseason All-ASUN Team selections Isaiah Barkett and Yohann Dessureault got involved as well, combining to go 7 for 21 with 7 runs scored. Outfielder Jordan Taylor, an offseason transfer portal addition by way of Florida State and Chipola College, made a strong first impression with 2 long balls and 6 RBI in a 5-for-15 weekend.
Right-handed redshirt sophomore reliever Zane Coppersmith leads the Hatter pitching staff. An All-ASUN Second Team arm last year, he dazzled with a 1.82 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 29 ⅔ innings. None of Stetson’s four starters from last weekend pitched for the team last season, as Friday arm James Hays was at Georgia, Saturday guy Jonathan Gonzalez was injured, Sunday pitcher Mason Davenport was at Kansas City Community College and Monday man Ethan Phillips was at Indiana.
The Irish are 4-3 against Stetson, last traveling to DeLand early in the College World Series season of 2022.
