The Falcon baseball team will take on the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Wednesday, and is riding a season-high four-game win streak after sweeping the University of Toledo Rockets this past weekend.
The Irish enter the game 19-14, highlighted by a six-game losing streak before their game Tuesday against the University of Michigan.
After a string of early-season errors, BG has been improved in three phases of the game – offense, defense and pitching.
In the past week, the Falcons have been hitting .320 as a team and have an earned run average of 2.25 per game. BG also set a season high 18 hits against Toledo.
BG comes in at 11-19 and leads the University of Notre Dame in batting average, runs per game and strikeouts per game. The Falcons are earning a .261 batting average, 4.73 runs per game and 6.4 strikeouts respectively.
The Irish, however, tip the scales in their favor in several more statistics, including home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, hits allowed and fielding percentage.
The University of Notre Dame has many wins against big-time teams this season.
They started the year off with two straight wins, including a 6-5, 10-inning game against Florida Gulf Coast University and a 13-3 win against Ohio State University.
After a 5-4 loss to Mercer University, Notre Dame swept the Tulane University Green Wave in a three-game series. The Irish outscored the Green Wave 13-5 in the series.
Following their series sweep in New Orleans, the Irish won three straight games against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Virginia Tech in the Irish Baseball Classic in Cary, N.C., but was defeated in the last game of the tournament 4-3 to the University of Rhode Island.
The University of Notre Dame spent its spring break playing in California. The Irish participated in the Dodgertown Classic in Los Angeles abd they went 2-1 with wins against the University of Southern California Trojans and the University of Oklahoma Sooners. The Irish’s only loss in that tournament came against the University of California-Los Angeles Bruins in their first game.
After being swept by the University of Louisville Cardinals, the Irish went on a four-game winning streak, including wins against the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames, Valparaiso University Crusaders and two wins against Big East opponent Villanova.
Since its April 6 win, Notre Dame has lost six-straight games, including one game against Villanova University, a loss against the University of Michigan, three losses at the University of Pittsburgh and its most recent 8-2 loss at the University of Michigan April 16.
BG freshman Nick Glanzman earned the MAC East Player of the Week honors with his performances against Toledo. The third baseman had seven runs scored, four RBIs, two doubles and reached base 60 percent of the time.
Andrew Kubuski has now reached base for the Falcons in 19 straight games dating back to March 6 against Florida Gulf Coast.
If the Falcons defeat the Irish, it will be coach Danny Schmitz’s 600th career win at BG. Schmitz comes into the game with a 599-569-5 record over his 23 years as coach.
The game will start at 5:35 p.m. Wednesday at Notre Dame.
