The NC State baseball team hits the road this weekend to take on ACC bottom-feeder Notre Dame at Frank Eck Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
The Wolfpack got back into the win column with a 15-10 drubbing of Charlotte Tuesday, as the squad exploded for 13 runs in two innings to open a 14-0 lead before holding off the 49ers for the win.
The team will have a chance to continue that momentum through the weekend against a weak Notre Dame (8-15, 2-7 ACC) team that has lost three of its last four games.
Due to weather concerns, the Irish has only played five home games this season, all coming in the last week. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, its first home series was against Florida State and the Seminoles easily rolled through the Irish for a three-game sweep.
The Fighting Irish pitching staff has struggled all season, with a combined ERA of 5.03. The starting rotation has been slightly better, although it is not without its struggles.
Friday night starter Brandon Bielak, a junior right-hander, has struggled out of the gate this season. Bielak was rated as the ACC’s No. 14 prospect for the 2017 MLB Draft by Perfect Game, but is just 1-4 with a 5.28 ERA this season.
The Wolfpack will also see graduate left-hander Michael Hearne (1-1, 3.51 ERA) on Saturday and junior right-hander Brad Bass (1-3, 3.97 ERA) on Sunday. Bass, a huge pitcher at 6 feet 6 inches and 250 pounds, was selected in the 33rd round by the Cubs in the 2014 MLB Draft and is ranked as the No. 37 prospect in the nation by D1Baseball.com.
If the rotation has struggled for Notre Dame, then its lineup has also floundered. The team has a batting average of .228 and the team has only nine home runs (for reference, NC State shortstop Joe Dunand has nine by himself this season).
The Notre Dame lineup is buoyed by three players: freshman Daniel Jung and sophomores Nick Podkul and Matt Vierling. The trio are the only players on the team hitting over .250 and have combined for five of the team’s home runs and over a third of the RBIs. Senior infielder Kyle Fiala also provides pop to the lineup, as he has nine extra-base hits and 15 RBIs this season. He is also perfect in six stolen-base opportunities.
The Wolfpack has a chance to continue to gain ground in the ACC standings and gain momentum heading into the following week’s series against Florida State.
The Wolfpack has benefitted greatly from the emergence of freshman catcher Brad Debo, who after going 3-4 with six RBIs against Charlotte, is hitting .365 with 21 RBIs and two home runs. The duo of Debo and fellow freshman second baseman Will Wilson has been a boon for the Wolfpack lineup, and a real reason the team has a winning record this season.
The Wolfpack has also gotten a revival from senior right-hander Joe O’Donnell, who is now 4-0 with a 1.90 ERA. O’Donnell was tremendous at the beginning of last season before going down with an injury, but he has picked up right where he left off, holding batters to a .181 batting average and striking out 24 hitters in 23.2 innings.
The Wolfpack has performed well on the road this season, going 7-3, albeit against lesser competition. The Fighting Irish is lesser competition, and the Wolfpack should continue its trend of strong road play with a series win in South Bend.
