Paws Up Preview – FIU Baseball vs Notre Dame

Date: Friday, February 23rd

Time: 6:30 PM EST

Opponent: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-0)

Location: Miami, FL (FIU Baseball Stadium)

TV: ESPN+

MIAMI, FL – Following their first loss of the season in a midweek matchup, FIU Baseball looks to turn over a new leaf against a well-known school – the Notre Dame Fighting Irish

After sweeping Long Island to begin their 2024 campaign, a trip to Daytona didn’t go their way as they fell to the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats by a score of 4-10.

The Engines Didn’t Start In Daytona

As per the usual, the hitting was on point with the usual suspects contributing to the scoreboard. Brylan West continued his hot start to the season with an RBI Triple – his 10th runner batted in this season, which leads the team.

Another player who showed out was Alex Ulloa, who managed to succeed in the game’s tail end with a couple more runs driven in. It feels like scoring four runs should be enough in a midweek matchup against an opponent from the SWAC.

But the pitching once again was the area of concern with this team. Richie Peña made his debut as the starting pitcher and finished with mixed results, striking out three batters but giving up three hits and runs.

The bullpen didn’t do the team any favors as they gave up seven runs from the fourth inning and beyond. In addition, don’t gloss over that they gave up 15 runs in three games to LIU, which has been shadowed by the fact that they scored 49 runs themselves.

In any event, both the batting and pitching are going to need to be at the top of their game when they take on Notre Dame, which will prove to be an early test of where this team stands overall.

It’s confirmed that Jackson Ritchey will get the nod tomorrow, while Owen Puk and Joen Pineiro will start for FIU on the Saturday doubleheader. The starter on the Sunday finale is yet to be determined.

The Irish Come To Town

Notre Dame enters this game with a 3-0 record fresh off a series sweep over the Rice Owls in Houston, with each game in the series slowly growing into higher-scoring contests between the two schools.

But all things considered, this is the best start to a season for the Irish since 2010 when they swept Mississippi Valley State.

Last season, the Fighting Irish finished with a 30-24 record and were quickly booted out of the ACC Tournament following a pair of losses to Pitt and Wake Forest.

This is a well-mixed club with a bunch of freshmen and juniors on their roster with a handful of sophomores, seniors, and grad students sprinkled in. Like FIU, they lost a fair amount of players to the transfer portal and graduation, and have filled in the missing pieces.

On the offense, be on the lookout for graduate infielder Simon Baumgardt. The transfer from Tulane is off to a hot start to the season, with three hits, four RBIs, and two home runs in 12 at-bats of work.

Equally solid has been the graduate transfer from St. Johns, David Glancy. With two hits, five earned runs, and two homers, Glancy and Baumgardt have proven to be a solid duo among a whole squad of solid hitters.

On the mound, Notre Dame will look to their sophomore righty Caden Spivey to lead the way. He also got the nod for the series opener against Rice, and put up solid numbers, pitching three innings and only giving up a single run.

As mentioned at the top, the opener is at 6:30 pm and, of course, there will be a t-shirt giveaway for students. The two-game doubleheader on Saturday will start at 2 pm, with the second starting 45 minutes after the first game ends. The Sunday finale starts at noon.

Equally cool is the fact that former FIU Baseball head coach Danny Price will throw out the first pitch of the Saturday doubleheader.