Notre Dame baseball beat Michigan State in East Lansing by a score of 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon. The Irish victory evened the season series between the two teams at 1-1, as Michigan State beat Notre Dame last month 7-4 in South Bend. Following the win, the Irish improved to 18-18 on the year, while the Spartans fell to 14-23 overall.
Graduate student righty Ty Uber got the start for the Irish. Uber, who didn’t pitch in last week’s series against FSU due to some rough outings of late, got on the right track with two innings of two-run ball. He was relieved by graduate pitcher Eli Thurmond, who twirled two scoreless innings.
The Irish offense notched three runs in the contest, all coming in the first inning. In that frame, leadoff man graduate outfielder Drew Berkland singled and scored on a botched pick-off attempt to third. Two batters later, two-hole hitter sophomore infield and outfielder Bino Watters came around to score on a sacrifice fly. With two outs, sophomore infielder Parker Brzustewicz, batting seventh, capped the rally with an RBI single to score junior catcher Mark Quatrani.
While the Irish were held scoreless in the remaining eight frames, they certainly didn’t go without chances to score. They stranded nine runners after the first inning and had bases loaded in the fourth and fifth innings, but they just couldn’t come up with a hit to bring the runners home.
Freshman righty Will Jaisle, freshman lefty Caden Crowell and sophomore righty Oisin Lee blanked the Spartans for the final five frames to secure the win for the Irish. Crowell spun three scoreless perfect innings, striking out three Spartans and allowing none to reach base. He capped off his night with two straight strikeouts and gave a big chest bump as he left the mound.
Crowell has now pitched ten straight scoreless innings, dating back to his start last Tuesday against Valparaiso where he blanked the Beacons for three scoreless. Jaisle pitched a clean fifth inning and Lee spun a scoreless ninth to close the game for the Irish.
Leaders at the plate included Berkland and Watters, each of whom went 3-5 with a run scored. Brzustewicz delivered a productive 2-3 performance and collected an RBI and a walk. Sophomore right-fielder Jayce Lee slugged a lead-off triple in the fifth as well.
It was quite the display from the Irish bullpen, who held the Spartans scoreless for seven straight innings. After bullpen woes sunk the Irish against Florida State last weekend and Virginia the weekend before, Wednesday’s contest might be a harbinger of improved effectiveness as ACC conference play winds down and the conference tournament approaches.
Notre Dame will look to continue winning this weekend as they take on No. 24 Boston College this weekend at home. First pitches are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
