EAST LANSING- After picking up the series victory in Columbus to remain in the top 8 of the Big Ten standings, MSU will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish tonight, to open up a five game home stand.
The Irish were also able to win their weekend series, taking two out of three from Wake Forest at home, in South Bend. This will be the first matchup of the season between the two schools, as the April 2nd matchup that was supposed to be played in South Bend was rained out.
The starter for MSU today is Tommy Szczepanski. For Szczepanski, it’ll be his first start of the season. The sophomore has picked up four saves on the year and been one of the best options for MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr out of the bullpen all season, but has struggled as of late, allowing runs in five of his last seven appearances.
Freshman DJ Helwig will get the start for Notre Dame, making his third straight mid-week game start. The starting pitchers for both have not pitched longer than three and a third innings in any of their outings this year, so expect a battle of the bullpens.
Jack Frank continues to be a player to watch for the Spartans all season long, as he continued his outstanding senior campaign, batting a slash line of .615 / .688 / 1.154 on the weekend against Ohio State which included a two home run performance on Saturday to get him to seven on the season.
Dillon Kark also stayed hot for the Spartans, picking up a team high seven RBI on the weekend, propelling the Spartans in their offensive outburst that would get them the series win. The Michigan State offense as a whole was able to drill eight homers this past weekend, their most in a three game series all season.
As for Notre Dame, they have plenty of offense to go around as well, including three batters with double digit home runs on the season already, including Estevan Moreno (12), Simon Baumgardt (11), and David Glancy (10).
The Fighting Irish’s most dangerous hitter is Senior outfielder TJ Willliams. Williams is pacing the Irish in average, on base percentage, hits, and stolen bases. Williams leads off for the Irish, and will be a key matchup for Szczepanksi and the MSU bullpen all game.
MSU and ND have matched up five times in the last two seasons, with MSU winning three of those games. The Spartans were able to take both games of the season series in 2023, sweeping it 2-0.
Following a key weekend series this past weekend against OSU, Michigan State will take on their instate rival UM, starting Friday for a three game set, continuing the homestand.
MSU will look to pick up the out of conference win tonight to gather some confidence going into the final stretch of the season. First pitch for tonight’s game is scheduled to be at 7:05 p.m.
