This week: Notre Dame will travel to Beckley, W.Va. to play in the Mountain East Conference Tournament on Thursday, May 10. The Falcons will open play against Charleston on the 10th at 3:30 p.m. and play their second game on Friday, May 11. The tournament is double elimination and runs through May 13.  

Records: The Falcons are 19-30, 16-16 MEC after splitting a four-game series with Urbana last week. Charleston 30-20, 22-10 MEC and also split their last series against West Virginia State.   

Coaches Corner: Len Barker is in his seventh season as the head coach at Notre Dame. Barker is 147-178-1, 89-70 MEC at the helm of the Falcons' program. Andrew Wright is in his third year at the helm of the Charleston baseball program and in his eighth year as a head coach after serving in that position with Concord for five seasons. Wright is 80-76 with the Golden Eagles.

Rankings: Neither team was ranked in the May 2 National College Baseball Writers' Association Poll.

Series History: Notre Dame is 5-6 against Charleston in a series dating back to 2014. The Golden Eagles won two games against the Falcons earlier this season by scores of 6-2 and 8-4.

MEC Playoff Scenarios: The top three teams in each division make the tournament and the top seed from the North Division is matched up with the third seed from the South Division and vice versa; the two seeds compete against each other. As Shepherd (the top seed from the North) won the regular-season title, the winner of its game against West Virginia State will play the loser of the game three match up (the second-place finishers from each division), which pits West Liberty against Concord. The loser of the Shepherd/WVSU game will play the loser of the Notre Dame/Charleston game while the winner from the NDC/UC contest will play the winner of game three. The tournament is double elimination.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame edged out Fairmont State last week after entering the week in fourth place in the Notre Division. FSU was swept by Shepherd, the North Division winners, and dropped down to 15-17 while Notre Dame won two of its four games to improve to 16-16. The conference standings in both divisions were close as there were seven teams in the Mountain East to finish with 15-18 wins. The Falcons rank in the middle of the conference in both its batting average and pitching ERA, but they excel in fielding. Making minimal mistakes Notre Dame is second in the MEC with a .960 fielding percentage. NDC has recorded 191 RBIs on 229 runs this season. The 83.4 percent mark of RBIs to runs is second lowest in the conference as the Falcons have taken advantage in other situations.

Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston, along with Shepherd, was just one of two teams to surpass the 20-win mark in conference competition this season. With 22 conference wins, they finished four game ahead of the next closest team in the South Division. Charleston boasts one of the strongest pitching staffs in the MEC as they rank second in team ERA (5.14). They also rank second in runs scored (323) as one of just four teams in the league to score over 300 runs. The Golden Eagles rank in the top five of nearly every offensive category. Stacked with quick base runners, UC leads the conference in doubles (87), triples (17) and stolen bases (103).