This Week: Notre Dame College will begin their 2022 campaign on the road at the University of Indianapolis for a three-game weekend series starting on Friday Feb. 18 with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 p.m. The Falcons and Greyhounds will play again on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. before wrapping up the series on Sunday with first pitched slated for noon.
 
Records: Both teams begin this week with a clean 0-0 record. Last season, Notre Dame concluded with a 17-23 (14-18 MEC) record, while Indianapolis ended 2021 at 23-21 (19-13 GLVC).
 
Coaches Corner: Len Barker is entering his 11^th season at the helm of the NDC baseball program for the 2022 season. Barker has a career record of 200-243. Al Ready is entering his fourth season with the University of Indianapolis baseball program. Ready has a career record of 65-44.
 
Rankings: Neither team is ranked according to the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) preseason poll.
 
Series History: Notre Dame is 6-11 all-time when facing the University of Indianapolis, dating back to their first meeting in 2013. The last time these two teams played against each other was Feb. 23, 2020 when UIndy came out on top 13-5.
 
Noting the Falcons: During their 40-game season from a year ago, Notre Dame College hit .281 (7^th MEC), with 67 doubles (6^th MEC), 11 triples (4^th MEC) and 19 home runs (10^th MEC). Moreover, NDC drove in 179 runs (7^th MEC), had a slugging percentage of .409 (8^th MEC) and an on base percentage of .365 (9^th MEC).
 
Reigning All-American Ben Ross headlines this Falcon offense with his red hot .426 batting average, the top mark amongst the Mountain East Conference last season. Ross, the first All-American in school history, also has plenty of pop in his bat, as he also paced the MEC in doubles (20), doubles per game (.500) and slugging percentage (.844), while being second in home runs (11) and tied for fourth in triples (3). Adding to the shortstops extraordinary season, he also led the league in hits (60), hits per game (1.50), total bases (119), total bases per game (2.98).
 
Historically, Ross has made a dent into the Mountain East single season record books after his stellar 2021 season. All-time, Ross ranks first in slugging percentage, first in doubles per game, fourth in total doubles, sixth in batting average, eighth in runs per game and eighth in home runs per game.
 
Other Falcons leading the charge offensively last season were Jacob Fonderlin (.344), Nick Petrolla (.318) and Nick Farrell (.313) who all hit north of .300 on the season. Other key starters include, Austin Mora who is a swiss army knife ready to play any position, Michael Zeuli who played in and started all 40 games last season, along with Aaron Miller and Parker Hray who started in the majority of the Falcons contests.
 
On the bump, Notre Dame combined for a 5.42 earned run average (3^rd MEC), 1.70 WHIP, a .289 opponent batting average (7^th MEC), to go with 245 punch outs (8^th MEC) and 155 walks allowed (7^th MEC) during 279.0 innings pitched.
 
The aforementioned utility player in Austin Mora does most of his damage on the mound and returns this season as the Falcons ace. The redshirt senior is coming off a 2021 season in which he was named All-MEC honorable mention as he led NDC in games started (11). Mora enjoyed a solid 2021 campaign where he pitched a 3.92 ERA (7^th MEC), 1.48 WHIP, .249 opponent batting average (9^th MEC) with 67 strikeouts (4^th MEC) and 34 walks. The ace tallied five complete games last season during his team-leading 64.1 innings pitched.
 
Also returning for Notre Dame in the pen are the likes of Hayden Parker, Kyle Farrell, Devin Fish, Cameron Kern and Jesse Clark.
 
Noting the Greyhounds: Last year during their 44-game season, UIndy was led offensively by Trey Smith in all major statistical categories, but the outfielder has since graduated. Trying to piece together the departure of several key players, Indianapolis will call upon senior Alex Vela to lead the charge for the Greyhounds as he totaled a .321 batting average, seven doubles and 13 runs batted in. Caleb Vaughn (.308) and Brandon DeWitt (.351) are the other two key offensive weapons returning for UIndy, tallying 16 and 18 RBIs respectively.
 
As a team, the Greyhounds hit .272, with 60 doubles, 11 triples, 20 homeruns and 198 runs batted in. The team combined for a .380 slugging percentage and a .364 on base percentage.
 
When looking at pitching, Indianapolis will again look to repair major holes left from last season as their one-two combo at the top of the rotation has since graduated. Sophomore Xavier Rivas will open 2022 as the ace of UIndy after the departure of their former top arm in Reid Warner. Rivas generated a 4.62 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, .226 opponent batting average, to go with 29 strikeouts and 18 bases on balls. Fellow sophomore Alec Burnett will begin the season as the Greyhounds top pitcher out of the pen after posting a 3.79 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, .191 opponent batting average to go with 30 Ks and 11 walks in 19.0 innings pitched.
 
As a whole, the University of Indianapolis pitched a 5.26 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, .268 opponent batting average, to go along with 343 punch outs and 167 walks in 351.0 innings pitched.