This Week: Notre Dame College will begin Mountain East Conference play against West Virginia State University on Saturday Mar. 19 with a doubleheader slated to for 1:00 p.m. NDC will turn around to face the University of Charleston on Sunday Mar. 20 with another doubleheader set to begin at 1:00 p.m. Both set of doubleheaders will take place at Mercy Health Stadium in Avon, Ohio.
 
Records: Notre Dame enters MEC play with a 4-11 record, while WVSU is currently 5-4 and UC is 8-7.
 
Coaches Corner: Len Barker is in his 11^th season at the helm of the NDC baseball program for the 2022 season. Barker has a career record of 204-254. Sean Loyd leads West Virginia State in his eighth season as head coach, holding a career record of 145-112. Lastly, Robbie Britt is the head coach of the UC baseball program in his third season.
 
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) Poll.
 
Series History: Notre Dame is 12-19 all-time when facing West Virginia State, dating back to their first meeting in 2012. NDC historically is 6-12 when squaring up against Charleston since their first meeting back in 2014.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame College returns home after their annual spring break trip to Florida, which featured five contests, including two against nationally ranked opponents. The Falcons went 1-4 over the course of the week, with a 3-0 loss to No. 16 Rollins College on Tuesday to begin their time away from home. On Wednesday, NDC fell 21-3 to Minnesota State-Mankato, but responded with a 6-4 win over Wayne State College on Thursday. Friday featured a 13-6 defeat to No. 11 Seton Hill, before NDC rounded out their trip on Saturday evening with a 6-4 loss to Northern State in extra innings.
 
Reigning All-American Ben Ross continues to pace the Notre Dame offense in hits (19), extra base hits (13), doubles (7), triples (2), home runs (4), RBIs (15), slugging percentage (.677) and OPS (1.025). Ross is also hitting .306 at the dish, second on the team.
 
Kyle Espineli has emerged through 15 games as the team-leader in batting average (.333) on the season, while Nick Farrell has provided the power for NDC, posting three home runs (2^nd NDC), 13 RBIs (2^nd NDC), a .941 OPS (2^nd NDC) and a .289 batting average (3^rd NDC). The aforementioned trio has fueled the NDC offense this season and will look to aid NDC during the beginning of conference play.
 
On the bump, Austin Mora leads NDC as the ace with a team-leading five games started and 28.1 innings pitched. Mora flashes a 4.76 ERA, .223 opponent batting average, with 27 strikeouts and 14 walks. The redshirt senior leads the Notre Dame starting pitching staff in each category.
 
Out of the pen, the quartet of Alex Dicke, Devin Fish, Aaron Miller and Jesse Clark have carried load for Notre Dame. Dicke posts 11.2 innings pitched and a 2.31 ERA, .175 opponent batting average, with 11 strikeouts and five walks. Fish leads the NDC arms with a 2.08 ERA, .242 opponent batting average, with eight punchouts and five walks. Miller has tossed nine innings on the season, accumulating a 4.00 ERA, .235 opponent batting average, with nine strikeouts and four walks. Lastly, Clark has contributed the most innings out of the pen by tallying 12.1 innings pitched. Clark has allowed a 4.38 ERA, .275 opponent batting average with eight strikeouts and seven free passes.
 
As a team, NDC is slashing .233/.310/.368 (BA/OBP/SLG) this season with 23 doubles, five triples, 11 home runs and 68 runs scored. On the bump, the pitching staff has surrendered a 7.69 ERA, .311 opponent batting average, while adding 108 punchouts sand 73 base on balls.
 
Noting the Yellow Jackets: Last week West Virginia State went 1-2 with a win on Wednesday against Bluefield State College (3-1), and a doubleheader loss to Slippery Rock on Friday (1-0, 6-2).
 
The Yellow Jackets feature five players who have started in all nine contests this season who post batting averages north of .300. Andrew Stone is the leader of the pack at .387 (12-31). Stone also leads the team in RBIs (7), on base percentage (.472), OPS (1.020) and tied for the lead in slugging percentage (.548). Trey Junkins (.379), Nathan Paulsen (.323), Ryan Kay (.320) and Matthew Kline (.314) are the other four Yellow Jackets who are seeing the ball well so far this season. Moreover, Junkins and Paulsen clock in at second and third respectively in RBIs (5 and 4) and OPS (.958 and .901).
 
Foster Conis has been an elite arm for West Virginia State, posting a 0.68 ERA during 13.1 innings pitched. Conis has surrendered a mere 0.93 opponent batting average, while punching out 13 and walking five. Conis is a hybrid arm who can start or come out of the pen as he has been featured in four contests, starting one.
 
As a whole, WVSU has a slash line of .309/.363/.425, with 19 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 41 runs scored. In terms of pitching, the team has amassed a 4.37 ERA, .265 opponent batting average, 58 strikeouts and 39 walks.
 
Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston enjoyed a week's rest after last playing a three-game series against Bluefield State on Mar. 5-6. The Golden Eagles earned the series sweep that weekend by winning 14-9, 4-3, and 12-0.
 
Tyler Dellerman is the heart and soul to this Golden Eagles offense with a team-leading .377 batting average, six doubles, two triples, two home runs, ten extra base hits, 16 RBIs, .444 on base percentage, .679 slugging percentage and 1.123 OPS. Giano Zuccaro (.313) and Braxton Boddorf (.300) are the other two Golden Eagles qualified and hitting above .300 on the season.
 
Drew Beckner has been lights out for Charleston on the mound as he is yet to allow a runner to cross home plate through 10.2 innings pitched. Beckner has only surrendered one hit thus far, posting an opponent batting average of .029. The ace has appeared in three games, starting two, where he has struck out 15 batters and walked ten.
 
As a squad, UC is slashing .263/.360/.398, with 31 doubles, eight triples, five home runs and 89 runs scored. This season, their pitching staff has posted a 5.62 ERA, .264 opponent batting average, 105 strikeouts and 63 walks.