This Week: Notre Dame College will host Davis & Elkins College for a doubleheader on Saturday Apr. 2 starting at 1:00 p.m. NDC will turnaround to Sunday Apr. 3 to host West Virginia Wesleyan College for another doubleheader at 1:00 p.m. All games will be held at Mercy Health Stadium in Avon, Ohio.
 
Records: Notre Dame currently holds an 8-16 (4-4 MEC) record and are tied for fourth in the MEC North Division. D&E is sitting at 4-16 (1-7 MEC) and in fifth place in the MEC South Division. WVWC is yet to win a contest this season at 0-19 (0-8 MEC) and in last place in the MEC South.
 
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 208-259. Tim Miller is in his second season with Davis & Elkins College, holding a career record of 11-39. Lastly, Lee Bradley heads the WV Wesleyan baseball program.  
 
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll.
 
Series History: NDC is 2-2 all-time when facing D&E dating back to their first meeting in 2018. The Falcons are 10-7 historically when facing WVWC since they first met in 2012.
 
Noting the Falcons: Most recently NDC split their two series with MEC opponents Glenville State (6-13 and 9-6) and Concord (6-3 and 3-10) on Sunday and Monday. Notre Dame then fell to Mercyhurst in a non-conference bout on Tuesday 13-2. Tyler Shadle's career game aided NDC to the game two win over Glenville State when Shadle went 4-for-4 from the dish. Kyle Farrell picked up his first win of the season during NDC's game one win over Concord when he entered in relief of the injured Calvin Andringa. For his first victory, Farrell tossed 4.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits, while striking out two and walking one. Lastly, Devin Fish enjoyed a career outing on the bump for NDC on Tuesday despite the loss. Fish gave the Falcons a career-high six innings pitched, allowing two runs on three hits, while punching out a career-best nine Lakers.
 
Ben Ross headlines the Notre Dame offense, batting out of the three spot. The redshirt sophomore leads the team in hits (29), doubles (9), triples (2), home runs (7), total bases (63), RBIs (23), slugging percentage (.724) and OPS (1.112), while being second in batting average (.333) and third in on base percentage (.388).
 
Kyle Espineli, Nick Farrell and Alec Mendoza are other Falcons who help boast this NDC batting order. Espineli touts the top batting average on the team (.353), while being second in hits (24), doubles (7), triples (1), on base percentage (.392), slugging percentage (.485) and OPS (.877). N. Farrell provides the pop for Notre Dame with the second most home runs (4) and RBIs (17) on the team, while being third in slugging percentage (.443) and OPS (.761). Lastly, Mendoza boasts the third best batting average (.253), hits (21) and RBIs (14).
 
Austin Mora is the workhorse for Notre Dame on the mound, leading the team in innings pitched by double the amount of second. Mora has pitched 38.1 innings over his team-high seven starts this season. The redshirt senior has an ERA of 6.34, opponent batting average of .238, with 36 strikeouts and 23 walks.
 
Aaron Miller, Alex Dicke and Devin Fish are bright spots for Notre Dame out of the pen. Miller leads the team in ERA (3.00) and saves (4), as he has pitched in eight games, totaling 12 innings pitched, striking out 11 and walking four. Dicke is a hybrid arm for head coach Len Barker, as he has six appearances this season, three as a starter and three as a reliver. Dicke flashes a 3.20 ERA, team-best .152 opponent batting average, with 14 strikeouts and 13 walks. Lastly, Fish joins Miller and Dicke as the only three pitchers with sub-4.00 ERA's, as he sits at 3.24. Fish totals 17 punchouts and 11 walks to go along with his .222 opponent batting average.
 
As a team, NDC is slashing .252/.334/.379 (BA/OBP/SLG), with 36 doubles, six triples, 15 home runs and 110 runs scored. The Falcon pitching staff surrenders an ERA of 7.98, opponent batting average of .303, with 154 strikeouts and 124 walks.
 
Noting the Senators: Davis & Elkins wrapped up a pair of MEC series against West Liberty on Friday Mar. 25 and Wheeling on Tuesday Mar. 29. The Senators went 1-3 during that span with a win in game one against WLU 3-2, followed by a loss in game two 7-10 and a sweep from Wheeling (2-15, 3-7).
 
Chase DeGrood leads the Senators in batting average (.339) and hits (19), while Cole Hitch and Wesley Athey provide the power by leading the team at two home runs apiece. In addition, Hitch and Wesley are one-two in runs driven in at nine and eight respectively. Lastly, Mason Brenneman joins DeGrood as the only two players north of a .300 batting average (.324).
 
Zachary McGillan appears as the ace for Davis & Elkins having started five games and totaling a team-high 26.1 innings pitched. McGillan has the second-best ERA (4.10) and third best opponent batting average (.304) on the team, to go with his 19 strikeouts and six walks. DeGrood is featured as a two-way player for the Senators as he has also appeared in three games on the mound totaling five innings pitched. DeGrood carries the team's best ERA (3.60) and opponent batting average (.235).
 
As a team, D&E has a slash line of .215/.314/.295, with 20 doubles, three triples, five home runs and 58 runs scored. The Senators pitchers have amassed a 10.91 ERA, .372 opponent batting average, with 102 strikeouts and 83 free passes.
 
Noting the Bobcats: WV Wesleyan who still searching for their first win of the season, went 0-4 during their most recent MEC contests. The Bobcats fell 15-5 and 18-8 during their doubleheader against Wheeling on Friday Mar. 25. On Tuesday Mar. 29, WVWC fell 17-9 in game one to West Liberty before nearly snagging their first win in game two, 6-5. The Bobcats scored runs in the sixth and seventh innings but came up just shy against the Hilltoppers in the end.
 
Devin Johnson is the heart and soul to this Bobcat offense by leading the team in batting average (.357), hits (20), doubles (5), RBIs (11), total bases (25), slugging percentage (.446), on base percentage (.415) and OPS (.861). In addition, Sam Ingram contributes a large portion to the WV Wesleyan lineup hitting .273 with eight RBIs, 23 total bases and a perfect 4-for-4 on the base paths (team-high).
 
AJ Ventry and Hunter Eplin are the top two pitchers for the Bobcats by throwing a team-high 17.2 and 16.1 innings respectively. However, neither pitcher has been particularly effective thus far with Ventry posting a 10.19 ERA and .356 opponent batting average. Eplin flashes slightly better numbers with an 8.27 ERA and .343 opponent batting average.
 
Brad Miller is the top arm out of the pen for WV Wesleyan as he has appeared in a team-high seven contests. Miller has an ERA of 4.50 over his six innings pitched this season, carrying a .379 opponent batting average with five strikeouts and six walks.
 
As a unit, West Virginia Wesleyan is slashing .245/.352/.304 with 25 doubles, two home runs and 81 runs scored. The Bobcats pitching staff has a combined ERA of 13.01 and .386 opponent batting average, to go with 74 strikeouts and 96 walks.