This Week: The Notre Dame College baseball team will play their home opener at Mercy Health Stadium on Friday Feb. 16 at 11:30 a.m. against the University of Indianapolis. The Falcons will remain home on Saturday and Sunday to host Lake Erie College. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
 
Records: NDC is currently 0-1, while UIndy is 0-0 and LEC sits at 0-4.
 
Coaches Corner: Len Barker enters his 13^th season as head coach of Notre Dame College, holding a 238-301-1 career record. Al Ready is in his fifth season as head coach of UIndy, while Landon Hutchison is entering his third season with Lake Erie.
 
Rankings: The University of Indianapolis is currently ranked No. 5 in the country according to the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll.
 
Series History: NDC is 6-17 all-time when facing UIndy, dating back to their first meeting in 2013 and including the Greyhounds three wins last season. Notre Dame is 11-8 all-time against Lake Erie, dating back to their first meeting in 2008 and including the Falcons series sweep in 2022.
 
Noting the Falcons: Last week, Notre Dame opened the 2024 campaign at Mercyhurst, as the Falcons fell to the Lakers 16-0.
 
Last season, Tyler Shadle paced the NDC offense in batting average (.297), OPS (.736), slugging (.390), doubles (8) and home runs (1). Shadle was one of five Falcons to pick up a base knock against Mercyhurst, as Nate Miller, Caden Gomes, Hudson Wesney and Aaron Miranda joined the action.
 
The likes of Miller and Johnny Costella will look to build upon productive 2023 seasons, as Miller led the team in home runs (1) and was second in RBI (16), while Costella owned team-highs in on-base percentage (.373) and runs scored (24).
 
On the bump, Miller enjoyed an inning of scoreless relief in collegiate pitching debut. Other Falcons such as Johnny Anservitz, Matthew Brown, Guy Young and Garret Odey will use their experience from 2023 to give NDC much needed innings pitched.
 
Noting the Greyhounds: UIndy is yet to play this season, however the Greyhounds concluded the 2023 with the NCAA Midwest Super Regional Tite and a berth into the DII College World Series.
 
UIndy finished up 2023 with a 39-21 record, including 17-17 in the GLVC and 2-2 in the GLVC Tournament. The Greyhounds then used an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament and rattled off five straight wins to make the College World Series.
 
Noting the Storm: Lake Erie kicked off their 2024 campaign with four losses at Barton by scores of 9-3, 7-2, 3-2 and 15-8. Last season, the Storm went 7-40, including 6-26 inside the GMAC.
 
Graham Solak leads LEC on the year in average (.417), OPS (1.250), hits (5), doubles (1), home runs (1), total bases (9) and slugging percentage (.750) and on-base percentage (.500).
 
The Storm leans on starter Dominic Poltrone who tossed five innings, allowing five hits and two runs on six strikeouts and one walk. Gage Miller and Brendan Collins each worked an inning of scoreless relief for LEC.