Irish baseball begins key stretch with visit to Clemson

place, notre dame will have a major opportunity to further prove itself as a major national competitor, but also to solidify a favorable position in the standings. This weekend’s matchup with c lemson (20-14, 4-8 acc ) represents the first checkpoint.

Midterm assessments both teams are right around from home on the year. The i rish had previously been 0-3 in true road games. a neutral site triumph against d uke kept them from being winless away from the confines of a rlotta s tadium until m onday. o n f riday, the i rish will have a chance to further boost their road record against a struggling Panther squad. Pitt is 0-7 on the season in acc play and just 4-10 overall. s ince the start of m arch, the Panthers have lost eight of their nine games. The lone win came the halfway mark of their 27-game acc schedules. notre dame has responded well after a flat start in non-conference play, holding an acc record near .500 despite facing three of the conference’s top four teams. Last weekend, the i rish offense clicked in a series win at Pittsburgh. h owever, the bats dried up late in Tuesday’s 11-inning home loss to m ichigan against 4-9 Youngstown s tate of the mac b oasting the conference’s worst offense by goals scored and second-worst defense by goals conceded, Pitt is among n otre d ame’s easiest conference matchups this spring. b ut if the Panthers do pull the upset, look for the attacking partnership of s ydney n aylor and c amdyn o ’ d onnell to pull the strings. The sophomore and senior have combined for 47 total points this spring. The pairing holds the only two players with more s tate. Traditionally, n otre d ame has played quality baseball beyond this point in the season. i n each of the last four full seasons, the i rish rattled off multiple four-game win streaks after mid- a pril. m eanwhile, c lemson has played 12 conference games and has been largely inconsistent. The Tigers started than 20 points individually on the roster. n aylor and o ’ d onnell will have a tough task ahead of them in facing a stout i rish defense. n otre d ame has allowed just 114 total goals this season, the second-best defensive mark in the conference. Pitt’s offense, conversely, ranks last in goals, assists, points, shots and shots on goal per game.

The i rish defense has come close to pitching a shutout on multiple occasions this season. Junior goalie Lilly c allahan allowed

4-0, then lost four straight but eventually jumped back to 11-6. a fter transitioning to a pril with a sweep at the hands of n o. 2 Wake f orest, c lemson has won four of its last five games. That included a series defeat of f lorida s tate and 8-1 Tuesday takedown of g eorgia, both see basebaLL PAGE 13 just two goals against s an d iego s tate and one against v irginia Tech. f riday could be her best chance yet to finally go a full game without conceding a goal. i f n otre d ame does pitch a shutout, it would be the first by an acc team this season. n otre d ame women’s lacrosse will be back in action f riday against Pitt. The game is slated for a 5 p.m. start and will be broadcast on acc n etwork e xtra.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu