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Notre Dame enters this crucial series in 7th place at 9-9 in the Big East. just 1 game ahead of the Wildcats (8-10), but also only 2 games behind Rutgers (11-7) and Seton Hall (11-7) for 5th place.

Here is the probable pitchers for each game, according to und.com.

PROBABLE PITCHERS

**Bold names are Irish pitchers**

Friday (3:45 p.m. ET)
RHP Will Hudgins (3-2, 2.22 ERA) vs. LHP Kyle Helisek (3-5, 5.88 ERA)

Saturday (1:15 p.m. ET)
RHP Adam Norton(3-3, 4.50 ERA) vs. RHP Pat Young (5-3, 4.31 ERA)

Sunday (12:15 p.m. ET)
RHP Pat Connaughton (2-3, 2.55 ERA) vs. RHP Max Almonte (1-3, 6.13 ERA)

The Irish need to win this series. They are in the playoffs as of now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t slip up. The Wildcats would love nothing more than to defend their home turf and send ND packing.

Why would you be confident in Notre Dame taking this series?  Notre Dame is 10-2 all-time against Villanova at Villanova Ballpark (moved from Ashburn Field after the 2002 season). They also have Will Hudgins and Pat Connaughton starting this weekend. Will has been pitching great all season and Pat is starting to take his form after a rough start to the season. I expect big things from them this weekend.

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Image from und.com

Notre Dame has dominated Georgetown over the years. The Irish are 35-8 when playing the Hoyas in the Big East. The record includes 17-4 on the road.

Here’s the probable starters for Notre Dame and Georgetown according to und.com.

Probable Pitchers

Friday, Game-1 (4:00 p.m. ET)
RHP Will Hudgins(3-1, 2.30 ERA) vs. RHP Will Harris (4-2, 3.29 ERA)

Friday, Game-2 (7:00 p.m. ET)
RHP Adam Norton(3-2, 3.96 ERA) vs. RHP Neal Dennison (3-1, 4.85 ERA)

Saturday (7:00 p.m. ET)
RHP Pat Connaughton (1-2, 3.46 ERA) vs. RHP Jack Vander Linden (4-1, 4.42 ERA)

Notre Dame is just 2-10 on the road this year. They need this wins in order to get a better seed in the Big East Tournament. All 3 games can be seen on und.com or heard locally on the radio at WHME 103.1 FM.

Starter Christian McElroy improved to 2-2 with the victory. He tossed 7.0 innings for the longest outing of his career and kept the Irish offense to just three hits. However, McElroy wasn’t always perfect, walking five and hitting three batters.

Pat Connaughton had thrown 80 pitches through the first 4 innings, and this proved to be costly because the bullpen had to do a lot of work. The Bearcats took advantage of three Irish relievers and plated three runs, and then before you knew, it was 3-1.

To make matters worse, the Irish offense struggled to take advantage of scoring opportunities. In the second, the Irish loaded the bases with two out, but McElroy struck out freshman SS Phil Mosey to keep the game scoreless. That event pretty much summed everything up for the day.

Click here for the box score of the game.

Notre Dame returns to the field against Georgetown at 7:00 pm ET on Friday at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md.

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