SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame baseball team took a 16-2 (7 innings) win over visiting Milwaukee on Wednesday night at Frank Eck Stadium.
Aiden Zerr closed the door on the Panthers in the top of the first with a strikeout to force Milwaukee into stranding a runner on third base. Drew Berkland then led off the bottom of the first with a walk, and Bino Watters singled through the right side to put runners at the corners. Two batters later, Dylan Passo used a sacrifice fly to drive in Berkland for the 1-0 lead.
Parker Brzustewicz started the bottom of the second with a double to left-center field. Mason Barth flared a single to right field to put runners on the corners, and Jamie Zee drilled a deep single off the left field wall to plate Brzustewicz. Drew Berkland then went the other way with a three-run homer to right for a 5-0 Irish lead.
Zerr made quick work of the Panthers in the third with a three-up, three-down effort on the hill. Evan Clark then added a shutout effort in the top of the fourth for the Irish.
Drew Berkland singled and moved to second on an error, and Mark Quatrani drove in Berkland with an opposite-field single to right field for a 6-0 advantage. Dylan Passo kept the inning going with a two-out double to right-center, and Jayce Lee drove in the pair with a single to right field for an 8-0 lead. Parker Brzustewicz drew a walk, and Mason Barth bounced a single up the middle to drive in Lee to make it 9-0.
The Panthers used a double to drive in two runs in the top of the fifth for a 9-2 score.
The Irish came right back with a three-spot in the bottom of the fifth. Drew Berkland hit a single to right and capitalized on an error to get to third. Bino Watters and Mark Quatrani laced back-to-back doubles as Berkland and Watters scored. Dylan Passo then added a single to left field to drive in Quatrani for the 12-2 Irish lead.
Dylan Singleton then struck out the side in the top of the sixth to get the Irish back up to bat quickly. Mason Barth led off with a single, and Jamie Zee hit a double to drive in Barth. Brandon Logan drew a one-out walk, and Caleb Ricks drove in Zee and Logan with a triple to the right-center gap. Troy Reader used a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Ricks for a 16-2 lead.
Singleton then closed out the game with a pair of strikeouts on either side of a Shane Miranda to Jamie Zee caught stealing attempt at second base.
Ten different players registered a hit as the Irish compiled 22 hits – the first 20-plus hit effort by the baseball team since February 2022. Drew Berkland went 3-for-3 with a home run, three RBI and four runs scored. Mark Quatrani was 3-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBI. Jayce Lee was 3-for-5 at the dish with a double, two RBI and a run. Mason Barth added a 3-for-4 showing at the plate with two runs and an RBI.
Bino Watters, Dylan Passo, Parker Brzustewicz and Jamie Zee all collected three hits on the night as each of the four Irish players posted a double and scored at least once. Jonathan Holt tallied the first hit of his collegiate career, and Caleb Ricks posted the first triple of his Irish career. Troy Reader drove in a run with a sacrifice fly on the night, and Brandon Logan scored a run.
Aiden Zerr started and went 3.0 innings with two strikeouts and no runs on the night. Evan Clark picked up the win in relief with a strikeout in a shutout inning. Kellan Klosterman went 1.0 on the bump and struck out two, and Dylan Singleton went the final 2.0 innings on the mound and struck out five.
The Irish (21-20) continue their homestand this weekend when they host Stanford for a three-game ACC series starting on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET.