To prepare The Fighting Irish for a difficult conference schedule, Notre Dame took on Northwestern University over the weekend. In the first game of the doubleheader, Notre Dame won a hard fought game 8-2. The score does not tell how close of a game it was. Notre Dame thrived off excellent pitching and timely hitting to get the win. In an attempt to get a lot of arms on the mound, your Fighting Irish used 6 pitchers. Among them were newcomers Dominic Nunag and Andrew Skomra. The game was back and forth, with no team leading by more than a run. In the top of the seventh, with the score 3-2, the Notre Dame bats came alive. Starting with a two out single by freshman shorstop Andrew Rockamann, and timely hits by catcher Emmett Wilmes and left fielder and club baseball president Mike Cyrocki, Notre Dame amassed five insurance runs to give Senior closer Kevin Frost breathing room to finish the game.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Notre Dame jumped on the pitching early. The Irish scored seven runs in the first three frames, thanks to a two run double by Tom Peterson and excellent base running by newcomer Clayton Bouchard. Notre Dame coasted to an easy 8-2 victory to complete the sweep of the doubleheader. Again, Notre Dame pitched many arms, anchored by Kevin Epp and other contributions from Nick Stolz, Tony Kestel and the always impressive Tory King.