Steve Szczepanski

	Class: Senior
	Hometown: Lombard, Illinois
	High School: Glenbard East

	Height / Weight: 6-2 / 190
	Position: RHP
	Birthdate: 12/15/1977
	Bats: Right

One of three senior pitchers on Irish staff ... looking to rediscover the success of his promising freshman season and a strong 1998 summer season in the talented Alaska League ... again will compete for a relief role ... continues to work hard to develop more consistency in his mechanics and pitch location ... looking to make a greater impact for the Irish pitching staff after seeing his first three seasons affected by injury and inconsistency ... throws an excellent curveball due to lanky body and loose arm ... has continued to boost his velocity as he has gained strength ... a deceivingly talented all-around athlete ... owns 23 career appearances with the Irish (two starts), with a 5.98 ERA, 3-3 record, one save, 27 strikeouts, 19 walks, 10 wild pitches, four hit batters and 52 hits allowed in 43.2 innings ... one of eight Chicagoland natives on the 2000 Notre Dame baseball roster and one of 138 Illinois natives to have lettered with the Notre Dame baseball program in its first 107 seasons ... one of 26 Illinois natives who have played for the Irish baseball program during the tenure of sixth-year head coach Paul Mainieri ... noteworthy former Notre Dame players who have worn No. 28 include catcher Ed Lund (1988-90), who captained the 1990 Irish team that posted a 46-12 record ... played during summer of ?99 with the Lombard Orioles.

AS A JUNIOR: Made three relief appearances ... totaled two strikeouts, five walks, three hits allowed, one wild pitch, one hit batter and two earned runs allowed in 2.2 IP ... all of his outings came in the first 11 games ... gave up a double while throwing one late inning in 12-0 loss at Florida International ... pitched next week in 13-1 loss to Missouri at New Orleans Invitational (1.2 IP, 1 H, 4 BB, 2 K) ... had a rocky final outing in 19-16 win over the University of Dallas on March 8 (in San Antonio), allowing two runs on one hit and one walk.

AS A SOPHOMORE: Posted a 5.91 ERA over 17 appearances, with one start ... compiled a final record of 2-3, with 19 Ks, 13 walks, seven wild pitches and two hit batters ... allowed a .302 opponent batting average (.189 with two outs) ... lost in his first outing, 10-8 to North Carolina State (3 IP, 3 H, 2R, 2 K) ... pitched a shutout inning in 12-6 win over Purdue (1 BB) and in 15-4 victory over BYU (1 H, 1 K) ... picked up his first win of ?98 two days after the BYU game, when he beat Southern Illinois (4-3) with a solid start in first day of Irish Baseball Classic, in San Antonio (5 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 K) ... tagged for 7-2 loss to Indiana Tech (1.2 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 1 BB) ... bounced back with an 11-6 win over Northeastern Illinois (3 IP, 1 H, 3 K) ... tossed 3.1 shutout innings in 6-4 win over Bowling Green (1 BB, 2 K) ... added a shutout inning in 16-6 win at Boston College (2 H, 1 BB) ... suffered tough 4-3 loss to Ball State (2 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 K) ... pitched six innings over final six weeks, including a rough outing in 12-0 BIG EAST title game loss to Rutgers (3 IP, 4 R, 7 H, 3 BB, 4 K).

AS A FRESHMAN: Limited to three appearances due to midseason wrist injury that ultimately required season-ending surgery ... won his lone decision ... allowed five earned runs in nine innings, with six strikeouts, three walks, two wild pitches and a hit batter ... allowed .278 opponent batting ... did not yield a home run in 40 batters faced ... had rough two-inning debut in 14-9 win over Central Michigan (3 R, 2 ER, 4 H) ... posted 11-3 win over IUPUI, allowing three runs (two earned) over first four innings, on six hits and two walks (four Ks) ... pitched three innings in 8-7 over Indiana Tech (1 R, 1 BB).

PREP & PERSONAL: A three-year letterwinner for the Glenbard East High School baseball team ... named all-conference and all-area as junior and senior ... posted 1.30 ERA as a junior, 1.90 as a senior ... played in conference all-star game ... also ran cross country as a junior ... named all-tournament at 1994 AAU Junior Olympics, held in Florida ... born Dec. 15, 1977, in Elmhurst, Ill. ... son of Craig and Linda Szczepanski ... full name is Steven Szczepanski ... a management informations systems major in the College of Business.

Szczepanski's Career Statistics

Year	G/GS/CG	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	WP	HB	BK	AVG	HR	W-L	SV	ERA
1997	3/1/0	9.0	10	7	5	3	6	2	1	0	.278	0	1-0	0	5.00
1998	17/1/0	32.0	39	23	21	13	19	7	2	0	.302	3	2-3	1	5.91
1999	3/0/0	2.2	3	3	3	5	2	1	1	0	.300	0	0-0	0	10.13
Totals	23/2/0	43.2	52	33	29	19	27	10	4	0	.297	3	3-3	1	5.98