CEDARVILLE, Ohio -- Senior right-hander #Steve Kovar# earned his first career shutout and Cedarville's TJ Taylor countered with a 13-strikeout gem in game two, as the Falcons and Yellow Jackets split a pair of games in Cedarville, 3-0 and 6-3, for the second day in a row.

In the American Mideast Conference twin bill, Notre Dame (4-14, 2-6 AMC) and Cedarville (14-11, 4-4) pitchers combined to allow just 20 hits while striking out 24 batters. NDC and CU also split a pair of games on Friday.

#Danny Gesick#, #Eric Johnson# and #Mike Wilsey# all had three hits on the afternoon to pace the Falcon offense. Senior left fielder #Jack Sito# went hitless in the opener, thus ending his streak at 14 games.

Game 1
In the first game, Steve Kovar squared off against Cedarville right-hander Clint Price. The two hurlers dominated the early action of the game, which got underway with temperatures in the mid-forties. Price retired he first 12 batters he faced, while Kovar yielded just a hit and a walk through three innings.

In the fifth, Notre Dame pushed across a couple unearned runs on a leadoff single by Mike Wilsey, a one-out single-and-steal by Danny Gesick and a two-out throwing error by CU shortstop Alex Beelen.

Kovar wriggled out of jams in the fifth and sixth inning, both times leaving a Yellow Jacket runner in scoring position. In the top of the seventh, the Falcons took a 3-0 lead when #Kevin Butler# laced a single down the left field line, scoring Gesick who had doubled.

Kovar took that 3-0 advantage into the home half of the seventh, and he closed out that lead in style by retiring the four, five and six-hitters for Cedarville. For the game, Kovar allowed just four hits and walked one in posting his first complete-game shutout. He struck out three in outdueling Price, who went the distance for the Yellow Jackets, allowing three runs (one earned) on five Falcon hits. Price fanned six without issuing a walk.

In pitching his first career shutout, Kovar held the heart of CU's order (their 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-hitters) to a combined 1-for-12 at the plate. The veteran righty has now pitched back-to-back complete games; he allowed three runs (one earned) against Mount Vernon Nazarene in his previous start (March 14).

Game 2
In the second game, Notre Dame manufactured a run in the first inning off Cedarville southpaw TJ Taylor, who came into the game with 28 strikeouts in 20 innings of work. Junior second baseman Eric Johnson singled and stole second with one out. He was then advanced to third on a Sito grounder to the right side and plated by a two-out RBI single off the bat of Mike Wilsey.

The Falcons' one-run lead vanished in the Cedarville second, when NDC gifted the Yellow Jackets four runs courtesy a balk and three errors in and around two CU singles. That all came off Falcon starter #Andrew Hyde#, who went three innings in the game, giving up five runs (one earned).

Cedarville took a 5-1 lead in the third, by way of a Nathan Davenport home run to left. That proved to be more than enough run support for Taylor, who was dominant through the middle innings.

After yielding a pair of one-out base runners in the top of the third, the 5-foot-10 left-hander retired eight straight batters. Over that stretch, he struck out five batters, including the side in the fifth.

NDC got two aboard against Taylor in the top of the sixth, but he then punched out pinch-hitter #Matt Brofman# and Danny Gesick to escape without yielding a run.

In the CU half of the sixth, the Yellow Jackets scored one run off reliever #Matt Fritz# and then had the bases loaded against #Sean Harnish# with one out. Harnish got out of the jam, however, thanks to a fly ball to right and an out at the plate on an assist by right fielder #Eric Pelot#.

In the top of the seventh, a double by Pelot and a single by #Jack Sito# each plated solo runs. That closed out the scoring at 6-3, with TJ Taylor going the route for Cedarville. Taylor allowed seven hits and three earned runs, while walking two. He struck out 13, which is a season-high against the Falcons.

Freshman shortstop Alex Beelen went 3-for-6 with a double in the two games to lead the Yellow Jacket offense. In the two games, NDC pitching held Cedarville to a 2-for-14 mark with runners in scoring position.

For their next games, the Falcons will be at Lake Erie on Tuesday, March 24, and then continue with their AMC schedule with a four-game series at Ohio Dominican in Columbus on Saturday and Sunday (March 28-29). 


NOTES FROM THE NEST…

TIE THAT BINDS: With the results from Friday and Saturday, Notre Dame is now 4-4 all-time against Cedarville. In the four-game set at Yellow Jacket Field, each team scored 17 runs.

CU LATER: In blanking Cedarville, 3-0, in the opener, Steve Kovar became the first NDC starter to pitch a complete-game shutout since #Mick Robinson# beat Mount Vernon Nazarene, 5-0, on April 1, 2008. Kovar's gem marks the seventh complete-game shutout in Notre Dame history. … With the performance, the Cleveland native lowered his season ERA to 3.70. In 24-1/3 innings pitched, he has struck out 15 batters while walking just two. … In going the full seven in his game, Kovar became just the fourth pitcher in program history to log 100 innings on the mound. In his 100 frames, the 6-foot right-hander has walked just 23 batters. His 2.1 walks-per-nine-innings rates as NDC's best all-time mark for control.

NICE RUN: Jack Sito went 0-for-3 in Saturday's opener, ending his hit streak at 14 games. The 14-game run ties NDC's longest hit streak from last season (Eric Pelot). The program record of 17 games was posted by Mike Wilsey in 2007. … Sito hit .520 (26-for-50) in the streak, which began on March 2. Among his 26 hits were six doubles, three triples and one home run. For the season, the right-handed slugger is batting .474/.483/.737 (batting/on-base/slugging).