EUCLID, Ohio -- Notre Dame swept an American Mideast Conference doubleheader from Cedarville in a pair of cold Serra Field games on Friday. The Falcons shut out the Yellow Jackets in both games, 1-0 and 3-0. (Gm-1 | Gm-2)

Friday's twin bill marked the first half of a four-game series between the two teams who came into the weekend leading the AMC with 3-1 league records. NDC (18-5, 5-1 AMC) got superb pitching, solid defense and timely hitting in earning its fourth and fifth shutout wins of the season. With 14 innings of shutout baseball on Friday, Falcon hurlers have now gone 25 consecutive innings without yielding a run.
Freshman sensation #Pat Ross# continued the hot start to his collegiate career with a 4-for-6 day at the plate, and senior right-hander #Justin Miller# tossed a complete-game, 11-strikeout gem in the game one.

The late-afternoon doubleheader was played in difficult conditions, with temperatures in the thirties and a wind chill in the teens. In game one, with a pair of hurlers on the mound that came in with a combined ERA of 2.06, the bats for both nines were, predictably, as cold as the breeze blowing across the Euclid ballpark.

Miller started the opener for the Falcons and was dominant. The senior right-hander allowed a single in the first and another in the third and otherwise kept the Yellow Jackets off the bases. He dueled another senior right-hander in Cedarville's Clint Price, and the two exchanged zeroes on the Paul Serra Field scoreboard until the fifth, when a Price wild pitch plated #Pat Ross# who had reached on a two-out infield single.

That run proved to be the only one of the game, and it was all that Miller would need. The Baltimore, Ohio, native fanned 11 in the seven-inning game, without issuing a walk. In tossing seven shutout frames, Miller lowered his ERA to 1.87.

Pat Ross went 2-for-3 in the opener and made a sensational catch on a ball in the bottom of the seventh to help preserve Miller's shutout.

In the nightcap the Falcons and Yellow Jackets again locked horns in a low-scoring battle. NDC scored an unearned run in the first when Pat Ross singled, stole second and came home on an error charged to CU shortstop Alex Beelen.

Notre Dame doubled that lead, to 2-0, when a #Brett Zientarski# single knocked in pinch-runner #Andrew Burchnell# with two outs in the fourth. Starter #Tyler DeCrapio# protected that lead, throwing four scoreless frames before being lifted for #Matthew Kastelic# in the fifth.

The Falcons pushed across a third run on a suicide squeeze play in the sixth. Kastelic would make that run, as well as the Falcons' first two, hold up by pitching three scoreless innings behind DeCrapio's four. Kastelic retired five of the last six batters he faced, three of which were on strikeouts.

Jarabeck and Ross each had two hits in the 3-0 win. Ross is now batting .446 (37-for-83) on the season.

No Cedarville (14-6, 3-2) batter recorded more than one hit on the day.

In taking both ends of the doubleheader, Notre Dame has now won six straight games and eight of their last nine.

The Falcons and Yellow Jackets will close out their four-game series on Saturday afternoon with a twin bill beginning at 1 p.m.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

STREAKS ALIVE: With his performance on Friday, Justin Miller has now pitched 15 consecutive scoreless innings. The 6-foot-2 right-hander has 19 strikeouts against just three walks over those 15 frames. For the season, Miller has struck out 42 batters in 33-2/3 innings. … Pat Ross' hitting streak marks the longest in program history. The last time the freshman right fielder failed to collect a base hit in a game was the second day of the season, Feb. 21. Ross has reached base in every one of the Falcons' 23 games this far in 2010. He came into the weekend leading Notre Dame in both hits (33) and walks (11).

LOFTY PERCH: With their sweep of the Yellow Jackets on Friday, Notre Dame is now in first place in the conference standings. NDC and Cedarville came into the day tied for the AMC lead, with 3-1 league records. … Notre Dame is now 4-2 all-time against the Yellow Jackets. … With their current 25-inning scoreless streak, the Falcon pitching staff has lowered its season ERA to 3.45.