NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- Notre Dame lost both ends of an American Mideast Conference doubleheader on the road at Walsh on Thursday. With the losses, the Falcons have now dropped four in a row. (Gm-1 | Gm-2)

Notre Dame (19-9, 6-4 AMC) succumbed to a pair of shaky starts and a bout of untimely hitting. The Falcons fell, 7-3, in the opener and 7-1 in game two. NDC's two starters -- #Justin Miller# and #Tyler DeCrapio# -- allowed a combined 13 runs on 18 hits in just 7-1/3 innings over the two games. The Falcon bats, red-hot over the first 24 games of the season, fell nearly silent in support of Miller and DeCrapio. The Blue & White had just one extra-base hit over 14 frames in North Canton.

And all of that against a Walsh (9-17, 3-7) squad that had lost six of its previous seven games.

In game one Miller yielded three runs in the first and another four in the third in what marked his shakiest outing of the season. Miller was touched up for eight hits in three innings of work. He walked two and struck out two and was bested by Walsh's Rob Rose, who went six innings while yielding three runs.

#Sean Harnish# was effective in relief, fanning five in three scoreless frames.

Offensively, NDC tallied a lone run in the first and two in the sixth. #Eric Johnson# and #Tony Younis# each reached base three times in the 7-3 loss.

In the second game, the Falcons again struck first. They broke a scoreless tie by scoring a solo run on a wild pitch in the top of the third.

DeCrapio took a 1-0 lead into the fourth before the wheels came off. The Cavaliers got to the Falcon freshman for four straight two-out singles in the fourth. That amounted to two runs. The home nine tacked on four more runs in the fifth, stringing together four base hits, two stolen bases, two NDC errors and a walk. WU garnered a meaningless run in the sixth to close out the game and complete the sweep with a 7-1 win.

Eric Johnson reached base two more times in game two. For the day, the Falcons' starting left fielder was 3-for-4 with two walks. The Frankenmuth, Mich., native is batting .407 (11-for-27) over his last 10 games.

With the pair of disappointing losses to a team that was 1-7 in AMC play when the day started, Notre Dame has now dropped four straight games on the heels of winning seven in a row.

The meeting in the North Canton was the first half of a home-and-home exchange with Walsh. The Falcons are slated to host the Cavaliers for a twin bill on Saturday, April 3. First pitch on Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

AMC UPDATE: Notre Dame came into Thursday's action in third place in the early-season AMC standings. Two teams -- Malone and Shawnee State -- started the day with unblemished 4-0 marks in league play. … Each of the circuit's seven teams are slated to play each other four times during the regular season, amounting to a 24-game league schedule.

HOUSE OF HORRORS: With their performance in North Canton on Thursday, the Falcons are now 1-11 all-time at Walsh. NDC is 3-19 in 22 overall meetings with the Cavaliers.

RISP-Y BUSINESS: Notre Dame was 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position on Thursday at Walsh. NDC went 1-for-12 in game one. … For the season, the Falcons are batting .314 (96-for-306) in such situations. … Notre Dame has averaged 6.3 hits per game over their last seven. In the nine games before that, the Falcons averaged 13.2 hits per contest.

NO FOOLIN': Through Thursday's games, the NDC bullpen has registered a 3.45 ERA, a 10-2 record and 81 strikeouts in 91-1/3 innings of work. Falcon relievers have combined to hold opposing batters to a .233 mark for the season. … A year ago, when NDC went 10-39, the Falcon pen got banged around to the tune of a .337 average against and an 8.75 ERA.