CANTON, Ohio -- Notre Dame avoided a sweep at the hands of the Malone Pioneers with a late-inning comeback in game two of a Saturday doubleheader at Thurman Munson Stadium. (Gm-1 | Gm-2)

After losing Saturday's opener, 6-1 -- NDC's fifth straight loss -- the Falcons dormant offense came through with six runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth to tie and then win an extra-inning affair in the nightcap. Two costly MU errors aided the Notre Dame (20-16,3-9 American Mideast) effort, and the Falcons banged out nine hits over the two dramatic frames on a cold, windy and rainy evening in Canton.

The late rally thwarted what looked like a certain four-game sweep for the Pioneers (28-16, 6-6), who had dominated the previous 27 innings of the four-game, home-and-home series. Malone won two games in Lorain, Ohio, on Friday, shutting out the Falcons in each, 1-0 and 2-0.

“That was a great rally,” said NDC Head Coach #Nick Weisheipl#, “maybe one of the best I've seen under the circumstances. Our guys showed some character and got up off the deck. Now we need to move forward off this and put the last two weeks behind us.”

Those two weeks were shaky for a Notre Dame team that earlier in the season won a program-record 10 straight games. From the beginning of conference play on April 1 through yesterday's first game, NDC went 2-10 in 12 contests. The Falcon offense batted just .240/.336/.314 (batting/on-base/slugging) over that stretch, scoring just 2.5 runs per game.

Late Saturday afternoon, after a delay of three-hour delay due to rainy conditions, Notre Dame's offense produced more of the same in its game-one loss. Malone's Jeff Shenker and Cullen Bahler combined to allow just six hits (five singles and a double) and one unearned run in what was an easy 6-1 victory for the home nine. Malone collected 12 base hits, including five for extra bases, in pounding the lackluster Falcons. NDC went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position after having gone 0-for-12 in clutch situations the day before.

In the second game, it was more of the same, as the Pioneers got to starter #Andrew Hyde# for six hits and four runs in 1-2/3 innings. Malone tacked on four more runs and led 8-1 after five. NDC closed the gap to 8-2 with an unearned run in the sixth. Nevertheless when they came to bat in the top of the seventh, the Falcons trailed by six runs and they had scored just five runs over their previous 36 innings of baseball.

Then, with an unlikely parade of hits from unlikely sources -- players mired in slumps some more than three weeks old -- the Blue & White began chipping away at Malone and starter Alex Haines, who came into the game with a 3.81 ERA. Freshman #Michael Bova# led off the NDC seventh with a solid single. Fellow freshman #Mike Ferguson# followed suit, and that seemed to awaken the entire Falcon offense.

Bova and Ferguson were followed onto the base paths by #Pat Ross# (walk), #Jon Koepf# single and #Jesse Bartle# (single). At that point, with the score now 8-4, hit what appeared to be a sacrifice fly that would've plated a run at the expense of an out. But left fielder Sam Craciun misplayed the ball and muffed the catch. His error allowed the run to score and the Falcons to have the bases loaded with nobody out in an 8-5 ballgame.

Notre Dame capitalized with a single by #Eric Cunningham# to score the Falcons' seventh run of the game. Then, two controversial umpire calls played a role in setting up Notre Dame's eventual 8th-inning win.

With one out (after a #Tony Younis# strikeout), #Benji Jarabeck# ripped a double through the rain-soaked night air in Munson Stadium and all the way to the wall. But pinch-runner #Jason Haba# was nabbed at the plate as a perfect Pioneer relay preserved the tenuous 8-7 lead. Cunningham advanced to third on the play. He then scored when Bova legged out an infield single hit to shortstop. Both the play at the plate on Haba and at first on Bova were close calls; NDC went 1-for-2 on those calls and pulled off the six-run comeback before a strikeout ended their bid for a win in regulation.

#Sean Harnish#, who came on in the sixth, allowed two base runners but no runs in the Pioneer seventh.

In the NDC eighth, Bartle got aboard with a one-out error on shortstop Joe Goddard. Bartle was pushed to second on a hit batsmen. He then scored when Cunningham slapped a single to right. NDC then got another hit before striking out twice with the bases loaded.

In the bottom of the eighth, Harnish set down Malone in order to preserve the come-from-behind victory for Notre Dame.