Box Score LORAIN, Ohio -- Notre Dame snapped a three-game losing streak, and the Falcons did it in walk-off fashion with Jon Koepf singling home Jesse Bartle in a 5-4 victory over Penn State Beaver on Sunday afternoon. (Box)

Notre Dame (7-11-1) won the game with an RBI single by Jon Koepf in the eighth inning.  The game marked NDC's 2012 home opener; it was to be the front end of a doubleheader between the Falcons and Lions, but inclement weather nixed the nightcap.

The Koepf hit capped a comeback for the Falcons, who fell behind, 3-1, over the game's first 2-1/2 innings.  Freshman right-hander Jay Sperry notched his second start of the season for Notre Dame and was buoyed by a Falcon offense (and a spotty PSUB defense) which twice produced comebacks in the eight-inning affair.

Sperry yielded PSUB solo runs in the first, second and third innings, but the Falcons countered with an unearned run in the first and two more runs in the third.  The Lions took a 4-3 lead in the sixth when left fielder Mike Karas collected a two-out RBI single.  In the bottom of that same inning, Beaver yielded its third unearned marker of the game, and the score was knotted yet again, at 4-4.

Sperry went 5-2/3 innings in what marked his second career start.  He gave up four runs on nine hits and induced 10 groundball outs.  Freshman right-hander Kevin Bedhun relieved Sperry in the sixth and he went the rest of the way (2-1/3 scoreless innings).

NDC scored the game's winning run off Lions starter Tyler Schuster, who went the route, allowing just two earned runs on nine hits.  Schuster walked four and struck out five.  Schuster walked the leadoff batter in the eighth, Shane DeFranco.  Jesse Bartle then came on to run for DeFranco.  Bartle then stole second and came around to score when Kopef laced a liner into left-center field.

Sperry and Bedhun limited the Lions to a 2-for-12 mark with runners in scoring position.

Koepf's big hit was his second single of the game; he went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.  Jared Clovis and Pat Ross also collected two hits in the game.  Taylor Neville knocked in a pair of runs on a 1-for-4 afternoon.

The victory marked Notre Dame's first this season in extra-innings.  The Falcons are now 1-1-1 in such games; they are 2-2 in games decided by one run.

In the weather-doomed second game, NDC blitzed Penn State Beaver (3-10) with a six-run first, but the game was wiped out with rain showers and multiple lightning strikes in the area.  The Falcons went “1-for-4” over the weekend -- the team had a Saturday twin bill against John Carroll postponed due to an unplayable mud infield.