Box Score
ERIE, Pa. -- A pitcher's duel at Mercyhurst (Pa.) resulted in a hard-fought 3-1 loss for the Falcons on Tuesday.

Notre Dame (10-18-1) struggled with runners in scoring position as its offense came up short against one of the top pitching teams in NCAA-II.  With the loss, NDC has now dropped three in a row and seven of its last eight.  No. 24 (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) Mercyhurst (22-8) collected its fourth straight victory in the win at Mercyhurst Field.

Notre Dame's Tyler DeCrapio and Mercyhurst's Matthew Jimenez locked horns in what was a pitcher's tussle from the outset.

Mercyhurst scored a pair of first-inning runs off DeCrapio when the Lakers pieced together a double, a walk, a run-scoring groundball and an RBI single.  DeCrapio and Jimenez then took turns hanging zeroes on the scoreboard until Mercyhurst scored in the fifth.

DeCrapio set down six straight over the second and third frames and was effective against a Laker offense that came into the game with the nation's 11th-best batting average (.334) and a runs-per-game average of 7.0.  His opposite -- Jimenez, a 6-foot-4 junior right-hander -- worked in and out of trouble on numerous occasions in keeping NDC off the scoreboard.

Jimenez got a third run to work with in the Laker fifth when Colin Loughner doubled and was driven in by a two-out RBI single off the bat of Ryan Siegel.  Siegel went 2-for-4 with a run scored in the contest.

Notre Dame plated its only run in the top of the eighth, when the Falcons turned three singles into a score off reliever Jeremy Cressly, who came on in the seventh.  Freshman first baseman Taylor Neville knocked in the run on a single to left.  That hit was one of eight in the game for the Blue & White; all eight were singles.  That doubled Mercyhurst's four hits in the game. The Falcons, though, were undone by a 1-for-8 mark with runners in scoring position.

“It was frustrating to not create more offense,” said Interim Head Coach Len Barker.  “But Mercyhurst does a lot of things well on the mound.  And obviously they are a solid team all-around.  We just need to find a way to turn a performance like this into a victory.”

DeCrapio went six innings, allowing three runs on four hits.  He walked one and struck out two.  Travis Bondy and Kevin Bedhun combined to pitch scoreless innings in relief.

Jimenez pitched six shutout innings on three singles and a pair of walks.  He fanned nine, and three Mercyhurst relievers combined to get four more punch-outs in the game.

Center fielder Simon Davis went 2-for-4 at the plate for an NDC offense that has now scored just two runs over its last three games combined.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

SECOND VERSE: Tuesday's contest in Erie marked just the second meeting between Notre Dame and Mercyhurst.  The Falcons and Lakers played once last season, with Mercyhurst downing NDC, 9-2, on April 12. … With their win on Tuesday, MC is now 64-20 (.762) over the past two seasons (2011-12).

FAN-FEST: Mercyhurst pitchers combined to strike out 13 NDC batters in the contest, the most for the Falcons in a single game since fanning 13 times against Shawnee State on May 1, 2010.  The Lakers came into Tuesday's action ranked first in the nation with 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings.

BUSTED BATS: Over its last three games (all losses), Notre Dame has batted .181 (15-for-83) while scoring just two runs. The Falcons are 2-for-21 with runners in scoring position over that stretch.  The team is now 1-10-1 this season when scoring two runs or less.

(G)LOVIN' EVERY MINUTE:  Notre Dame committed one error on Tuesday and the Falcons have been charged with just two errors over their last four games.  On the season NDC owns a .956 fielding percentage, a rate that would set a new single-season mark for the program.