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CEDARVILLE, Ohio -- For a second straight day, Notre Dame split a doubleheader with Cedarville.  On Friday, NDC won the opener, 3-2, and then lost the nightcap, 8-2.

Notre Dame (12-20-1) got a stellar complete-game effort from senior right-hander Andrew Hyde in the team's 3-2 victory.  Cedarville (22-6) countered with a complete-game three-hitter by Michael Roe in game two.

“Our pitching was really good all week,” said Interim Head Coach Len Barker, whose Falcons split four games with a Yellow Jacket squad that came into the home-and-home series having won nine straight.  “Our guys faced good competition this week, in Cedarville and Mercyhurst.  We never got our offense rolling, but I couldn't ask for any more than what our pitching staff did this week.”

What the Falcons did during the week was hold the Yellow Jackets and the No. 24 (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) Lakers to 16 earned runs in five games.  Over their four games with Cedarville, the Falcons and Yellow Jackets combined for just 20 runs.

Game One
Notre Dame faced starter David Ledbetter in the first game, with the sophomore right-hander making his first start since pitching a no-hitter against Salem International (W. Va.) on March 30.  Ledbetter's mound foe in game one was Hyde, Notre Dame's most consistent starter this season.

Junior left fielder Pat Ross gave the Falcons a shot in the arm by leading off the opener with a triple to right-center.  No. 2 hitter Mike Ferguson then drove in Ross as the first run of the ballgame with a sacrifice fly to left.

That run stood up until the bottom of the fourth when Hyde inexplicably hit three batters which led to two Cedarville runs and a 2-1 lead for the home nine.  The Yellow Jacket fourth was comprised of three hit batsmen, two stolen bases and a single.  The one base hit came off the bat of second baseman Paul Hembekides; it was a two-out single plating two runs.

Notre Dame got two runners into scoring position in the fifth, and pinch-hitter Eric Mathews drove them in with a two-out hit of his own, giving NDC a 3-2 lead.

Ledbetter stayed in the game and retired the Falcons without a run on both the sixth and seventh stanzas.  He finished the game with three walks and nine strikeouts.  Only one of the three runs he allowed was earned.

For his part Hyde went the rest of the way unscathed, preserving the one-run victory.  He set down CU's 2-3-and-4 hitters in order to close out the game in the seventh.  Hyde allowed just five hits -- all singles in the contest.  He walked one and fanned three in what marked his third complete game this season.

Game Two
Freshman southpaw Zach Gresch started the second game for NDC.  He went up against CU's Michael Roe and was staked to a 1-0 lead when Roe walked in a run in the top of the second.  Roe walked three and hit a batter in that frame, but he struck out Pat Ross with the bases loaded to halt the damage at one run.

Gresch worked through the first three innings without allowing a run, but in the fourth he was touched up for three runs.  The Yellow Jackets chased Gresch in the sixth as part of a four-run frame that vaulted them to a 7-1 lead.  CU scored an eighth run the next inning.

The Falcons didn't muster another run until the seventh, when Brad Morrison tripled and then scored on a Kevin Bernay RBI ground-out.  Roe got through the seventh without any more damage.  He went the route, allowing two runs on just three base hits and three walks. The junior from Middletown, Ohio, struck out eight.

The Yellow Jackets plated their half-dozen runs in the game with the benefit of just six hits.

Dan Poskocil, Travis Bondy and Bryan Pyper combined to work the final two innings for Notre Dame.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

HYDE-ING EASTER EGGS: Andrew Hyde hung zeroes in six of the seven innings that he pitched on Friday afternoon.  For the season, the Toronto native has now worked 46-2/3 innings; he has tossed 38 scoreless frames.  Hyde's 2012 ERA now stands at 2.12, and he has struck out a team-high 40 batters while yielding just 11 walks.

OUT OF GAS: With their five runs over Friday's matinee twin bill in Cedarville, Notre Dame has now scored just eight runs over its last seven games.  The Falcons have scored more than three runs in a game just three times since March 21 (12 games). … For the season, NDC is averaging 4.2 runs per contest.

RNBI: The Falcons went a combined 1-for-14 on Friday with runners in scoring position.  That performance came on the heels of going just 2-for-13 in such situations on Thursday.  With that four-game series, NDC is now just five for its last 48 (.104) with runners in scoring position. … For the season, Notre Dame is batting .235 (72-for-306) in such RBI spots.

ON DECK: Notre Dame's next action is slated for Tuesday, April 10, when the Falcons host the Mercyhurst (Pa.) Lakers at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio.  First pitch in the single, nine-inning game is scheduled for 2 p.m.