Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
NORTH CANTON, Ohio -- Notre Dame was defeated in both ends of a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader, as the Falcons fell to Walsh in two lopsided games.

The Falcons (17-29-1) were outscored, 19-3, on the day, with the Cavaliers (26-22) winning the opener by a score of 10-2 and the nightcap in a 9-1 affair.  Four Notre Dame pitchers combined to yield 24 hits on the day, and the Falcon offense went just 3-for-22 with runners in scoring position.

Game One
Walsh scored four runs in the first inning and two more in the third to take a 6-0 lead.  Starter Simon Davis lasted three frames, giving up those six runs on eight hits.  NDC mustered only one scoring inning, with the Falcons scoring two runs in the fourth.  Walsh plated a run in their half of the fourth and then piled on three more scores in the bottom of the sixth.

Kevin Bedhun pitched the final three innings for NDC, which had a three-game win streak snapped in game one. 

Travis Danner, who shut out Notre Dame on April 22, started for WU.  Danner went five innings, scattering 10 hits and allowing two runs.  The Cavalier offense had six extra-base hits in the contest, with junior designated hitter Steve Wido collecting half of those (three doubles).

Game Two
Junior left fielder Pat Ross led off the second game with a double, and he came around to score on a sacrifice fly two batters later.  Freshman right-hander Jay Sperry then yielded one unearned run in the bottom of the first and appeared to be locked in a pitcher's duel with he and junior right-hander David Roper each hanging zeroes in the second and third.

Notre Dame then failed to dent the plate after getting runners to second and third with nobody out in the fourth.  Roper got back-to-back strikeouts to end that threat, and was immediately rewarded with the Cavalier offense exploding for eight runs in the home half of the fourth.  The Cavaliers sent 12 men to the plate in the fourth, chasing Sperry in the process.  Walsh had seven hits in the inning.

That eight-spot closed out the scoring for both teams, with Travis Bondy handling the balance of NDC's mound duties.  Bondy fanned three in 2-1/3 innings marred by just a hit batter in the fifth.

Time and time again throughout both games, the NDC offense short-circuited rallies with an inability to come up with clutch hits.  The Falcons, who had hit .349 (37-of-106) with runners in scoring position since April 13, went 1-for-10 in such situations in the first game and 2-for-12 in the second game.

Eric Mathews and Pat Ross each had good days at the plate for Notre Dame.  Mathews went a combined 4-for-6, while Ross went 4-for-7 with two doubles and a walk.  Ross has now hit safely in 10 straight games; he's hitting .459 (17-for-57) over that stretch.

With the twin wins on their home turf, Walsh claimed the season series between the two former American Mideast Conference foes.  The Cavaliers won three-of-four from the Falcons, and in those three wins WU yielded a total of three runs.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

OLD FOES:  Notre Dame and Walsh have now met 32 times since NDC Baseball was instituted in 2005.  The Cavaliers hold a 25-7 edge in the all-time series, having dominated the series in its first few seasons.  The Falcons are just 2-14 in 16 games played in North Canton.

PITCHING IN: Coming into Tuesday's action, Notre Dame pitching had posted a 4.32 ERA over its previous 11 games.  NDC had a 6.75 ERA in 34 games prior to that stretch, which began on April 13.  Since that same date, the Falcons had struck out 66 batters while issuing just 18 walks for a strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 4-to-1.

MOVING UP THE LADDER:  Pat Ross' four hits moved him into a tie with Mike Wilsey (2006-09) for third place on the Falcons' all-time hit list.  The Gahanna, Ohio, native has collected 155 hits in his three-year collegiate career.  Jack Sito (2006, 2008-09) holds the program record, with 163 hits.

ON DECK: The Falcons are slated to close out their season with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Urbana on Thursday.  Those games will also square a four-game season series between Notre Dame and Urbana.  The Blue Knights swept NDC, 1-0 and 4-1, in Lorain, Ohio, on March 31.