Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
URBANA, Ohio -- Notre Dame closed out its 2012 season with a pair of 12-5 losses at Urbana on Thursday.

Notre Dame (17-31-1) led both games early on, only to have leads disappear against an Urbana squad that time-and-again came through with clutch hits throughout the afternoon.

With the twin losses -- by scores of 12-5 in each game -- Notre Dame closed out its season with four straight losses.

“The guys fought hard,” said Interim Head Coach Len Barker.  “We scuffled over the last few weeks, but as coaches we saw some good things that will help this program as we move foreward.”

With the two victories, Urbana(21-24) swept the season series from the Falcons, four games to none.

Senior outfielder Matt Mays went a combined 4-for-8, with five RBIs, to lead the host Blue Knights.

Game One
Senior right-hander Andrew Hyde started for NDC, and Hyde's command was iffy at the start.  The Falcon hurler, who entered the game with a 1.84 ERA, issued one walk in the first inning and two more in the second.  In the second frame, Hyde also allowed a single and a double, the latter of which cleared the bases to give Urbana a 3-0 lead.

Notre Dame came back with five runs in the top of the third to take a 5-3 lead.  The Falcons batted around in the inning, with the biggest at-bat coming from freshman second baseman Bryan Blondeaux.  With nobody out and the bases loaded, Blondeaux hit his first career home run, and the Falcons plated four on one swing of the bat.  Fellow freshman Hank Beasore also knocked in a run in the big inning, but Blondeaux, Beasore and the rest of the Falcons would go the rest of the contest without denting home plate.

Urbana starter Thomas Piatt and reliever Josh Gratsch combined to toss four scoreless innings the rest of the way, while the Blue Knight offense got to Hyde for three more runs and then reliever Dan Poskocil for six more.  Urbana went 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

Game Two
Junior right-hander Tyler DeCrapio took the ball in game two, and he was staked to a 3-0 lead in the first when Eric Mathews, Shane DeFranco and Brad Morrison went double-single-double in the three-four-and-five spots in the order.

Urbana made it a 3-1 game with a lone run in the bottom of the second.  Then in the third, after NDC had scored a solo run in the top of the inning, the Blue Knights got to DeCrapio for five runs.  First baseman Greg Liming had a grand slam in the inning, a frame that saw Urbana send nine to the plate.

Leading 6-4, the Blue Knights then scored one in the fourth, one in the fifth and four in the sixth.  In those three innings, Urbana scored its runs off of Bryan Pyper and Matt Fritz.

NDC's bats were silent until the seventh until Chris Willoughby singled home Hank Beasore, who had reached on an Urbana error.  For the senior pitcher from Massillon, Ohio, the at-bat marked the first of Willoughby's career.

The Falcons were outhit, 13-7, in the game, and the Blue Knights again came up big in the clutch -- they went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position.


NOTES FROM THE NEST …

ROAD WOES: Notre Dame finished the 2012 season with a mark of 9-19 on the road.  The Falcons went 5-8 at home and 3-4-1 in neutral-site games.

GOING FOURTH: Andrew Hyde finished the 2012 season with an ERA of 2.54, which marks the fourth-best single-season mark in program history.  In 8-of-11 starts this season, Hyde allowed two earned runs or less.  With five punch-outs on Thursday, he closed out his collegiate career with 141 strikeouts, the most in NDC history.