Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
INSTITUTE, W. Va. -- Notre Dame and West Virginia State split a twin bill on Sunday, with both games going down to the wire.

The Falcons (3-7) won game one, 5-1, after tying the contest with two outs in the seventh and then hitting three home runs in extra innings. West Virginia State (2-4) evened the afternoon when they scored a pair of runs in the sixth inning of game two, lifting the Yellow Jackets to a 2-1 victory.

With the split NDC wins the four-game series, three games to four. The Falcons won a pair of pitching duels against WVSU on Saturday.

In Sunday's opener the Yellow Jackets broke a scoreless tie with a solo run in the bottom of the sixth. The home nine looked to be headed for a shutout victory, as they retired two while putting one on in the Falcon seventh. Then center fielder Bryan Blondeaux came through with a two-out, game-tying single. That sent the Falcons and Yellow Jackets into extra innings.

In one extra frame -- the eighth -- it was all-Notre Dame. After reliever Stephen Workman retired the first two NDC batters in the top of the eighth, Falcon batters went homer-single homer-homer. Eric Mathews, Kevin Bernay and Keifer Quick provided the home-run power, with NDC exploding for four runs.

Lefty starter Zach Gresch went the distance for the Falcons. Gresch allowed one run on nine hits. He walked one and struck out three.

In game two neither side struck until Notre Dame pushed across a solo run in the sixth. But WVSU countered with a two-spot in the bottom half of that inning and that would do it.

NDC managed just four hits off three different Yellow Jacket pitchers. Bryan Pyper went the rout for the Falcons in collecting a tough-luck loss.

Keifer Quick was Notre Dame's top bat on the afternoon. He went a combined 3-for-6 in upping his season OPS (on-base plus slugging) to 1.053.

Pitchers certainly held sway over the 15 combined innings. The two offenses combined to go 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position (NDC 1-of-9, WVSU 0-of-11).