Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- For a second day in a row, Tusculum (Tenn.) utilized strong pitching in sweeping Notre Dame.

On a calmer and slightly warmer day than Friday's 40-degree, windy conditions, Notre Dame and Tusculum mostly battled in close quarters for a dozen innings or so, with pitchers on both sides holding sway. On Friday, the Pioneers (4-2) downed the Falcons (0-4) by scores of 9-1 and 10-1. On Saturday the margin was as slim as could be in the opener, a 1-0 win for the Pioneers. Tusculum won the opener, 7-0.

Sophomore left-hander Zach Gresch was masterful in the game-one defeat. The Brunswick, Ohio, native went seven innings, allowing just one soft run. In that opener Notre Dame was shut out by two TC hurlers (Zeke McGranahan, John-Austin Shepard) who combined to allow just two hits.

In the nightcap three Tusculum pitchers held Notre Dame to a combined three singles.

Game One
Gresch dueled Tusculum's Zeke McGranahan in a game that saw the two pitchers cruise through the early innings without incident.   McGranahan tossed one-two-three frames in the first, third, fourth and fifth. Gresch matched McGranahan, throwing scoreless ball through six stanzas. The sophomore southpaw fanned two batters in both the first and second innings, and he yielded just one base hit over the first six innings.

McGranahan ran into trouble in the sixth when he walked three to load the bases. That situation brought on John-Austin Shepard with two outs. Jesse Bartle ripped a 1-1 liner off of Shepard, but it was snared by right fielder Zach Ross, ending the Falcon threat.

In the seventh, Gresch yielded an infield single to Vinny Ferrara with one out. The Falcon starter then issued a walk to Tripper Crisson before striking out Jalen Shuffler. Then with two outs and two on, Matt Stevens singled on a bad-hop grounder to short, and the play pushed across Ferrara. Gresch then got another ground ball to record the third out of the inning.

The seventh would be Gresch's final frame. He exited the game, having yielded just the one run on three infield hits and two walks. He punched out five in what was a 107-pitch outing.

The Falcons were held scoreless over the seventh, eighth and ninth, with Shepard controlling the game from the mound. He struck out the side in the eighth and retired three straight NDC batters in the ninth. For the game Shepard went 3-1/3 innings of scoreless, hitless baseball. He struck out four.

Notre Dame was outhit, 3-2, in the opener, with the shutout loss being the team's first since April 22, 2012, a stretch of 14 games.

Game Two
Right-hander Matt Kastelic started the second game for NDC. He went four innings allowing just two unearned runs but five overall. The Pioneers got to Kastelic for three runs in the third and two more in the fourth.

Kastelic's mound foe was senior right-hander Adam Sigmon, who turned those five runs into a victory, his first of the season. Sigmon went five innings, allowing just one single. He struck out four.

Two Pioneer relievers finished off the Falcons in the sixth and seventh, while the home side scored solo runs in the fifth and sixth.

The end result was NDC being shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since April 15, 2011.

Over the two days in Greeneville, Tenn., Notre Dame batted just .133 (14-of-105) overall and .095 (2-of-21) with runners in scoring position.