Box Score
BECKLEY, W.Va. -- The Notre Dame Falcons endured a rain delay, and a seventh inning comeback from Urbana on Saturday afternoon, as the Falcons advanced to the final day of play at the MEC tournament, in a 9-8 victory over Urbana.  

The Notre Dame (26-21) offense remained red hot, as they scored nine times on eight hits, giving them 17 runs and 34 hits in the tournament, while the loss for Urbana (24-21) was their third in five games against NDC on the year, and brought their season to an end. 

With the victory, the Falcons are one of just three teams (Concord, WV State) remaining in the Inaugural Mountain East Conference Tournament.  They will play at least once (1 p.m.) on Sunday, and if they win, they will play in the Championship game at 3:30 PM.    

Urbana jumped on the board first in the top of the first inning.  Matt Paculan started the inning with a triple to left center, and scored on Roman Gammell's groundout. That was the only run the Blue Knights could scratch across until they scored seven times in the seventh. 

Notre Dame used a little small ball to tie things up in the home half of the third.  Troy Findlay was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and he made his way to second on Mike Ferguson's sac bunt. Ryan Sanders then tied the game on a single to score Findlay. 

A pair of errors assisted the Falcons in the bottom of the fourth inning as they took their first lead. Danny Beaver reached on an infield single, and made his way to second after Shane DeFranco reached on an error. TJ Lett then reached on a fielder's choice, and Beaver scored the go ahead run on the play, on a throwing error by the second baseman. 

The Falcon offense then went to work in the bottom of the sixth, extending their lead by five runs and did so on the strength of four hits, while taking advantage of two errors. The inning started with a double from Keifer Quick, who  made his way to third on Bryan Blondeaux's single. Beaver then reached on a fielder's choice to plate Quick, giving NDC a 3-1 lead. 

Notre Dame was far from done, as their big inning continued. DeFranco walked, and Lett reached on an infield single to load the bases. Findlay then reached an error by the shortstop, which brought Beaver home. Ferguson followed with a run scoring infield single, which caused the Blue Knights to make a pitching change.  Travis Smetana then reached on a throwing error which scored another run, and Quick walked with the bases loaded to score the final run of the inning.  

Things were looking good for the Falcons heading into the seventh inning, as they led, 7-1, but Urbana responded in a big way, scoring seven times on seven  hits, and they sent 12 batters to the plate, as they took an 8-7 lead. 

Notre Dame did not let the big inning affect them, as they responded quickly in the home half of the seventh, by scoring twice to regain the lead. Beaver set the tone early by stroking a leadoff double to right center.  Three consecutive walks were then issued, and the final one in that sequence was issued to Findlay to tie the game. Sanders then drove the eventual game winner home, on a sac fly which scored DeFranco to give NDC a 9-8 lead. 
The final few outs were not easy, but righty Matt Kastelic (8-5) found a way to get it done in his first relief outing of the season.  A one out error was followed by a double from Robert Tavone Jr., putting the tying and go ahead runs on, but Kastelic was able to strike out the next batter, before inducing a game ending groundout. 

Kastelic tossed two innings of scoreless innings of one hit relief to score the big victory, while Urbana's Jeff Beall (3-5) was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs on a hit over a third of an inning. 

Notre Dame's offense was balanced across the board as eight out of the starting nine reached safely, seven hit safely at least once on the afternoon, while Blondeaux and Beaver hit safely multiple times. Blondeaux went 2-for-5 on the day, while Beaver went 2-for-3 with a three runs scored and a double. 

The Falcons are in action again on Sunday, May 11, for the fourth and final day of play in the Mountain East Conference Tournament. They will play at 1 p.m., but their opponent is yet to be determined. Check out the MEC Tournament Central Page for more details.