Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Senior Day Gallery

AVON, Ohio -- The Notre Dame Falcons took both ends of a double header against Urbana at All Pro Freight Stadium on Saturday afternoon, and ended the afternoon with a walk off victory.   

The Falcons (24-18, 22-15 MEC) took game one, 6-0, before winning in walk off fashion in the finale, on Troy Findlay's game winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth over Urbana (21-19, 18-14). The Falcons had already clinched a spot in the MEC Tournament, but after the double header sweep, the Falcons can move up one spot to the fourth seed with one more victory on Sunday. 

Game One: 
Notre Dame's Bryan Blondeaux was a major catalyst at the plate in game one, going 2-for-2 with a homerun and a run scoring double.  Blondeaux's bomb, a solo shot, came in the bottom of the second inning, his second of the year, and snapped a scoreless tie. 

The Falcons added another one in the last of the fourth inning, on back-to-back two out doubles.  Ryan Sanders kept the inning alive on a two-bagger to right-center, and Blondeaux struck again moments later with a double to left center, scoring Sanders in the process. 

Notre Dame did more damage with two outs and scored four times in the bottom of the sixth inning to put the game away. The two out rally began when Sanders reached on Jordan Pergrem's error at third, and Blondeaux followed with a walk. Andrew Hurd really made the error sting as he followed with a two-run single to right field, and Shane DeFranco capped the big inning as he smashed a double to left center to bring in two more runs. 

Matt Kastelic (7-4) tossed another gem for the Falcons, hurling a two-hit complete game shutout, and he struck out five batters in the process. The complete game was his sixth of the season, and marks the fifth time this season that he's blanked the opposition.  Urbana's Nick Bozman (6-4) took the loss after allowing all six runs on five hits. 

While Blondeaux led the way offensively, going 2-for-2, reaching in all three plate appearances with a pair of runs driven in, Danny Beaver was terrific  as NDC's table setter, reaching in all three plate appearances as well. Batters 5, 6, and 7, Blondeaux, Hurd and DeFranco were responsible for driving in all six NDC runs. 

Game Two: 
The second contest started well for the Falcons, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two innings, but the Blue Knights took control by plating five runs in the third. 

Beaver walked to start the bottom of the first inning, and TJ Lett dropped a sac bunt to push him to second base.  Keifer Quick followed with an infield single to put runners at the corners, then an errant pickoff attempt by pitcher Billy Kosachook ended up in foul territory, allowing Beaver to score. 

Taylor Neville started the bottom of the second inning with a base hit, and Travis Smetana moved him over on a sac bunt, before DeFranco brought him home on a single to give the Falcons a 2-0 advantage. 

Urbana did most of their damage in the top of the third inning, and did it all with two outs. The rally started with a two out free pass issued to Roman Gammell, and Jose Vargas followed with a two run single through the left side of the infield to give Urbana the lead.  Bronson Marlett capped the big inning with a single to right which brought in two more runs. 

Notre Dame battled back, and tied things up two innings later.  In the fourth, Neville led off with a double to right center, and scored later in the inning on DeFranco's single down the line in left. The Falcons plated two in the fifth to tie the game, and capitalized on a pair of errors. Lett reached on shortstop Cody Ridinger's error, and made his way to second on Quick's infield single. A throwing error by catcher Robert Tavone brought Lett home, and later in the inning, Smetana's sac fly scored Quick to tie it up at 5-5. 

The Blue Knights regained the advantage in the top of the seventh inning. Pergrem started the inning on an infield single, before Jake Welch retired the next two batters. Ridinger then delivered a clutch, two out RBI triple off the wall in right to score the go ahead run. 

Notre Dame responded in the bottom of the seventh, and had a chance to win the game.  Quick belted a one out double to left center, and scored the tying run on Blondeaux's single to center. Neville followed with a base hit to right field, and DeFranco was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but the Falcons were not able to capitalize in the seventh. 

Both teams scored in the eighth inning to force another extra frame, where Notre Dame won again in walk off fashion. Smetana started the inning with a free pass, and DeFranco dropped a sac bunt down to push him over to second, setting up Findlay's walk off single through the left side to score Smetana. 

The walk off victory was Notre Dame's third of the year. Quick and Neville paced the NDC offense in game two, as they both went 3-for-3, and produced both of NDC's extra base hits with a pair of two-baggers. DeFranco and Findlay also hit safely twice in the contest, as the Falcons came away with 14 hits, a new season high. 

Eric Napoli (2-0) came away with the victory after tossing two-thirds of the ninth inning, and Jordan Hill (1-1) took the loss after allowing the winning run in the ninth. 

The Falcons will finish their regular season with another double header at home against Urbana on Sunday afternoon. The first pitch in game one at Hudson High School, is scheduled for 12 p.m.