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Box Score 2 AVON, Ohio -- The Notre Dame Falcons split a Friday afternoon double header with the Concord Mountain Lions at All Pro Freight Stadium, falling 2-0 in game one, before taking game two, 3-1.
Notre Dame (5-3, 5-1 MEC) has now won five out of their last six games, while Concord (8-7, 7-5 MEC) has now won six of their last eight games following the split.
Most of Notre Dame's damage offensively was done with two outs, as all three of their runs in the second contest came on two-out knocks.
Game One
Both teams pitched out of trouble, as they exchanged scoreless frames through the first three innings, until Concord finally snapped the scoreless tie in the top of the fourth.
Ryan Johnston started the fourth inning with a single, then made his way to second base on a balk. Later in the inning, the Mountain Lions fired the first shot, on a two-out RBI single from Andy Szamski, scoring Johnston to make it 1-0 Concord.
One inning later, Concord used more two out magic to add to their advantage. Andrew Seigel reached on a two-out infield single, and made his way to third on Jerrod Groves's bunt base hit. Johnston then followed with a two-out RBI single to left to plate the final run of the game.
Notre Dame had a couple of chances to score, but could not cash in. In the bottom of the fifth, the Falcons had the bases loaded after both
Austin Barnhart and
Jalen Fields reached on errors and
Travis Smetana was hit by pitch, loading them up for
Keifer Quick, but Concord's Chris Kelly (3-1) got out of the inning by inducing a groundout to first base.
Kelly went the distance and scored the complete game shutout victory, holding the Falcons to just three hits while fanning a pair.
Zach Gresch (1-1) went the distance for the Falcons and pitched well in the loss, allowing two runs while scattering seven hits and fanned five.
Game Two
After being kept off the board in game one, Notre Dame was able to score first in the second contest of the day.
Andrew Hurd walked to start the second inning, and made his way to second on
Austin Barnhart's sacrifice bunt. Two batters later,
TJ Lett delivered a clutch, two-out RBI single to score Hurd, giving NDC a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame struck again with a pair of runs on four hits in the home half of the third. Quick started the rally with a one out base hit before stealing second base. Hurd then belted his first of two hits in the contest, with a two-out RBI single to left field, which scored Quick to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead, and he scored two batters later on
Clayton Farrar's two-out RBI single up the middle.
Concord was able to get one of those runs back, as they plated their lone run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. Szmanski, who drove in one of their two in the opening contest, struck again with a two-out base hit back up the middle to score Chad Frazier.
Jeff Stover (1-1) scored the victory for Notre Dame in his second start of the season. He tossed five innings, and allowed just a run on five hits with a pair of strikeouts.
Phil Ramos (2) pitched a pair of scoreless innings in relief to grab his second save of the season.
Barnhart led the Falcons on the afternoon with a trio of knocks, while Quick, Hurd and Farrar all hit safely twice during the twin bill.
The Falcons and Mountain Lions will finish their weekend series on Saturday, March 21, with another MEC double header at All Pro Freight Stadium. The first pitch in game one is scheduled for a 12 p.m. delivery.
