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Box Score 2 AVON, Ohio -- The Notre Dame Falcons executed a weekend sweep of the first place Shepherd Rams at All Pro Freight Stadium, with 6-2, and 4-1 victories on Sunday afternoon over the top team in the Mountain East Conference.
Notre Dame (16-9, 16-6 MEC) became the first team to sweep the Rams this season, and they have now won five in a row against the Rams dating back to their series last season, while Shepherd (23-7, 23-7 MEC) has lost five straight games, their longest skid of the season.
Game One
Both sides exchanged runs in the first two innings of the contest. Notre Dame struck first in the bottom of the first inning.
Danny Beaver started the inning with a walk, and
Travis Smetana's sacrifice bunt pushed him over to second. Later in the inning,
TJ Lett brought him home with a two-out RBI single through the right side. Shepherd answered immediately, as Dom Wyshinski led off the top of the second with a solo homer.
The Falcons then opened things up in the home half of the third, scoring four times on four hits to take a 5-1 lead. The inning started with three consecutive singles from Smetana,
Blake Miller and
Taylor Neville. Lett then drove in a run on a sac fly RBI, and an errant throw on the play plated another run, before
Troy Findlay broke things open with a two-out double to the gap in left center, plating two more runs in the process.
Notre Dame added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Smetana was plunked by a pitch with one out, and Miller followed with a RBI double to the gap in right center.
The Rams added one more run in the top of the seventh inning, but it was not enough, as
Zach Gresch (2-3) went the distance in a winning effort, allowing just a pair of runs on seven hits while fanning seven batters in the process. Six Falcons hit safely, and Miller led the way with a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 with a run and drove one in as well.
Game Two
The Falcons fired the first shot in the second contest as well. Beaver began the inning with a single through the left side of the infield, and Smetana followed with a sacrifice bunt to move him over. On the play, an errant throw to first from Shepherd pitcher John Bentley put Beaver on third and allowed Smetana to get to second. Miller followed with his third hit of the day, a two-run single through the left side to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead.
Notre Dame added two more in the bottom of the second inning. The inning began on back-to-back base hits from Findlay and
Clayton Farrar.
Austin Barnhart moved them over on a sacrifice bunt, and two batters later, Smetana delivered a clutch, two-out, two-run single to give the Falcons a 4-0 cushion.
The Rams were able to cut into the lead in the top of the third, on Jonathan Sarty's single through the left side of the infield. They had a chance to dive even deeper into the deficit in the top of the fifth inning, when they had the bases loaded, but
Phil Ramos came on in relief and induced an inning ending groundout to end the threat.
In his first start of the season, lefty
Carter Daniels (1-0) scored his first win of the season, tossing 4.2 innings, and allowed just a run on three hits with a strikeout, while Ramos (3) snagged the save by tossing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief to preserve the victory.
Four Falcons hit safely twice in the contest. Smetana, Miller, DeFranco and Farrar all hit safely twice in the contest, with Smetana and Miller driving in two runs each. On the day, Miller paced the Falcons with four hits, going 4-for-6 with a run and three RBIs.
The Falcons are in action again on Wednesday, April 15, when they hit the road for a Mountain East Conference double header against West Liberty. The first pitch in game one is schedule for 1 p.m.
