Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 WINTERHAVEN, Fla. -- The Notre Dame Falcons opened up their first day of play in the RussMat Tournament with a double header split against Findlay on Sunday afternoon.
For the Falcons (3-2), the games were the first two of the eight they are scheduled to play on their spring trip, while the double header served as opening day for the Oilers (1-1).
Great pitching and timely hitting paved the way for a 3-0 victory for the Falcons in the first contest, but they fell, 3-2, in extra innings in the second game, where they were haunted by three errors, including two in the top of the ninth.
Game One
Jake Welch (1-1) pitched a phenomenal game for the Falcons in the first contest of the day, tossing a one-hit complete game shutout, and struck out eight along the way to score his first victory of the season.
While Welch was doing his damage on the mound, the NDC offense went to work, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the fourth, before adding another insurance run in the top of the sixth.
Danny Beaver,
TJ Lett and
Keifer Quick began the inning with three straight walks to load the bases for
Ross Barker, who drove in the game's first run on a single to left. Moments later,
Julio Rosales drove in the second run of the inning on a groundout.
The Falcons scored their final run in the sixth inning, which started on back-to-back-to-back base hits from Lett, Quick and Barker. The next batter up, Rosales, hit a ground ball to third, causing the first error of the contest, which allowed Lett to score, counting for the game's final run.
The first four batters in the order, Beaver, Lett, Quick, all reached safely multiple times in the contest, and Barker led the NDC offense, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
Game Two
Josh Armbruster turned in another great performance for the Falcons in game two. He allowed just an unearned run over seven innings on four hits while striking out nine, but did not factor into the decision.
Notre Dame fired the first shot, scoring in the bottom of the third. The inning began with
Jake Kirsh tripling to center field, and he scored two batters later, after a single to right from Beaver.
Findlay answered in the top of the fourth inning. A triple from Josh Schwerer was followed by an error, which allowed him to score to tie the game at 1-1.
In the ninth, Findlay capitalized on a pair of defensive mistakes to take a 3-1 lead. An error allowed Mark Delas to reach to start the inning. Later in the inning, Cameron Johnson reached on an error as well, which allowed Brendan Phillips to score, and a passed ball scored Johnson later in the ninth to give the Oilers a 3-1 lead.
NDC did not go quietly in the bottom of the ninth. They had the tying run at third when the game ended. Barker reached on an error to start the inning, and made his way to second after Rosales walked.
Travis Smetana's sacrifice bunt moved them both over, before
Tanner Dovsek's sacrifice fly scored Barker to bring the Falcons within one (3-2) before AJ Cecil struck out
Dominic Lombardo to end the game.
The top five batters in the order, Beaver, Lett, Quick, Barker and Rosales hit safely at least once in the contest.
Matt Seekins (0-1) took the loss for the Falcons, after allowing a pair of unearned runs on two hits over two innings of work.
The Falcons will return to action on Monday, Feb. 29, when the square off against Gannon (Pa.) at Lake Myrtle Park's Main Field in Winterhaven, Fla. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
