Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
WHEELING, W.Va. -- The Notre Dame Falcons came out on the wrong end of a double header sweep on Saturday afternoon, falling to Wheeling Jesuit twice, 4-2 in game one, and 8-7 in extra innings in game two.
Notre Dame (20-20, 13-9 MEC) has now lost three in a row, while the victories for the Cardinals (12-22, 11-11 MEC) snapped a five-game losing streak.
Game One
The two teams exchanged single runs in the first inning. Notre Dame got on the board first in the top of the first inning.
Julio Rosales belted a one out double before moving to third on
Ross Barker's groundout, and
Keifer Quick brought him home on a two-out RBI single.
Wheeling Jesuit then capitalized on two Notre Dame errors in the bottom of the second. They scored three times on four hits to take a 4-1 advantage, and they never trailed the rest of the game.
Notre Dame plated one final run in the top of the sixth inning. Quick and
Nick Ely reached on back-to-back two-out free passes, before
TJ Lett brought Quick home on a run scoring single to bring NDC within two. After the Lett single,
Hank Beasore walked to load the bases, but the Falcons could not cash in, as the Cardinals ended the inning on
Travis Smetana's fly out to right, and NDC was retired in order in the seventh.
Jake Welch (6-4) surrendered four unearned runs on six hits in a losing effort, but went the distance, tossing his seventh complete game of the season, and he struck out eight batters along the way, marking the fourth time this season that he's fanned eight or more in a game this season.
Lett led the Falcons offensively, going 2-for-4, while Rosales reached three times in the contest with a double and two walks.
Game Two
The Falcons fired the first shot again, as they scored single runs in the first three innings of the contest to stage a 3-0 advantage. Rosales belted a one-out single in the first inning before he stole second base, and came around to score on Barker's RBI base hit.
Lett led off the second inning with a walk, before he stole second base, and then scored on an errant throw from the pitcher, on a ground ball hit back his direction off the bat of Smetana. In the third, Notre Dame had runners at the corners with two outs, when Ely stole second. An error by the second baseman allowed Ely to reach third, and Rosales scored on the play.
Wheeling Jesuit chipped away at the NDC lead by scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, but the Falcons would answer with a pair in the top of the sixth inning. A wild pitch allowed Smetana to score the first run of the sixth inning, and Rosales reached on an error by the third baseman, which allowed
Jake Kirsh to score.
The Cardinals added another run in the bottom of the sixth inning, but had a chance to do more damage.
Josh Armbruster (0-0) allowed a run scoring single, followed by a pair of one-out walks, before he was replaced by
Matt Seekins, who was able to get the Falcons out of the inning, with a 5-3 lead in tact.
The Cardinals then struck for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take their first lead of the contest, before the Falcons scored in the eighth inning to tie the game at 6-6.
Dominic Lombardo walked to start the inning, and made his way to second on Rosales's sacrifice bunt. He advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on
Ross Barker's RBI single to right.
The Falcons regained the lead in the top of the 10th inning, on
Nick Ely's RBI single to center to score Barker. However, the Cardinals had the last laugh, as they won in dramatic fashion, on Logan Schickler's two-out, two-run double to right-center.
Barker and Ely led the Falcons in game two, with two hits each. Beasore (0-2) took the loss, after allowing a pair of unearned runs on two hits over 2.2 innings of action with four strikeouts.
The Falcons and Cardinals will finish their weekend series with a double header on Sunday, April 24. The first pitch in game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.
