Box Score FINDLAY, Ohio – The Notre Dame Falcons set season highs in runs and hits on Wednesday afternoon, as they scored 16 times on 18 hits to take a mid-week non-conference tilt, in a 16-5 victory over Findlay.
Notre Dame (15-14) have now won three straight games, and four out of their last five overall, while the loss for Findlay (8-13) was their fifth in a row.
The Falcon offense was red hot all throughout the afternoon, scoring runs in all but two innings, including five in the sixth, and six in the eighth inning, forcing the Oilers to use a total of nine different pitchers on the day.
The Falcons started with a bang, as
Danny Beaver led off with a homerun, his third over the last seven days to give NDC an early advantage. They were able to add to that in the second.
Keifer Quick reached on an infield single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and eventually scored on
Hank Beasore's RBI single to left center field.
Quick reached on a fielder's choice which allowed
Travis Smetana to score in the top of the third inning, before Findlay struck for a quick two in the home half of the third to bring the deficit down to one (3-2), but Beasore answered that with a solo homer in the top of the fourth inning, his first of the season.
Notre Dame then struck for five runs in the sixth inning to take a 9-2 advantage. Smetana got things going with a RBI single to right which scored Beaver, before
Ross Barker belted a two-run double down the left field line to plate Smetana and
Julio Rosales. Barker eventually came home on
Nick Ely's RBI single to center, and
Austin Barnhart reached on an error which allowed Ely to score.
Barker struck again for the Falcons in the top of the seventh inning with a RBI double to left center, before the Falcons scored a half dozen runs in the eighth to pull away. Barnhart drove in the first two runs on a single to center field, and Barker capped the big inning with a Grand Slam, giving him seven RBIs on the day.
NDC's Killer B's: Barker, Beasore, Barnhart and Beaver led the way with three hits each. Beaver went 3-for-7 and scored three times, while Barker went 3-for-7 as well with seven RBIs and scored twice. Beasore went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, and Barnhart went 3-for-6 while driving in a pair of runs as well.
Smetana and Ely both hit safely twice on the day as well.
Jake Welch (5-2) scored the victory as he made his first relief appearance of the season, tossing a scoreless fourth inning and struck out two to get the win.
Notre Dame returns to action on Saturday, April 9, when they square off against West Liberty on the road in a Mountain East Conference double header in West Liberty, W.Va. The first pitch in game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.
