Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
URBANA, Ohio – The Notre Dame Falcons officially clinched a spot in next week's Mountain East Conference baseball tournament, as they took two from the Urbana Blue Knights on Friday afternoon. 

Notre Dame (25-23, 18-12 MEC) needed just one win to secure a spot in the tournament next week, and got it in the opener with a 15-1 victory, while the Blue Knights (19-27, 13-17 MEC) now will need to sweep NDC on Sunday and hope for some help to get into the tournament. 

The Notre Dame offense was on display all afternoon long. They scored 15 times on a season high, 20 hits in game one, before scoring six in the ninth inning of game two, where they came from behind to win, 13-10. 

Game One
The Falcons set the tone from the get-go, as they scored a half dozen runs in the first inning, before plating seven more in the second to take a commanding, 13-0 advantage, and never looked back. 

Danny Beaver began the game with a single to right field, before stealing second base, and he came around to score on TJ Lett's RBI single to center. Ross Barker followed Lett's single with a base hit of his own to put runners at the corners, before a walk issued to Keifer Quick loaded the bases for Nick Ely. Ely responded with a two-run single to center field to give NDC a 3-0 advantage. 

Hank Beasore followed with a single to right to load the bases, before a wild pitch scored Quick. After Austin Barnhart was hit by a pitch to load the bases again, Troy Findlay grounded into a double play, which plated Ely, and Beaver struck again with his second hit of the inning, a two-out RBI single to center to cap the big frame. 

As it turned out, that was just a sign of things to come, as Notre Dame was one run shy of a snowman in the top of the second, where they scored seven times on seven hits, while capitalizing on one error. That error occurred at the beginning of the inning, as Barker reached on an error by the shortstop. 

Two quick outs were recorded following the error, as the Falcons went to work, doing all of their damage with two outs. Beasore belted his second single of the game to bring in the first run of the inning, with a single to right which scored Barker. Barnhart then walked, before Findlay smashed a two-run double to right field. Findlay came home moments later on Travis Smetana's RBI single to left. Beaver followed with his third hit of the game, a single to right, setting up Lett's two-run double to center field, and Barker brought Lett home during the very next at bat, on a RBI single to center. 

Notre Dame added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning, on Lett's two-run homer to right, his fifth of the season. 

Jake Welch (7-4) scored the victory for the Falcons, allowing just an unearned run over six innings of action and fanned four along the way. 

Notre Dame had 20 hits, a season high, with six Falcons hitting safely multiple times. Beaver led the way at the top of the order, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI. Lett went 3-for-5 while scoring three times and driving in five. Barker hit safely three times as well, going 3-for-4 with two runs with one RBI. Ely, Beasore and Smetana all hit safely two times in the contest. 


Game Two
Notre Dame struck in the first inning again, this time taking a 1-0 lead on Lett's RBI single to left field. However, the Blue Knights were able to take their first lead of the day, after scoring three times on three hits in the bottom of the third, and added six runs in the bottom of the fourth.  

The Falcons scored their second run in the top of the fourth inning, as Quick came home on a wild pitch. In the fifth, Notre Dame inched closer with two more runs, on Barker's RBI double to left center, and Quick's run scoring base hit to left. 

Urbana plated their final run in the sixth inning, and the Falcons continued to chip away with a run in the seventh, before trimming the deficit to three (10-7), as they scored two more times in the eighth inning. The Falcons scored their run in the seventh on Quick's sacrifice fly to plate TJ Lett, and in the eighth, Smetana reached on a fielder's choice, followed by an error which allowed Beasore and Austin Barnhart to score. 

Notre Dame flipped the script in the top of the ninth, where they scored six time on five hits, and batted around to take the lead. It began on Barker's single to center, and Quick followed with a two-run blast to left, his fifth of the year. 

Two quick outs were then recorded, before the Falcons loaded the bases, and Ricky Phillips scored the game tying run on a wild pitch. Smetana followed with a double to left center which scored Dominic Lombardo, giving NDC an 11-10 lead. Smetana scored a few moments later on Beaver's RBI single to center, before Urbana made their second pitching change of the inning. Beaver then stole second, and scored on Lett's RBI single to left. 

Beasore came on to work a clean ninth for the save, as the Falcons hung on for the victory. The save was Beasore's sixth of the season. Chris Murphy (2-2) came away with the win after allowing just a run on two hits while fanning two over four innings of relief. 

The top of the NDC batting order (Beaver, Lett, Barker and Quick) did a lot of the damage again, as Lett, Barker and Quick had three hits each, while Beaver and Smetana both hit safely twice. Quick led the way with four RBIs. 

The Falcons and Blue Knights are off for graduation on Saturday, but they will conclude the regular season with a double header on Sunday, May 8, at All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon, Ohio. The first pitch in game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.