CHESTERLAND, Ohio - In two one-run games, the Notre Dame College and Shepherd University baseball teams split their Saturday doubleheader. Both games also saw comeback attempts cut short.
In game one, Shepherd got off to a big lead, scoring all of its 13 runs in the first three innings, which included a seven-run second inning. In their scoring spree the Rams hit three home runs.
Notre Dame started its comeback in the bottom of the third inning with a homerun of its own.
Adam Purdy hit a grand slam after the first run for the Falcons was scored to make it 13-5. NDC scored one more in the sixth inning to go into the seventh down seven runs. The Falcons scored six runs in their last at bat, all with two outs already recorded, but it wasn't enough to tie or take the lead.
Lukas Thompson and
Nick Farrell joined Purdy in the scorebook with multiple RBIs.
After Shepherd won the first game 13-12, the visitors came out again and scored first. In the top of the first inning, the Rams took a 1-0 lead, but this time the lead wouldn't last. In the bottom of the first, Notre Dame scored four runs, which were highlighted by a two-run bomb from
Ricky Phillips.
Down 4-1, SU would tie things up 4-4 in the third inning after an error with the bases loaded.
The Falcons regained their lead in the fifth inning as
Naja Garcia brought in Purdy, but once again the lead was disappeared by the Rams. Shepherd scored one in the top of the seventh to even things up 5-5.
In the bottom of the seventh,
Nick Farrell doubled as the first to come to the plate.
Bret Davies pinch ran for Farrell and would end up scoring the winning run on a walk-off single hit by
Austin Barnhart into deep left field.
Josh Armbruster, who threw his seventh complete game of the season, won his fifth-straight game. The senior struck out four batters.
With the 6-5 win, the Falcons are now 14-12 in the Mountain East and sit in a three-way tie for second place in the North Division with Fairmont State and West Liberty. The top three seeds in each division make the conference tournament.
Notre Dame will play another doubleheader against Shepherd tomorrow in Hudson, Ohio at Hudson High School. The games are scheduled to start at 2 and 4 p.m.
