URBANA, Ohio - The Notre Dame College baseball team has been on a roll at the end of the 2019 regular season, and with two wins at Urbana on Friday the Falcons are in prime position to secure a second-place finish in the MEC North. NDC needs just one win to beat out Fairmont State for No. 2 seed in the North, but the team will be playing for more than that on Sunday when they welcome Urbana for a home doubleheader. 

If the Falcons win both games against the Blue Knights they will finish above .500 for the first time since 2016.

As for Friday's contests, Notre Dame used a combination of strong pitching and timely hitting to win by scores of 4-1 and 11-2. 

In game one, Tyler Gault threw a complete game while allowing just five hits and one run. The junior struck out four batters in his time on the mound and now has seven wins under his belt. Gault received help offensively as the Falcons were able to score three runs before Urbana got on the board. 

All four runs in the first game were scored by four different players while the RBIs also came from four different batters. Nick Farrell, Corey Miley, Matt Richards and Adam Purdy each drove in a run during the first competition. Farrell, Miley and Naja Garcia topped the offensive numbers with two hits each. 

Game two saw more strong performances on the mound as Ty Shoaff threw for five innings and Todd Marshall threw two. Shoaff earned the win while Marshall's relief skills held the Blue Knights scoreless in the final two innings. Both pitchers struck out three batters each moving their season totals up the NDC single-season records list. Shoaff's 67 strikeouts this season is third most while Marshall's 54 ranks eighth. 

Shoaff also matched Gault's mark of seven wins, which put them both in a tie for third most wins in a single season at Notre Dame. 

The Falcons' bats again provided the pitching staff a lead to work with early on. Nick Farrell hit a three-run home run in the first inning to get things going for NDC. The Blue Knights scored one run in the first as well, but Notre Dame kept things going offensively with three runs in the second and two in the third. 

Zach Santoro drove in two runs on a single in the second inning and scored himself after Rick Phillips tripled. Both Santoro and Phillips have now hit four triples this season, which is tied for fourth most in a single season. 

Santoro again batted in a run in the third inning after Lukas Thompson scored on an error. Phillips also capitalized on a misstep by Urbana in the seventh inning, scoring the game's final run after a wild pitch. Prior to that, Joseph Paskell brought in two runs on a single to right field. 

Thompson and Phillips now have season totals of 34 and 33 runs, respectively. That puts Thompson in the top 10 for most runs in a single season, and Phillips just outside. If Phillips scores another run this year, he and Thompson will be just the second and third players to make the top 10 while playing in the NCAA. 

Notre Dame will host Urbana in its final home games on Sunday, May 5, at 1 and 3 p.m. Prior to the game, the senior class will be honored at 12:50 p.m. for their Senior Day.