MASON, OH — The Notre Dame College baseball team took a win against Findlay in the three-game set they played this weekend at Prasco Park.

The Falcons opened the season on Saturday morning against the University of Findlay, and won with a final score of 2-1. Austin Mora got the start for the Falcons, and earned his first win after pitching five innings. Mora earned six strikeouts, and allowed four hits and three walks in his 21 batters faced in the outing. 

The Falcons scored their first run of the season in the top of the fifth inning when Nick Petrolla led off with a double. He was advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Shane Mittleman, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Richards. In the top of the seventh inning, Petrolla led off and doubled to left center again, and scored from second base on a single hit to center field by Aaron Miller.

The Falcons allowed another run in the bottom of the seventh, but Falcon pitchers Devin Fish and Kyle Farrell, backed up by the Falcon defense, were able to hold down the bump and put closer Todd Marshall in position for his first save of the year in the bottom of the ninth. All together, the pitching staff struck nine out in the game against Findlay, and put the defense in position to earn eleven groundouts with a single error committed.

The second game on Saturday against Ohio Dominican was an eventful one. Falcon leadoff hitter and centerfielder Mike Zeuli got to second base on a drop-third strike and throwing error committed by the ODU catcher. Zeuli moved to third after tagging up on a fly-out by Ben Ross, and then scoring on a deep fly ball hit to center field by Nick Farrell. 

The Falcon defense gave up three runs in the bottom of the first, but came back and scored three runs themselves to go up 4-3 in the top of the second inning. Aaron Miller hit a triple to right-center field, followed by Shane Mittleman reaching first base on a throwing error by the third baseman. Hayden Parker singled, scoring Miller and moving Mittleman to second base. With runners on first and second, Justin Hudecek reached first on a fielder's choice, advancing Mittleman to third base. Mike Zeuli hit a single to center field with runners on first and third, scoring Mittleman and putting runners on first and third for his teammate behind him, Ben Ross. Ross scored Hudecek, but a hard line out to the second baseman by Nick Farrell ended the second inning.

In the top of the third, the Falcons added their final run of the game, but allowed Ohio Dominican to score one run in both the bottom of the third and fifth, which gave them the offensive advantage in the end. 

Brady Biglin started the second game for the Falcons, and pitched four innings before Jesse Clark replaced him. Clark pitched another four innings, but took the loss. The pitchers earned five strikeouts and allowed five hits and six walks.

The Falcons gave up an early lead to the Panthers (ODU) by the third inning on Sunday afternoon, and didn't earn their first run of the game until the bottom of the sixth when Ben Ross scored on a passed ball with bases loaded. A sacrifice fly hit by Aaron Miller scored Nick Farrell and advanced Nick Petrolla to third. A single by Jacob Fonderlin scored Nick Petrolla, and the Falcons ended the sixth inning and cut the Pather lead in half. 

The Falcons gave up another four runs in the top of the ninth. Nick Farrell hit the first Falcon home run of the year in the bottom half of the inning with Mike Zeuli on base, but they finished the game with a final score of 10-5. Cameron Kern got the loss, but Hayden Parker, Austin Spurgeon, Kevin Guzik and Will Sowder all got pitching time as well.

The Falcons are scheduled to open up their season at home on Mar. 6 with doubleheaders against Lake Erie on Saturday, and Gannon on Sunday.

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