Baseball: Irish Take Series Finale 9-4
April 20, 2008 06:08 PM | General
April 20, 2008
BOX SCORE
| notre dame 9, west virginia 4 hawley field morgantown, w.vA. |
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| At-Bats | 39 | 34 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Runs | 9 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hits | 12 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| RBI | 9 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Walks | 5 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strikeouts | 5 | 9 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Left on Base | 11 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Notre Dame used a strong pitching performance from starter Eric Maust and a grand slam by David Mills in the seventh inning to defeat West Virginia 9-4, in the final game of the three-game series Sunday afternoon at Hawley Field. The Irish took the series 2-1.
Maust (4-1) gets the win for Notre Dame (25-10, 12-3), giving up four runs off seven hits while striking out six and walking none in seven innings of work.
“They just pitched better than us today,” West Virginia Coach Greg Van Zant said. “Eric Maust went out there and really controlled the game. He didn’t walk anybody in seven innings and he really made us work for our runs. They didn’t give us anything.”
After giving up a quick run in the top of the first, West Virginia (28-11, 8-7) took a 2-1 lead in its half of the frame when Justin Parks and Jedd Gyorko hit a pair of solo home runs, their third and fourth of the season respectively. Parks blast was a leadoff line drive that sailed over the wall in left, while Gyorko belted a 400-foot shot to dead center field.
The Irish evened the score in the third when Mills led off the inning with a triple and A.J. Pollock plated him with a groundout to shortstop Tyler Kuhn. Notre Dame nudged ahead 3-2 in the fourth when Brett Lilley’s RBI single to left scored Brayden Ashdown.
The Mountaineers went back to work in the bottom of the fourth when Vince Belnome led off the frame with a single to right field. Austin Markel’s sacrifice bunt moved Belnome to second before Jordan Yost brought him home with his fifth home run of the season, a high, two-run drive to left field that gave West Virginia a 4-3 lead in the seesaw battle.
Notre Dame got two more in the fifth when Ross Brezovsky’s RBI groundout plated Pollock. Sean Gaston then followed with a hard hit single up the middle to score Jeremy Barnes and give the Irish a 5-4 lead.
The decisive blow came in the top of the seventh off of WVU reliever Chris Enourato. After Brezovsky grounded out to Gyorko to open the frame, Gaston got on with a single to right field. The Mountaineers had a chance to get out of the inning with no harm done when Enourato induced a routine ground ball from Ashdown to Kuhn for what looked like a sure six-four-three double play.
Gyorko was unable to handle the ball at second however, and both runners were safe. Ashdown and Gaston then moved to second and third respectively on a passed ball and after Lilley was hit by a pitch, Mills cleared the bases with a grand slam to right field, giving the Irish their final 9-4 margin.
Starter Billy Gross (5-2) took the loss for WVU, giving up five earned runs off of nine hits while striking out one and walking five in 5.1 innings of work.
Parks led the Mountaineers at the plate, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. Yost was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
West Virginia returns to action on Tuesday, April 22, at Duquesne. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
