Feb. 25, 2001
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (2/25/01) – Senior righthander Danny Tamayo (Miami, Fla.) tossed six shutout innings while the Notre Dame offense overcame the absence of injured leading hitter Brian Stavisky, as the 11th-ranked Irish closed out play Sunday at the Alamo Invitational with a 7-4 win over Sam Houston State, at V.J. Keefe Stadium.
Notre Dame (5-1) pushed across three unearned runs on the fourth inning versus righthanded starter Joe Fowler, who just five days earlier had posted an impressive 2-1 win over perennial power Texas A&M. Fowler (2-2) gave up four hits and two walks over the first four innings while striking out four Irish batters.
Tamayos efficient 94-pitch outing included a career-best 10 strikeouts over six innings, with just three hits and one walk allowed. He faced just 20 batters (two over the minimum), thanks to a pair of 6-4-3 double plays in the second and fourth innings.
Stavisky-who batted .650 with six walks during the first five games-did not play due to a hamstring injury suffered late in Saturdays game versus Texas-Pan American (he remains out indefinitely).
Notre Dame plated three runs in the fourth and three in the seventh before seeing SHSU (4-9) stage a minor rally in the final two innings.
Junior centerfielder Steve Stanley (4-for-5) led a 12-hit Irish attack and was one of five Notre Dame players named to the all-tournament team, with the others including Tamayo, senior righthander Aaron Heilman, sophomore leftfielder Kris Billmaier (5-for-11 in the three games, with 6 RBI, 3 runs, a double, stolen base and sac. fly) and freshman first baseman Joe Thaman (5-for-12, 3 RBI, 2 R, 4 2B). Stanley batted 7-for-12 in the tournament (4 $, 2 RBI, 2B, 2 BB, 3-3 SB, sac. bunt).
Notre Dame ended a scoreless game in the fourth, sparked by Billmaiers sharp single off the third basemans glove. A fielding error on second baseman Lou Ferrell allowed Andrew Bushey to reach and junior rightfielder Matt Bok followed with a one-out, run-scoring groundout to the first baseman.
Thaman then delivered his eye-popping sixth double of the season (his only other hit is a single), driving the ball to the gap in right-center for a 2-0 lead. First baseman Jason Harrison then misplayed Steve Sollmanns grounder, allowing another unearned run to score.
The Bearkats also elected to save their No.2 starter for the Irish but Nathan Boyd had a rocky seventh inning, allowing three runs on four hits and a pair of sacrifice flies from senior shortstop Alec Porzel and Billmaier. Sollmann and junior DH Ken Meyer opened the rally with singles to center field before Stanley legged out a bunt single to the right side.
OToole then sandwiched an RBI single to left field around the pair of sacrifice flies, pushing the lead to 6-0 and ending Boyds 2.2-inning stint.
Notre Dames starting rotation of Heilman, Tamayo and junior Matt Buchmeier has combined for a 1.91 ERA through six games this season, allowing seven earned runs in a combined 33 innings.
Sam Houston State (4-9) 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-2-2 – 4 5 3
#11 Notre Dame (5-1) 0-0-0 3-0-0 3-1-X – 7 12 2
Joe Fowler, Nathan Boyd (5), Brian Kennedy (7) and Lawrence Riva.
Danny Tamayo, J.P. Gagne (7), Aaron Edwards (8), Matt Laird (9) and Paul OToole.
Win – Tamayo (1-1). Loss – Fowler (2-2).
Doubles: Joe Thaman (ND), Seth Forman (SHSU).