April 22, 2001
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – J.P. Gagne (Bloomington, Minn.) continued Notre Dame’s season-long string of quality outings by starting pitchers while the surging Irish offense delivered several big hits, as second-ranked Notre Dame posted the program’s longest winning streak (14 games) in eight years with an 8-3 series-sweeping win over visiting Villanova in BIG EAST Conference action Sunday at Eck Stadium.
Notre Dame (35-5-1, 15-2 BIG EAST)-which own the nation’s longest active winning streak-equaled the program’s longest winning streak since the 1991 Irish squad won 18 straight, with the 1993 ND team likewise posting a 14-game streak. Sunday’s win also marked the earliest that a Notre Dame team ever has reached 30 games over .500, with just three previous Irish teams recording the +30 accomplishment (1989, ’90 and ’92).
The Irish outscored Villanova 30-6 in the series while batting .398 in the three games with a 1.08 staff ERA (three of VU’s runs were unearned). The ND pitchers also held the Wldcats offense to 12 hits, eight walks and a .140 team batting average during the series (all but two of VU’s runs came on three home runs).
Gagne continued his run of quality starts, improving to 4-2 for the season after scattering seven hits and two walks over seven innings. The sophomore righthander-whose 3.51 ERA includes a 2.46 in seven starts-yielded just one earned run in his 116-pitch outing, with Irish errors leading to the other two VU runs.
Gagne’s strong outing helped lower Notre Dame’s nation-leading team ERA to 2.52, with the Irish logging seven more shutout innings on Sunday (over the last 25 games, ND pitchers have posted shutout innings in 171 of 211 IP-or 81% of the innings).
Notre Dame heads into the final three weeks of BIG EAST play with a five-game lead in the loss column versus St. John’s, Rutgers (both 13-7) and Seton Hall (12-7-1), followed by Connecticut (11-9) and Virginia Tech (10-9-1). The Irish would clinch a spot in the four-team BIG EAST Tournament by winning at least twice next weekend at SJU.
Sophomore rightfielder Brian Stavisky (Port Allegany, Pa.) paced the Irish offense with a 3-for-4 day while senior shortstop Alec Porzel (Lisle, Ill.) provided the game’s biggest hit-a three-run shot in the sixth inning that yielded an 8-1 cushion.
Sophomore Matt Laird (Bellaire, Texas) closed out the ninth inning while extending his shutout streak to 12.2 innings, spanning nine appearances (he lowered his ERA to 0.92 and has not allowed a run in 14 of his 15 outings).
Notre Dame broke open a 3-1 game with five runs in the fifth, as freshman second baseman Steve Sollmann delivered a two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield before Porzel launched an 0-1 pitch over the leftfield fence for his third home run of the season and the 33rd of his career.
The game’s first run came when Stavisky’s two-out single up the middle scored junior centerfielder Steve Stanley, giving the Irish a 23-1 scoring edge in the first inning of BIG EAST games this season.
Sophomore righthander John Yeager (4-3) took the loss for Villanova (18-21-1, 7-13) after allowing eight runs (just half of them earned) on 10 hits and four walks in 5.2 innings of work.
NOTES: Stavisky led ND during the series with a .556 batting avg. (5-for-9, with 3 walks) and has struck out just once in the last 10 games (with 15 Ks overall-compared to 39 last season-and just five Ks in 15 BIG EAST games) … ND’s BIG EAST record during the past three seasons is 53-14 (.791) … Porzel extended his hitting streak to nine games while his four hits in the series give him 249 for his career, moving past former teammate Jeff Felker (who was in attendance for the series) into 6th place in the ND record book … Porzel (191) also moved past another former teammate, Jeff Wagner (189), into 4th on the Irish career RBI charts while his 809 career at-bats now trail only J.J. Brock (238) in ND history … ND’s BIG EAST stats include a .337 team batting avg. and 2.53 ERA … the Irish are batting .354 during the current 19-1 streak … ND’s starting pitchers have combined for a 1.91 ERA in 41 games … the Irish extended their team record for consecutive BIG EAST wins (13).
Villanova (18-21-1, 7-13 BE) 0-1-0 0-0-0 2-0-0 – 3 7 2
#2 Notre Dame (35-5-1, 15-2 BE) 1-0-1 1-0-5 0-0-X – 8 10 3
John Yeager (L, 4-3), Brian Hearne (6), Dan Farino (7), James Russell (8) and Dan Glover.
J.P. Gagne (W, 4-2), Matt Buchmeier (8), Matt Laird (9) and Paul O’Toole.
Home Runs: Alec Porzel, ND (2 on in 6th, 3rd of season), Adrian Schau, VU (1 on in 7th, 1st of season).
Doubles: Steve Sollmann (ND), Brian Stavisky (ND), Ben Cooke (ND), Dan Glover (VU).