April 24, 2001
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Sophomore righthander Peter Ogilvie (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) had a solid outing in his first appearance in three weeks while the top of the batting order continued to fuel the Irish offense, as top-ranked Notre Dame extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 15 games with a 5-2 win over visiting Bowling Green on “Turn Back The Clock Night” at Eck Stadium.
The game provided a rare matchup of the nation’s leaders in team ERA (ND, at 2.52) and team batting average (BG, at .359), with Ogilvie and junior righthander Matt Buchmeier (Greenwood, Ind.) combining to limit the potent Falcons to two runs and eight hits-well below their nine-inning averages of 10.8 runs and 14.5 hits.
Notre Dame (36-5-1) turned in another strong first inning, plating four runs in the first and another in the second. A fielding error by BG second baseman Corey Loomis led to a pair of unearned runs in the first, as junior centerfielder Steve Stanley reached on the leadoff error before scoring on the team-leading fifth home run of the season from freshman second baseman Steve Sollmann (Cincinnati, Ohio)-who drove a 2-0 pitch over the fence in left center (his first homer that has not gone to the opposite field).
Brian Stavisky and Kris Billmaier followed by hitting one-out singles, with Stavisky scoring the third run on a wild pitch. Junior third baseman Andrew Bushey then plated the inning’s second unearned run with a two-out, first-pitch single up the middle.
Ogilvie-who has been out of action recently due to a sore shoulder-was hit hard at times by a potent BG offense that entered the night ranked fourth in the nation for runs per game (9.89) and had racked up an eye-popping 74 home runs (compared to 23 for the Irish). Ogilvie pushed his record to 3-1 after working out of several jams and allowing two runs (both in the third) on six hits and two walks, with three strikeouts.
Bowling Green (28-11) received an impressive eight innings from its No. 2 weekend starter, as freshman righthander Kyle Knoblauch (4-3) bounced back from the rocky start to scatter 11 hits and one walk while striking out four Irish batters.
Buchmeier-who lowered his season ERA to 3.09-notched his first save of the season and the third of his career, after holding BG to a pair of hits and one walk over the final four innings (with three Ks).
Sollmann entered the night with the nation’s third-highest batting average among freshmen (.411) and ended it at .413, thanks to a 2-for-4 effort that included an RBI double that landed deep in the right-center gap. Stanley had reached on a bunt single and swiped his 23rd base of the season before scoring on Sollmann’s double.
NOTES: ND added eight more shutout innings to its impressive total during the past 26 games (179 of 220, or 81.4%) … the Irish dropped their NCAA-leading team ERA one point, to 2.52 (Rice entered the week second, at 2.78) … the quickly-moving game lasted 2:11 (last year’s 2-1 win by ND ended in 2:09) … ND hit 11-for-31 in the game to keep its batting avg. at .354 during the current 21-1 streak … ND’s 15-game win streak ties for 6th-longest in the program’s 109-year history and is the program’s 4th-longest single-season streak, trailing only an 18-game run in 1991, a 17-game streak in 1907 and a 16-game streak in 1988 (the 1906-07 teams combined to win 21 in a row while the 1980-09 and 1912-13 teams each won 16 straight).
BOWLING GREEN (28-11) 0-0-2 0-0-0 0-0-0 – 2 8 2
#1 NOTRE DAME (36-5-1) 4-1-0 0-0-0 0-0-X – 5 11 0
Kyle Knoblauch (L, 4-3) and Tim Newell.
Peter Ogilvie (W, 3-1) and Paul O’Toole.
Home Run: Steve Sollmann, ND (1 on in 1st, 5th of season).
Triple: Corey Loomis, BG.
Doubles: Steve Sollmann (ND), Joe Thaman (ND).