April 18, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame baseball team used a seven-run fifth inning to win the opener, 12-2, before riding a one-hit effort by the Irish pitching staff in the 4-1 nightcap, as Notre Dame swept a pair of seven-inning games from visiting Chicago State in twilight doubleheader action Tuesday at Eck Stadium.
Notre Dame (29-9) scored 16 runs in the doubleheader despite managing just 12 hits, including just four in the nightcap. Junior shortstop Alec Porzel collected two hits, two RBI and two runs scored in the opener while freshman rightfielder Brian Stavisky launched his team-leading eighth home run of the season.
Freshman righthander Matt Laird (4-2) won the opener, allowing one run on four hits and two hits over four innings while posting five strikeouts. Sophomore righthander Drew Duff (3-1) then picked up the win in the nightcap, totaling six strikeouts during the first three innings while allowing one run on one hit and one walk.
Senior righthander John Corbin completed the Irish pitching staff’s 19-strikeout day while picking up his ninth save of the season (one shy of the Irish record, set by Mike Coffey in 1989). Corbin faced just seven batters over the final two innings, with four strikeouts and one hit batter while extending his Notre Dame record for career saves to 18.
Chicago State (14-15) left eight runners on base in the opener but managed just four baserunners in the second game. Cougars senior third baseman Ryan Lardi saw his 16-game hitting streak end in the opener, after batting 0-for-4 (Lardi entered the game with one of the nation’s top batting averages at .436, with hits in 25 of 26 games played).
Junior lefthander Carl Taft (1-1) dropped the opener, allowing six runs on three hits and four walks in 4.1 innings. Sophomore righthander Erik Scheiner (2-3) lost the nightcap, yielding two runs (one earned) on two hits and three walks over three innings, with two Ks.
GAME 1 SCORING RECAP
* The Cougars rallied with two outs for a run in the 3rd … Rahman Corbett walked on four pitches and Jake McIntyre sent the next pitch into center field before Oscar Loza loaded the bases with a four-pitch count.
* ND answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, with freshman 2B Kris Billmaier hitting a two-out blooper down the rightfield line and scoring on sophomore DH Ken Meyer’s triple over the head of CF Brian Hunsaker (Meyer then scored on a balk).
* ND’s big 5th inning began with Stavisky’s first-pitch, booming shot to right … Taft then issued walks to senior C Matt Nussbaum, Billmaier and sophomore CF Steve Stanley (with one out) and Porzel greeted sophomore RHP Justin Wharrie with a two-run single up the middle … Stanley then stole third and scored on a groundball off the bat of sophomore pinch hitter Matt Bok … Porzel took third on a groundout by sophomore 3B Andrew Bushey before scoring when LF Antjuan Mitchell dropped a fly ball at the warning track, off the bat of senior 1B Jeff Felker (allowing two runners to score) … Stavisky again attacked the first in his second at-bat of the inning, going with the pitch for an opposite-field single to plate Felker from second.
* The visitors added a run in the 6th, after a single from Nicholas Gaitano, McIntyre’s double and Loza’s RBI single … ND then capped the scoring with three more runs, sparked by a leadoff single from sophomore Ed Golom, a hit batter (freshman pinch hitter Mike Holba) and Porzel’s single up the middle … Bushey then drew a two-out, full-count walk and Felker delivered a two-run single to center.
GAME 2 SCORING RECAP
* The Cougars opened the nightcap with a run, as Mitchell drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on Gaitano’s single to right-center.
* ND took the lead in the 2nd, with sophomore RF O’Toole drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second and scoring on Nussbaum’s double, with the CF Hunsaker diving on the play before the LF Mitchell fumbled with the ball, allowing Nussbaum to take third … senior 2B Jeff Perconte then lifted a sacrifice fly to left for a 2-1 Irish lead.
* The righthander McIntyre moved from SS to the mound in the 4th and O’Toole greeted him with a ground-rule double to right-center before moving up on Bok’s flyout to right and belly-flopping across the plate on Nussbaum’s flyout to shallow right.
* Felker capped the day’s scoring with his fourth home run of the season and the 20th of his career, sending the first pitch in the bottom of the 6th over the rightfield fence.
CHICAGO STATE 0-0-1 0-0-1 0 - 2 9 1NOTRE DAME 0-0-2 0-7-3 X - 12 8 1Taft, Wharrie (5) and Gabrione. Laird, Viloria (5), Tamayo (7) andNussbaum, O'Toole (7).
CHICAGO STATE 1-0-0 0-0-0 0 - 1 1 2NOTRE DAME 0-2-0 1-0-1 X - 4 4 1Scheiner, McIntyre (4) and Morack. Duff, Buchmeier (4), Naumann (5),Corbin (6) and Nussbaum.