April 5, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Matt Bransfield doubled in the tying run and scored moments later on Ross Brezovsky’s home run, as the Notre Dame baseball team matched Ball State’s seventh-inning production to surge back ahead en route to its ninth straight victory, 6-4, in Wednesday’s latest installment of the ND-BSU rivalry at Eck Stadium.
Notre Dame (19-8) – now 17-3 in its past 20 games – wrapped up an unbeaten seven-game homestand while winning yet another close game in a series that recently has featured four one-run games and Wednesday’s two-run margin in the past seven meetings between the Irish and the Cardinals. Ball State (15-12) remains one of a handful of teams to own a winning record (now 4-3) versus Notre Dame at Eck Stadium but the Irish now have won three of the past four matchups.
For the third time in five solid starts this season, sophomore lefthander Wade Korpi failed to pick up the win despite departing the game with a 3-1 lead in the sixth. The visitors moved into the lead one inning later, only to see the Irish stage the decisive rally with Bransfield and Brezovsky’s clutch two-out hits.
Korpi struck out eight BSU batters – pushing his season total to 44 in 32 innings (12.4 Ks per 9 IP) – while allowing three hits and three walks in 5.2 innings. Junior lefthander Mike Dury (2-0) was the third of four Irish relievers and retired five of the six batters he faced, one via strikeout, while improving to 5-0 in his Irish career. Dury took the mound with two outs and two runners on base in the top of the seventh, inducing a rightside popup off the bat of Kyle Dygert to keep the deficit at 4-3.
Kyle Weiland came on to retire the final two batters of the game, marking the eighth time in eight opportunities that the freshman righthander has converted his save opportunity. Weiland’s eight saves already are just one shy of the Notre Dame freshman record (9), set by Aaron Heilman in 1998 (when he led the nation with a 1.31 ERA). The eight saves also rank seventh on the Notre Dame single-season list, five back of J.P. Gagne’s team record set in 2003.
Danny Dressman’s one-out, full-count walk started Notre Dame’s decisive scoring sequence in the seventh. A Jeremy Barnes groundout put the runner in scoring position for Bransfield and the senior leftfielder responded by driving a 2-0 pitch from senior lefthander Kory Bucklew (3-1), with the ball kicking off the wall in left-center for the RBI double and a 4-4 game.
The lefthanded-hitting Brezovsky – who has batted at a higher clip versus southpaws than RHPs in each of the past two seasons – then looked at three straight pitches, putting him behind in the count 1-2. But the sophomore second baseman was sitting back on the next pitch and connected on the breaking ball, launching the ball over the rightfield fence for his second home run of the season and fourth of his young Irish career.
Ball State had snatched the lead moments earlier, sparked by a Justin Rogers single versus sophomore righthander Joey Williamson, a hit batter and a sacrifice bunt. Leadoff batter Mike Sullivan then dropped the next pitch into center field for a two-run single and a tie game (3-3). Sullivan stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position and Matt Singleton ripped a 2-2 pitch that hit off Williamson and kicked to the right side of the infield. Brezovsky tracked down the ball but lost track of Sullivan, who continued on to home plate and beat the throw for a 4-3 BSU lead.
A rare play happened seconds later, as catcher Sean Gaston attempted a throw down to second. Sullivan still was celebrating the run in the home-plate area and ultimately was called for interference, after impeding the Gaston throw that bounced off the mound and appeared to let Singleton move to second. Instead, the interference call caused Singleton to be erased from the bases as the second out (by rule, a putout to the first baseman). Brad Miller followed with a single, as did C.J. Webb versus junior righthander Jess Stewart – but Dury kept things close by forcing Dygert into the popup.
Notre Dame – which drove home five of its six runs with 2-outs on the board – had claimed a 2-0 lead courtesy of an early two-run triple for the second straight game (Brezvosky brought home two runs with a first-inning triple vs. Chicago State). This time it was senior shortstop Greg Lopez with the three-bagger, working ahead in the count versus freshman lefty Ryan Schmidt before going the other way down the rightfield line. It was just the second triple of Lopez’s four-year career at Notre Dame, spanning 197 games played and 627 at-bats.
Alex Nettey’s four-pitch walk and Brett Lilley’s opposite-field single to left-center (on a first pitch) set the table for Lopez’s big two-out hit.
Notre Dame stretched to a 3-0 cushion in the fifth, versus sophomore righthander Tyler Pritchard. Leadoff batter Craig Copper singled up the middle and motored all the way home two batters later when Jeremy Barnes parked a 1-0 pitch into the right-center gap for the RBI double.
Ball State scored its first run in the next inning, after Sullivan’s leadoff walk and stolen base and Webb’s two-out single down the rightfield line.
UPDATED TEAM NOTES – The current win streak is longest since ND won 12 straight from April 29-May 19 of the 2004 season … a win Friday at South Florida would give ND the 11th double-digit win streak of the 12-year Paul Mainieri era … ND has won just 67% of its pre-April games in the Mainieri era (182-90-1) but now has won nearly 811% of its April games in those 12 seasons (213-51-1) … ND is nearing the program’s 300th win in 13 seasons at Eck Stadium (297-66-1; .817) … the only teams with more than three wins at Eck vs. ND include: St. John’s (5-7), West Virginia (5-8), Miami, Fla. (4-1), Ball State (4-3) and Rutgers (4-8) … ND now is 17-3 this season when outhitting its opponent, 17-1 when leading at the end of the 7th inning, 16-3 when allowing 0-5 runs and 14-2 when collecting double-digit hits (including each of the past five games) … the USF series will mark the return to their home state for Brezovsky (Naples), Korpi (Lake Worth), Williamson (Lantana) and freshman 3B/C Eddy Mendiola (Miami).
UPDATED PITCHING STAFF NOTES – Williamson came on with two runners aboard in the sixth and struck out Chris Pestle, extending his impressive production after inheriting baserunners (just 1-of-9 of IBRs have scored vs. him) … Korpi entered the night with the 9th-best season ERA among BIG EAST pitchers (2.73), dropping that number to 2.53 (his other season stats include a .240 opp. batting avg., 44 Ks, just 11 walks and 26 hits allowed in 32 IP) … ND entered the day as the only team with four pitchers among the top-15 on the BIG EAST overall ERA charts: junior RHP Jeff Manship (5th, 2.13), Korpi (9th, 2.73), senior LHP Tom Thornton (12th, 3.02) and junior RHP Jeff Samardzija (15th, 3.16) … their combined stats in 23 starts this season now include a 2.99 ERA, nearly a 4-to-1 K-to-walk ratio (141/36), a .266 opponent batting avg. and 25 more innings pitched (147.1) than hits allowed (122) … Dury has yet to allow an earned run (one unearned) in nine appearances and 9.2 innings this season (6 H/.188, 6 Ks, 3 BB), with a 1.26 career ERA in 50 IP (32 Ks, 14 BB, 45 H/.245) … Korpi’s past two starts include a 0.61 ERA in 14.2 innings (19 Ks, 5 BB, 6 H/.125) … the ND pitchers have posted a scoreless first inning in 22 of 27 games this season … the ND staff has not allowed a home run in the past 23-plus games, spanning 857 batters faced.
UPDATED OFFENSE NOTES – Brezovsky remains third on the team in batting (.346), including .412 vs. LHPs, .400 with 2-outs and .355 with runners in scoring position … Brezovsky and Cooper both extended their hitting streaks to eight games … Bransfield’s double was his team-leading 11th of the season while Barnes hit his seventh (tied with Cooper for second on the team) … Lilley now has 99 hits in his young ND career while Cooper collected his 200th last night vs. Chicago State (now 201) … ND is batting .307 as a team but 30 points higher (.337) with runners in scoring position … Lopez and Cody Rizzo both have played 197 games in their ND careers and could reach 200 GP in the USF series … Dressman (1-for-2, 2 BB) inched his team-best batting avg. to .403 while pushing his season on-base pct. to .521 (16 BB, 3 HBP), which would rank 4th in ND history and best since ’93 … he is batting .470 (31-for-66) in his 19 outfield starts (0-for-13 as the starting DH), with hits in 18 of those 19 games as an outfield starter.
HOMESTAND STATS – ND hit .341 in the homestand, outscoring the opponents 45-20 (2 HR, 2 3B, 14 2B, 26 BB, 6 HBP, 23 Ks, 11 SB) … top hitters in the homestand: Dressman (.565, 13-for-23, 2 RBI, 8 R, 2B, 5 BB, K, 2 SAC, 2 SB), Cooper (.500, 12-for-24, 4 RBI, 8 R, HR, 4 2B, 3 BB, 2 Ks, SB), Brezovsky(.421, 8-for-19, 7 RBI, 5 R, HR, 3B, 2B, 3 BB, K, SF, SB) and Lopez (.350, 7-for-20, 6 RBI, 3 R, 3B, HBO, 3 Ks, SAC, 2 SB) … the ND staff turned in a 2.86 ERA during the 7-0 homestand (63 Ks, 18 BB, 45 H/.220, 6 HB, 4 WP in 63 IP) while the defense registered a .978 team fielding pct. (8 Es).
Ball State (15-12) 0-0-0 0-0-1 3-0-0 – 4 8 0
Notre Dame (19-8) 0-2-0 0-1-0 3-0-0 – 6 10 2
Ryan Schmidt, Tyler Pritchard (5), Kory Bucklew (6; L, 3-1), Kyle Heyne (8) and Matt Singleton.
Wade Korpi, Joey Williamson (6), Jess Stewart (7), Mike Dury (7; W, 2-0), Kyle Weiland (9; SV, 8) and Cody Rizzo, Sean Gaston (7).
Home Run: Ross Brezovsky, ND (1 on in 7th; 2nd of season, 4th of career)
Triple: Greg Lopez (ND)
Doubles: Jeremy Barnes (ND), Brett Lilley (ND), Matt Bransfield (ND)