March 15, 2011
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SAN ANTONIO – Senior SS Mick Doyle ripped a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Notre Dame a 5-4 victory over UTSA Tuesday night at Wolff Stadium. With the victory, the Irish improve to 7-7 on the season, while the Roadrunners drop to 6-13.
Junior RHP Will Hudgins picked up the victory out of the Notre Dame bullpen and improved to 2-0 on the season. The sidewinder tossed 2.0 scoreless innings of relief and allowed one hit.
Kevin Clarke was charged with the loss for UTSA and dropped to 0-2. He allowed two runs, both earned, on three hits in 2.1 innings of work.
With the game tied, 4-4, in the bottom of the 10th inning, junior Tommy Chase, who entered the game in the eighth inning as a pinch runner and scored the tying run, drew a one-out walk. Fifth-year senior OF Herman Petzold followed with a single to centerfield.
UTSA head coach Sherman Corbett replaced Clarke with Blake Denma, who got senior 3B Greg Sherry to fly out. Chase was able to race to third base, moving the winning run just 90 feet away. After Corbett made a visit to the mound with Denma, Doyle ripped the first pitch of the at bat into left field.
Doyle and freshman 1B Eric Jagielo paced the Irish attack with two hits apiece. Doyle went 2-for-4 with two RBI and Jagielo went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Sophomore 2B Frank DeSico went 1-for-2 with a run scored and three walks. Chase came off the Irish bench, drew a walk and scored two runs.
Freshman LHP Anthony McIver did not factor in the decision, but pitched extremely well. The southpaw tossed a career-high 6.1 innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits. McIver punched out a career-best six and issued one walk.
Fellow rookie Dan Slania tossed 1.2 scoreless and hitless innings of relief. The right-handed hurler struck out one.
McIver struggled in the top of the first inning. The rookie got ahead of each of the first two Roadrunner batters at 0-2, but proceeded to plunk the leadoff hitter and then allowed a single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Ryan Hutson followed with another seeing-eye single to right field to give UTSA a 1-0 lead.
McIver struck out Ryan Dalton and then induced a possible inning-ending double play grounder to third base, but DeSico was unable to complete the backend throw following a collision on the second base bag. The fielder’s choice pushed the Roadrunners’ lead to 2-0 before McIver recorded his second punch out of the inning to end the frame.
The Irish answered with a run in the bottom of the first inning. DeSico opened with a leadoff walk, moved into scoring position on junior OF Alex Robinson’s sacrifice bunt and scampered to third base on a wild pitch from UTSA starter Matt Sims. Jagielo followed with a sharp single to left field to cut the deficit to 2-1. After sophomore C Joe Hudson popped out, Jagielo swiped second base, but freshman DH Trey Mancini struck out to end the inning.
McIver settled down after the top of the first. After the punch out to end the inning, he proceeded to retire the next 10 UTSA batters, including four strikeouts.
Notre Dame grabbed its first lead of the contest in the bottom of the fourth inning. Mancini drew a leadoff walk and moved into scoring position following Petzold’s sacrifice bunt. After Sherry singled to put runners on the corners with one out, Doyle executed a perfect safety squeeze to tie the score, 2-2. Sophomore OF Charlie Markson followed with a two-out RBI single to give the Irish a 3-2 advantage.
McIver set cruise control and ultimately sent down 15 consecutive Roadrunners before Hutson stroked a two-out single in the top of the sixth inning. He worked around the base hit, but did seem to tire in the top of the seventh. McIver got the first out of the inning, but issued a walk (his only of the contest) and back-to-back singles, including Jake Wood’s RBI single that tied the score, 3-3. UTSA then loaded the bases with just one out on an infield single when McIver failed to cover the first base bag.
Slania came into the bases loaded jam and got a fly out and pop out, but the fly out was deep enough to score Matthew James and give the Roadrunners a 4-3 lead.
Notre Dame drew even in the bottom of the eighth. Mancini ripped a leadoff double off Clarke. Petzold followed with a sacrifice bunt, moving Chase to third base with one out. Sherry tied the game, 4-4, with an RBI ground out that nearly got past Dalton at third base, but the hot corner made a great lunging snag and strong throw to get Sherry by a step.
The Irish bullpen and Doyle would do the rest.
Notre Dame opens this weekend’s Irish Baseball Classic against Iowa at 4:00 p.m. CT on Thursday at Wolff Stadium. The Irish and Hawkeyes face off at Noon CT on Friday. Notre Dame then plays Gonzaga at noon and 11:00 a.m. CT on Saturday and Sunday. All four games can be heard on WHME Harvest 103.1 FM and UND.com.
— ND —