March 9, 2005
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Sophomore righthander Josh Ruffin held Notre Dame to one hit in seven shutout innings while a grand slam home run from Matt Edwards cut the Texas-San Antonio lead in half in the bottom of the eighth, but it was not enough as the Roadrunners beat the Irish 9-4 in first-day action of the Alamo City Irish Baseball Classic at Wolff Stadium.
Notre Dame (4-6) lost its fifth straight game for the first time in the 11-year Paul Mainieri era, after managing just three hits versus Ruffin and reliever Blake Brannon.
Sophomore righthander Jess Stewart – who beat UTSA in the title game of the 2004 Alamo City Irish Baseball Classic – was knocked out of the game by the local team in the first inning and ultimately was responsible for five runs, just one of them earned, on four hits and a walk while registering two outs.
Ruffin’s career-long outing saw him end up being tagged for three runs (two earned) on two hits and five walks. He struck out four Irish batters in the 110-pitch night.
Stewart’s classmate Derik Olvey delivered the early bullpen appearance and served up a double that allowed a pair of inherited runners to score before turning in a solid 6.1-inning stint that included just one other run on five hits and a walk (with three Ks).
The second-longest scoring streak in Notre Dame baseball history (156 games) was in jeopardy as the game entered the bottom of the 8th. Freshman third baseman Ross Bresovsky sent the first pitch into the right-center gap for a triple before full-count walks by freshman second baseman Brett Lilley and junior centerfielder Alex Nettey loaded the bases with one out.
Edwards then waged his own full-count battle with Ruffin before launching his third home run of the season onto the grass berm beyond the leftfield fence. The senior first baseman now owns a .431 career batting average (31-for-72) during Spring Break games, with 26 RBI and 45 total bases (3 HR, 5 2B) in those 19 games.
UTSA’s big hits to open the game included Michael McKennon’s RBI triple, Lee Todesco’s run-scoring double and a 2-run double off the bat of J.R. Voyles. The Roadrunners went on to add three sacrifice flies while scoring once in the 4th and adding insurance runs in the 8th (2) and 9th (1).
UTSA’s 14 hits included five doubles (one a run-scoring hit from Ryan Crew) and McKennon’s triple.
Texas-San Antonio 5-0-0 1-0-0 0-2-1 – 9 14 2
Notre Dame 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-4-0 – 4 3 1
Josh Ruffin (W, 1-2), Blake Brannon (8), Tony Langford (9) and Chris Lewis.
Jess Stewart (1-1), Derik Olvey (1), Dan Kapala (8) and Sean Gaston.
Home Run: Matt Edwards (grand slam in 8th; 3rd HR of season, 23rd of career).
Triple: Michael McKennon (UTSA).
Doubles: Sean Gaston (ND), Lee Todesco (UTSA), J.R. Voyles (UTSA), Ryan Saltzberger 2 (UTSA), Ryan Crew (UTSA).