Oct. 3, 2010
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Six different Notre Dame pitchers, including four freshmen, tossed 2.0 scoreless innings and combined for 18 strikeouts in a 6-0 shutout of the Ontario Blue Jays in exhibition fall baseball action from Frank Eck Stadium Sunday evening.
Irish rookies Anthony McIver (Vista, CA/Rancho Buena Vista H.S.), Sean Fitzgerald (McLean, VA/Mclean H.S.), Donnie Hissa (Iron River, WI/Maple Northwestern H.S.) and Dan Slania (Tucson, AZ/Salpointe Catholic) surrendered seven hits in their 8.0 innings of work. The quartet punched out 11 and walked four.
McIver allowed one hit and issued one walk, but struck out two. Fitzgerald yielded three hits, one walk and registered three strikeouts. Hissa, who was credited with the victory, allowed a pair of hits. He also walked one and struck out one. Slania fanned five and walked one in his outing. He surrendered one hit.
Sophomores Patrick Veerkamp (Fort Wayne, IN/Homestead H.S.) and Adam Norton (Highland, IN/Andrean H.S.) also pitched well. Veerkamp recorded two strikeouts without a walk and allowed one hit. He was the only pitcher to not issue a free pass. Norton struck out five and walked one.
Notre Dame, which continued its use of wood bats this fall, collected 13 hits by 10 different players.
Senior OF Matt Grosso (Marlborough, CT/RHAM H.S.) went 3-for-3 with two singles and a solo home run. Norton went 2-for-3 with a run scored in addition to his pitching effort. Sophomore C Joe Hudson (Odessa, FL/Tampa Jesuit H.S.) went 1-for-2 with a pair of RBI. Freshman John Rodgers (Palm City, FL/John Carroll Catholic H.S.) added an RBI single.
The Blue Jays are based in Ontario, Canada, and are a high-level summer baseball program that competes in the Premier Baseball League of Ontario (PBLO). The Blue Jays will play 29 games against collegiate teams this fall, including contests against the likes of Arkansas, Michigan, Virginia, East Carolina, Evansville, Southern Illinois, Kent State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Oakland.
Notre Dame returns to action at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 15 with game one of the 2010 Blue-Gold Fall World Series. The series will continue at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16 before concluding at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 17.
— ND —