May 14, 2003
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Senior righthander Peter Ogilvie allowed just one run and two hits in six strong innings of work while corner infielders Matt Edwards and Joe Thaman again led the way offensively as the 23rd-ranked Notre Dame baseball team closed its home portion of the 2003 regular season with a 4-1 victory over Butler in Wednesday-night action at Eck Stadium.
The game was limited to seven innings, due to lightning and rain that halted play for one hour before the game officially was ended. Butler was about to bat in the top of the eighth before the delay.
Notre Dame (39-17) – now just one win shy of its 15th consecutive 40-win season – owns one of the nation’s longest active 40-win streaks, with only Florida State (26, including 44-8-1 mark this season), Wichita State (25, with 39-23 mark in ’03) and Clemson (17, now 35-18) the only teams in Division I baseball that are riding longer 40-win streaks (Wichita’s streak includes 10-game exemptions for trips to Hawaii in 2001 and again this season, allowing for 66 games in the regular season instead of the customary 56).
The Irish posted a 23-5 record at Eck Stadium during the 2003 regular season and now are 43-6 in their last 49 home games.
Butler (28-240 had claimed the lead in the second, when junior first baseman Ryan Nance pulled a 1-2 pitch down the rightfield line for his seventh home run of the season.
Ogilvie (2-3) struck out six Butler batters while allowing the lone run on two hits and three walks in his 94-pitch outing. Freshman righthander Ryan Doherty then set down all three batters in the seventh, extending his streak with no unearned runs to 10 outings and 19.2 innings while dropping his season ERA to 2.21.
Notre Dame claimed the lead with two runs in the fourth versus freshman lefthander Josh Rudolphi (3-3). Freshman DH Steve Andres drew a leadoff walk and the sophomore third baseman Edwards sent the next pitch through the left side, with the runners moving up on Kris Billmaier’s sacrifice bunt. A wild pitch then brought Andres home with the tying run and freshman rightfielder Matt Bransfield later delivered with two outs, driving a 1-1 pitch into left field for the 2-1 lead.
The Irish added a run in the fifth, after singles from the junior first baseman Thaman and freshman leftfielder Grogan and an Andres sacrifice fly, before scoring again in the seventh thanks to junior second baseman Steve Sollmann’s one-out single, two stolen bases and pinch-hitter Mike Holba’s full-count single through the left side.
NOTES – The seven-player senior class was honored before the game, with that group including Billmaier (CF), Holba, Ogilvie and fellow RHPs J.P. Gagne, Ryan Kalita, Matt Laird and Brandon Viloria … the senior class has helped ND post a 184-63-1 record during the past four seasons (2000-03), just four wins shy of matching the class of 2002 (188-67-1) as the winningest in ND history … Thaman is batting 7-for-11 in the last three games, boosting his season batting average 55 points (from .216 to .271) … the ND defense turned in its 19th error-free game of the season, with sophomore SS Matt Macri again making an impressive play after the ball hit the front lip and kicked high above his head (he quickly jumped up to snare the ball, landed and displayed his strong arm to throw out the runner).
Butler 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-0 - 1 2 0Notre Dame 0-0-0 2-1-0 0-X - 4 9 0
Peter Ogilvie (W, 2-3), Ryan Doherty (7), Matt Laird (8) and Javi Sanchez.
Aaron Phillips, Josh Rudolphi (2; L, 3-3), John Olson (5), Ryan Chenoweth (6), Tony Hornbach (7) and Tim Marks.
Home Run: Ryan Nance, BU (solo in 2nd, 7th of season).
Double: Matt Macri (ND).