MASON, Ohio – The Notre Dame baseball team took a 16-6 (8 innings) win over Dayton at Prasco Park in Ohio on Tuesday evening.
The Flyers got on the scoreboard with a lead-off home run in the top of the first inning, but the Irish responded quickly in the bottom half of the inning. Drew Berkland used a lead-off homer of his own to tie the score. Bino Watters was hit by a pitch, Mark Quatrani drew a walk and Jayce Lee was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases. Dylan Passo delivered a double to drive in Watters and Quatrani for a 3-1 lead. Shane Miranda added a double two batters later, and Lee and Passo both scored on the play for a 5-1 advantage.
Notre Dame added to the lead in the bottom of the second. Drew Berkland reached on an error and moved up on a wild pitch. Bino Watters singled through the right side, driving in Berkland for a 6-1 lead.
The Flyers posted two runs in the top of the third to make it 6-3. The Irish had the answer yet again in the bottom half of the inning. Mason Barth drew a walk, and Jamie Zee singled before Andrew Graham came in to run. Drew Berkland then blasted his second home run of the game for a 9-3 Irish lead.
Mark Quatrani led off the bottom of the fourth with a single before Noah Coy made it safely to first after an error. Jayce Lee walked to load the bases, and Mason Barth was hit by a pitch two batters later to bring in Quatrani. Shane Miranda then singled through the right side to drive Lee and Coy for a 12-3 score in favor of the Irish.
Dylan Singleton posted back-to-back three-up, three-down innings on the mound in the fifth and sixth.
The Flyers put three runs on the scoreboard in the top of the seventh inning to make it a 12-6 score. Once again, the Irish had the response in the bottom half of the inning. Mark Quatrani had a single and Noah Coy Walked before Jayce Lee drilled a home run to left field to put the Irish up 15-6.
In the bottom of the eighth, Andrew Graham reached on an error, Brandon Logan walked and Caleb Ricks was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Noah Coy then used a sacrifice fly to drive in Graham with the game-ending run in the 16-6 final.
Drew Berkland was 2-for-4 with two home runs, four RBI and three runs on the night. Jayce Lee added a home run, three RBI and three runs with a pair of walks. Mark Quatrani went 2-for-4 and scored three times. Dylan Passo added two doubles, two RBI and a run. Shane Miranda posted a pair of hits with a double and four RBI. Bino Watters had a hit, drove one in and scored a run. Noah Coy scored twice and drove in a run, and Mason Barth scored once and had an RBI. Jamie Zee had a hit, and Andrew Graham posted a pair of runs in the win.
Aiden Zerr went 2.0 with a strikeout in the start, and Caden Crowell picked up the win in relief with 2.0 shutout innings and three strikeouts. Dylan Singleton posted 2.0 and faced just six batters with two strikeouts. Radek Birkholz went two-thirds of an inning with a strikeout, and Eli Thurmond added 1.1 innings of work with a strikeout.
The Irish (28-20) close out the regular season with a three-game ACC series at Pittsburgh starting on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. ET.