Feb. 19, 2017
By Michael Scholl
SAN ANTONIO — The University of Notre Dame baseball team fell, 8-3, to tournament champion Saint Louis on Sunday afternoon at the Alamo Irish Classic in San Antonio. Kyle Fiala homered in the effort for the Irish, who dropped to 1-3 on the young season.
The Billikens (4-0) used a three-run homer from Aaron Case in the third, then added three more runs in the fourth and a pair in the fifth to build the lead. The Irish opened the scoring with a run in the second, but added just single runs in the fourth and fifth.
Key Innings
Top Second
The Irish struck first thanks to the Nicks – Podkul and Neville. Nick Podkul led off with a single before stealing second and advancing to third on a groundout. Nick Neville delivered with a two-out single to right, giving Notre Dame a 1-0 lead.
Bottom Third
Michael Hearne cruised through the first two innings before a pair of leadoff walks to open the third. After a strikeout, Case made Hearne pay with a homer off the foul pole down the right field line to put the Billikens up, 3-1.
Bottom Fourth
The Billikens plated three more runs in the fourth inning, starting with a double by Carter Hanford. Devin Mahoney then bunted to advance the runner, but Hearne attempted to throw out Hanford at third and everyone was safe. Alex King and Case each followed with RBI singles before Parker Sniatynski delivered the final run with another base hit. SLU added another pair of runs int he fifth to push its lead to 8-3.
Game Notes
- Saint Louis was declared Alamo Irish Classic Champion entering action on Sunday by virtue of opening 3-0 while Notre Dame, Incarnate Word and Lafayette were all 1-2 entering Sunday.
- The Irish had captured consecutive Alamo Irish Classic titles. Before this season, the last time Notre Dame did not earn the championship was 2014, when Santa Clara won the title game over the Irish, 8-7.
On Deck
Notre Dame’s season-opening travels continue next weekend as the Irish venture to San Diego for the Tony Gwynn Classic. Notre Dame faces co-host San Diego on Friday, Feb. 24, at 9 p.m. ET. Oregon and UC Irvine round out the side of the bracket playing at USD. San Diego State will host Tennessee and Seton Hall on the other half of the tournament bracket. All three Notre Dame games can be heard live on WatchND, with Friday and Sunday contests on 103.1 FM in South Bend.
— ND —
Michael Scholl joined Fighting Irish Media in August 2016, coordinating communications for the baseball program and assisting with the football team at his alma mater. The South Bend native earned a degree in political science from the College of Arts & Letters in 2009 before going on to work in athletics communications at Providence College, Vanderbilt and Cincinnati.