LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Notre Dame baseball team fell in a 21-12 final at Louisville in the series rubber match on Sunday afternoon.
Ty Uber took care of all three outs in the bottom of the first. The grad transfer righty got a strikeout, picked off a runner at second and added another strikeout to retire the Cardinals early.
Louisville took the first lead of the game with a three-run spot in the bottom of the second. The Irish quickly responded in the top of the third. Drew Berkland led off with a single, and Noah Coy drew a walk to put two runners on base for Notre Dame. Mark Quatrani blasted the first pitch of his at-bat well beyond the left field wall to knot the game at 3-3. Jayce Lee kept the inning alive with a two-out single on the first pitch of his at-bat, and Davis Johnson belted the second homer of the inning and his third of the weekend to put the Irish up 5-3.
The Cardinals plated four runs in the bottom half of the inning as the lead changed hands again with Louisville leading 7-5 through three complete.
The back-and-forth battle continued to wage on in the top of the fourth. Mark Quatrani drew a lead-off walk, and Bino Watters continued to beat the shift with a single through the left side of the infield. Two batters later, Jayce Lee hit a single to load the bases. Davis Johnson then delivered his second home run of the day and his second grand slam of the weekend to put the Irish up 9-7. The bottom half of the fourth saw Louisville knot up the score at 9-9 with a two-run single.
A five-run fifth inning by Louisville put the Cardinals up 14-9.
Notre Dame cut into the deficit in their next at-bats. Jayce Lee hit a single, Davis Johnson reached on a fielder’s choice and Mason Barth was hit by a pitch. Jamie Zee then delivered a single up the middle to drive in Lee and Johnson to make it a 14-11 score. Drew Berkland laced an RBI single up the middle while Mason Barth raced around from second base to score to make it a 14-12 game.
Chase Van Ameyde put up a pair of strikeouts on the mound and forced the Cardinals into stranding two runners on base in the bottom of the sixth. Louisville, however, scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 17-12 lead.
Mason Barth drew a walk, but a diving catch by the Cardinals’ left fielder on a hard-hit ball by Drew Berkland cut short a scoring chance for the Irish in the top of the eighth. The Cardinals then plated four in the eighth to go ahead by the final 21-12 margin.
Davis Johnson went 2-for-5 with two home runs – including a grand slam – and six RBI. Mark Quatrani added a home run with three RBI, a single, a walk and two runs. Jayce Lee had three hits and scored three runs. Drew Berkland tallied two hits, two walks, an RBI and a run. Jamie Zee had a hit with two RBI, and Mason Barth added a hit, two walks and a run. Bino Watters notched a hit and a run while Noah Coy scored once and walked twice.
Ty Uber went 3.0 innings with four strikeouts. Eli Thurmond went 1.0 on the mound and suffered the pitching loss in the contest. Will Jaisle went 1.0, and Chase Van Ameyde added 1.2 innings of work with three strikeouts. Noah Rooney added a third of an inning, and Garret Snyder went two-thirds of an inning with a strikeout. Radek Birkholz retired the lone batter he faced in the bottom of the eighth.
The Irish (11-6, 3-3 ACC) are scheduled to host Central Michigan on Tuesday, March 17 starting at 4:30 p.m.