COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Notre Dame baseball team posted ten runs in the first three innings and never looked back in a 19-2 win in seven innings against Alabama A&M in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
The Irish jumped on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning with three runs. Drew Berkland walked, and Noah Coy hit a full-count triple to drive in Berkland. Mark Quatrani added a ground-rule double before Jamie Zee drew a bases-loaded walk later in the first to plate Quatrani for the 3-0 lead.
Jack Radel picked up right where he left off in his last start and retired the side in order in the bottom of the first.
Notre Dame used three hits and an error in the top of the second to score five more runs. Coy and Quatrani started the inning off with back-to-back walks, and Bino Watters singled up the middle to drive in Coy. Jayce Lee and Parker Brzustewicz added back-to-back doubles for the Irish to make it 7-0. An error by the Bulldogs allowed Brzustewicz to score as the Irish made it an 8-0 game. Radel, meanwhile, struck out the side in the second inning to quickly get the Irish bats back to work.
In the top of the third, Coy drew a two-out walk before Quatrani used a triple to drive in Coy. Quatrani then scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 10-0.
Radel had a three-up, three down effort in the third before adding another quick inning of work in the fourth with a groundout and a pair of strikeouts as he faced the minimum 12 batters.
The lead ballooned to 19-0 after a nine-run outburst in the top of the fifth. Jamie Zee and Brandon Logan both drew walks, and Drew Berkland laced the first of two doubles in the inning to drive in Zee. Noah Coy and Mark Quatrani were both hit by pitches, and Bino Watters drove a double to left-center field to plate Coy and Quatrani. Parker Brzustewicz added a single, and Zee tallied a single in his second at-bat of the inning to make it 17-0. Caleb Ricks then used a double to drive in Brzustewicz and Zee for the 19-0 lead. Radel continued his perfect outing in the bottom of the fifth by registering two more Ks and another grounder to end the inning.
Jack Radel had an 11-inning streak of perfection broken up with a lead-off single in the bottom of the sixth, and the Bulldogs plated a pair of unearned runs with two outs gone to get on the scoreboard. The junior righty closed out the inning with a strikeout swinging – his tenth strikeout of the day – to ultimately end the sixth. Over his last 12.0 innings of work, Radel struck out 19 batters, allowed zero walks, zero earned runs and just two hits.
Aiden Zerr came on in relief in the bottom of the seventh and walked just one while retiring the side quickly to close out the game.
Parker Brzustewicz went 3-for-4 with a double, three RBIs, two runs and a walk. Drew Berkland had a double with an RBI, two runs and a walk. Mark Quatrani was 2-for-2 at the dish with a double and a triple to go along with three RBIs, a walk and four runs. Bino Watters tallied two hits – including a double – and drove in three runs with two runs scored. Noah Coy scored four runs and added a triple. Jamie Zee drove in two and scored twice with a run. Caleb Ricks notched a double and drove in a pair, and Jayce Lee had a double, an RBI and scored twice. Shane Miranda recorded the first hit of his collegiate career in the win.
Jack Radel earned the win on the bump after going 6.0 innings with 10 strikeouts, no walks and scattering two hits with zero earned runs allowed. Aiden Zerr went 1.0 with a strikeout for the Irish.
Notre Dame (4-3) is back in action on Saturday when they face UIC on day two of the Holiday Inn Classic hosted by Tennessee Tech. The game is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m. ET.