Feb. 21, 2014
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Santa Clara senior righty D.J. Zapata hurled a complete game and pinch hitter Peter Summerville knocked an RBI single in the seventh inning to break a 1-1 tie as the Broncos took down the University of Notre Dame baseball team, 2-1, Thursday evening on day one of the 2014 Irish Classic.
Zapata (1-1) looked comfortable on the mound for much of the night, allowing one run on eight hits while striking out eight with just one walk. The performance out-shined a solid outing by Irish righty Nick McCarty (0-2), who bounced back from a rough season-opening loss at No. 24 Florida Atlantic, to go 6.2 innings. McCarty gave up two runs on six hits, struck out three and walked none and hurled 52 strikes out of 69 pitches in the loss. The pitchers dual produced a game that wrapped up in just 2:11.
The Broncos (2-4) got on the board first in the third inning as centerfielder Greg Harisis hit a solo homer over the right field wall. In the seventh, Santa Clara scored the game-winning run on a single up the middle by the pinch-hitting Summerville.
Shortstop Kyle Czaplak and first baseman Quinton Perry notched multi-hit days for the Broncos.
Despite managing just six hits, the Irish connected on the ball well throughout the game, but unfortunately it appeared to be a magnet for the Santa Clara gloves as Notre Dame lined or flied out 12 times in 32 at-bats in addition to peppering foul balls all over the stadium.
At the plate for the Irish, freshman Cavan Biggio continued his torrid streak to begin the season as he connected on his first career homer in the sixth inning. The homer highlighted a 2-for-3 effort that included another walk. Through four games, Biggio has an on-base percentage of .529 and a slugging percentage of .750.
Junior Robert Youngdahl notched a two-hit day and junior Blaise Lezynski and sophomore Kyle Richardson each added one hit to wrap up the game for the Irish.
One of Notre Dame’s best scoring opportunities came in the fourth inning when it had runners at first and third with one out. However, a foul out and fly out got Zapata out of one of the few jams of the game. Taking away Biggio’s round tripper, the Irish advanced to second base just twice in the contest and third base just once.
The Irish (1-3) return to action at 1:30 p.m. (ET) Friday afternoon as they meet the Gonzaga Bulldogs (2-3). The `Zags bested Incarnate Word, 6-1, in the first game of the day Thursday.
–Russell Dorn, Assistant Media Relations Director
–ND–