April 3, 2012
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Junior CF Charlie Markson (Whitefish Bay, Wisc./Whitefish Bay H.S.) and sophomore 1B Trey Mancini (Winter Haven, Fla./Winter Haven H.S.) each drove in a pair, while the Notre Dame bullpen tossed 4.1 scoreless innings as the Irish rolled past Toledo, 7-3, Tuesday night at Frank Eck Stadium.
Sophomore RHP Donnie Hissa (Iron River, Wisc./Maple Northwestern H.S.) picked up the victory and evened his record at 1-1. He worked 1.1 scoreless innings. Hissa struck out three and did not issue a walk.
Alex Radon was charged with the loss and dropped to 0-4 on the campaign. He was roughed up for three earned runs on five hits in 1.2 innings of work.
Markson, junior 2B Frank DeSico (Cleveland, Ohio/St. Ignatius H.S.) and freshman SS Kevin DeFilippis (Homer Glen, Ill./Providence Catholic H.S.) each registered multi-hit games. Markson went 2-for-3 with a run scored, RBI single and sacrifice fly. DeFilippis and DeSico each went 2-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. Sophomore 3B Eric Jagielo (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North H.S.) walked three times, including two intentional free passes, and belted his team-best sixth home run of the year.
After allowing a two-run single to his first batter (giving the Rockets a brief 3-2 lead), Hissa retired the next four Toledo batters, including three via strikeout.
Senior LHP Steve Sabatino (Lockport, Ill./Lockport Township H.S.) replaced Hissa and promptly retired all five Rockets he faced. The southpaw also fanned three. Sabatino has now made three consecutive scoreless relief appearances (3.2 IP, 2 H, 4 K, 0 BB).
Freshman RHP Matt Ternowchek (Glenmoore, Pa./Downington East H.S.) needed just one pitch to record an out and sophomore RHP Dan Slania (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic H.S.) tossed a scoreless ninth inning.
Hissa, Sabatino, Ternowchek and Slania combined to retire 13 of the last 15 Toledo batters of the game. The Rockets managed just two singles after fourth inning (just three base hits after the first frame).
Toledo grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on James Miglin’s RBI single. The Rockets actually had three singles in the frame, but Veerkamp settled into a grove.
The right-handed hurler retired 10 of the next 11 Toledo batters with the only Rocket reaching on a second-inning walk.
Notre Dame drew even, 1-1, in the bottom of the second. The Irish loaded the bases with one out on a junior C Joe Hudson (Odessa, Fla./Tampa Jesuit H.S.) single and two walks. Markson came to the plate and lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Hudson.
Markson gave Notre Dame a 2-1 lead a couple of innings later. Freshman LF Ryan Bull (Eden Prairie, Minn/Eden Prairie H.S.) reached and advanced to second on an error from Toledo 1B Mark Lapikas. Senior RF Alex Robinson (Dallas, Texas/First Baptist Academy) followed with a ground out to move Bull to third and Markson slapped a two-out RBI single right back up the middle.
Veerkamp ran into trouble in the top of the fifth inning. Dan Zuchowski singled with one out – Veerkamp had retired 11 of the previous 12 Rockets. He then plunked A.J. DeMarco on a 0-2 pitch. After a fly out, Veerkamp issued a walk to load the bases and was pulled in favor of Hissa.
Ben Hammer greeted the Irish reliever with a slicing two-run single to left field to give the Rockets a 3-2 lead.
After Jagielo tied the score, 3-3, with a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth inning, Notre Dame regained the lead in the home half of the sixth. DeFilippis picked up an RBI single (his first career RBI in an Irish uniform) and DeSico doubled in another run to give the Irish a 5-3 advantage.
Mancini added a two-run single in the eighth inning to close the scoring, 7-3.
Junior RHP Patrick Veerkamp (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead H.S.) did not factor in the decision. He allowed three runs, all earned, on four hits in 4.2 innings of work. He struck out two and walked two.
Notre Dame returns to the diamond at 1:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, Apr. 5. The Irish and Seton Hall open a BIG EAST series with a doubleheader. In-game updates will be available on Twitter at @NDBaseball and Facebook at NDBaseball, and fans can listen to all the action locally on 103.1 FM and on the Internet at UND.com.
— ND —