May 7, 2011
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Notre Dame spotted Cole Johnson three early runs and the senior right-handed pitcher did the rest as the Irish secured a doubleheader sweep of BIG EAST rival Rutgers, 3-0, Saturday afternoon at Bainton Field. Notre Dame improved to 18-23-1 overall and 9-10 in the league, while the Scarlet Knights dropped to 15-27 and 7-13. The Irish took the opener of the twin bill, 5-4.
Johnson was simply too much for Rutgers. He limited the Scarlet Knights to just three hits, all singles, in 8.1 scoreless innings. Johnson struck out a career-best 12. He collected at least two strikeouts in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eight innings.
The 12 strikeouts were the most by an Irish pitcher since Tom Thornton fanned 12 against Kent State on June 5, 2004. In fact, a Notre Dame pitcher has not fanned more batters than Johnson since Aaron Heilman set the BIG EAST record with 18 at West Virginia on April 15, 2000.
Johnson improved to 4-6 on the season with his team-best 10th quality start. He has been almost untouchable over his last two starts against Seton Hall and Rutgers. Johnson has allowed just one earned run on six hits, five of which have been singles, in 17.1 innings of work. He lowered his season ERA to 2.50. Johnson’s opponents are batting just .204 on the year.
Freshman RHP Sean Fitzgerald got the final two outs of the game to collect his second save of the year.
Freshman 1B Trey Mancini continued his torrid stretch against Rutgers. He collected three more hits, including an RBI triple in the top of the first inning to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead. Mancini went 7-for-8 in the doubleheader sweep. Six other Irish players recorded a hit.
Senior 3B Greg Sherry had an RBI single and senior SS Mick Doyle laid down a perfect safety squeeze for another run to push the Irish advantage to 3-0 in the top of the second.
The three runs were more than enough for Johnson. He retired nine of the first 10 Rutgers hitters on the game. Johnson, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning of his last start against Seton Hall, did not surrender a hit until a single to open the fourth inning. He proceeded to send down the next 10 Scarlet Knights before a one-out single in the seventh inning.
Rutgers did not have a runner reach second base until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Johnson took a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning, but allowed a one-out single and issued a walk to bring the tying run to the plate. But Fitzgerald came into the game and promptly struck out Michael Zavala and Brandon Boykin to end the game.
The doubleheader sweep proved even more critical as Seton Hall completed a three-game sweep of Louisville on Saturday. The Pirates, who entered the weekend a half game behind the Irish for eighth in the BIG EAST standings, now stand at 10-11 in the league. Notre Dame can remain a half game ahead of Seton Hall with a victory on Sunday over Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights, who also entered the weekend a half game behind the Irish, have now fallen 2.5 games out of the final spot for the BIG EAST Tournament.
Notre Dame and Rutgers conclude the series at noon on Sunday at Bainton Field. The game can be heard in South Bend on WHME / Harvest 103.1 FM and around the world at UND.com.