April 20, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich. Â Notre Dame’s bullpen tossed four more scoreless innings of relief to give the Irish a chance, but Michigan held on for a 3-2 victory in college baseball action from Fisher Field Tuesday night. The Irish dropped to 15-20 on the year, while the Wolverines improved to 23-12.
Sophomore Ryan Richter picked up the loss and dropped to 1-1 on the season. He allowed three earned runs on five hits in 4.0 innings of work. Richter fanned three and walked one. He also hit a batter. Richter’s walk and hit batter both came around to score.
Eric Katzman picked up the victory for Michigan and upped his record to 3-1 on the campaign. The lefty made it through 5.0 innings with a 3-1 lead in tact. The lefty surrendered one earned run on four hits. Katzman struck out three and issued three walks. He needed 100 pitches, but managed to keep the Irish off balance us enough to be effective.
Senior first baseman Casey Martin was the lone Irish player with a multi-hit game. He went 2-for-4. Senior designated hitter David Mills went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Junior shortstop Mick Doyle went 1-for-4 with a double and run scored. Junior David Casey added a pinch hit RBI single. Senior left fielder Ryan Connolly went 1-for-4 with a single. He has now reached base safely in 47 straight contests, second-longest active streak in the NCAA.
Notre Dame drew within a run, 3-2, in the top of the eighth inning. Doyle ripped a one-out double into the left centerfield gap, moved to third on a wild pitch and coasted home on Casey’s pinch hit RBI single. The Irish were unable to draw closer as sophomore Alex Robinson, who pinch ran, was throw out at second trying to steal and senior right fielder Boockford grounded out to end the inning.
Sophomore sidewinder Will Hudgins tossed a scoreless eighth inning to keep the deficit one run heading into the ninth inning, but Matt Gerbe then retired the Irish 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.
Junior Brian Dupra, junior Ryan Sharpley and Hudgins combined to throw 4.0 innings of scoreless relief. Notre Dame’s bullpen has now thrown 17.1 consecutive scoreless innings — a span that covers the last five games.
Dupra tossed a scoreless inning of relief. The righty, who regularly serves as the Irish Friday night starter, retired Michigan in order and registered a strikeout in the fifth.
Michigan had a golden chance to blow the game wide open in the bottom of the sixth inning, loading the bases with only one out, but Sharpley struck out Mike Kittle and got Derek Dennis to fly out to evade any damage.
Sharpley did not miss a beat in the bottom of the seventh inning. He sent down the Wolverines 1-2-3, including a pair of punch outs looking.
Sharpley tossed a pair of scoreless innings of relief. The right-handed hurler yielded a pair of hits, but fanned four and walked two.
Notre Dame loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fifth on a pair of walks and hit-by-pitch. Mills made it 3-1 in favor of the Wolverines with a sacrifice fly. Martin followed with a two-out hit to load the bases again for Doyle, but the shortstop fanned on a change up off the outside corner to end the inning.
The Wolverines pushed their lead to 3-0 on a Lorenz RBI ground out and two-out, opposite field RBI single from Kittle.
Michigan finally scratched a run off of Richter in the bottom of the third inning. After Richter got the first out of the inning, he plunked Dennis on a 0-1 pitch. Richter got Patrick Biondi to ground out, but Anthony Toth dropped a perfectly placed RBI single just over the out-stretched arms of Irish second baseman Frank Desico in short right field. Boockford’s throw was right on the money at home, but Dennis slid just underneath the tag of Hudson to give Michigan a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame had a runner in scoring position in each of the first two innings, including senior center fielder Brayden Ashdown with one out in the second, but were unable to take advantage.
The Irish did make Katzman work over the first two frames as six of the first eight Irish batters worked the count full.The southpaw needed 42 pitches to get through the second inning.
Meanwhile, Richter cruised through the first couple frame. The southpaw needed just 11 pitches in the first, benefitting from batter’s interference on a strike-out, throw-out double play. Richter then worked around a one-out single in the second, including a strikeout of Mike Dufek.
Connolly did not take very lone to extend his streak for consecutive games reaching base safely with a one-out single in the third. DeSico nearly gave the Irish a 1-0 lead, but his missile down the left field hooked just foul.After the freshman then lined out to the gap in right centerfield, Mills fouled out to third base to end the inning. Lorenz made a spectacular play reaching over the fence and into the Wolverine bullpen to make the snag.
Mills also hit an absolute bullet with DeSico on the move from first base in the seventh, but it screamed right into the glove of Dufek at first.
Notre Dame returns to action against Michigan at 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday at Frank Eck Stadium. Live stats, live web stream, live blog and a recap of Wednesday¹s game will be available on UND.com. Tickets for all Fighting Irish home contests this season are available through the Notre Dame Athletics Ticket Office (574-631-7356), on-line at the official Fighting Irish athletics web site (www.UND.com/tickets), and at the Frank Eck Stadium ticket windows on game night