March 7, 2010
| DELAND, Fla. Â Notre Dame junior right-handed hurler Brian Dupra allowed just one earned run over 7.0 complete innings as the Irish upended host Stetson in the final game of the 2010 Bright House Invitational Sunday afternoon. Notre Dame improves to 5-4 on the season, while the Hatters drop to 3-8.
Dupra evened his record at 1-1 on the year. He limited a Stetson lineup that entered the contest with a .330 team batting average to just seven singles and one earned run. Dupra struck out five and issued just one free pass.
Seniors LHP David Mills and RHP Steven Mazur closed the door in the eighth and ninth inning. Mills worked a perfect eighth inning, including a strikeout and Mazur fanned the first two Stetson hitters of the ninth inning before allowing a single, but induced a ground ball to end the game.
Mills picked up his first hold and Mazur registered his first save of the season.
Senior OF Brayden Ashdown and freshman 2B Frank Desico each had a pair of hits. Ashdown went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and a run scored, while DeSico went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. Junior C Cameron McConnell went 1-for-3 with a two-run single.
Notre Dame grabbed a first inning lead for the third consecutive game. Senior OF Ryan Connolly was plunked by Hatters starter Kyle Maulbetsch and moved into scoring position on sophomore OF Alex Robinson¹s sacrifice bunt. After junior DH Matt Scioscia grounded out to second, which allowed Connolly to reach third base, junior 1B David Casey laced an RBI single to left field to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame pushed its lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning. Ashdown ripped a one out single and DeSico followed with a hit-and run double to put runners on second and third. McConnell then came through with a two-run base knock.
Dupra silenced the Hatters over the first couple of innings, but ran into a little bit of trouble in the bottom of the third inning. Mark Jones led off the frame with a seeing-eye single and eventually reached third base on Jacob deBrom¹s two out single, but Dupra evaded any damage when McConnell gunned down deBrom trying to steal second base to end the inning.
The junior right-handed hitter faced the minimum over the next two innings, fanning three, including both deGrom and Crews to end the fifth.
Stetson did finally solve Dupra for a couple of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but not without controversy. After Spencer Theisen and Jeff Simpson each singled to open the frame, Dupra got ahead of Ryan Lashley 0-2 and appeared to have struck out the Hatters 1B on a breaking ball, but apparently Lashley was granted time despite the fact that McConnell had actually caught the pitch before the home plate umpire signaled for time.
Lashley eventually grounded out to third base, which allowed both Theisen and Simpson to advance into scoring position. Aaron Crittenden then hit a ground ball to DeSico at second base, but the freshman mishandled the grounder that allowed two runners to score to cut the Irish lead to 3-2. Dupra fanned Jones before Sean Emory grounded into an inning-ending fielder¹s choice.
Dupra worked around a leadoff walk, his only free pass of the game, in the Stetson seventh inning. He turned the game over to the Irish bullpen with a 3-2 lead.
The Irish added a key insurance run in the top of the ninth inning to grab a 4-2 advantage.
Maulbetsch picked up the loss and dropped to 1-2 on the year. The righty allowed three earned runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings of work. Maulbetsch struck out four and did not walk a batter.
Notre Dame returns to action on Tuesday night when it travels to Edinburg, Texas and Texas-Pan American for a two-game series with the Broncos. First pitch for each contest is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CT.