April 22, 2000
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Notre Dame offense erupted for six home runs while seven Irish pitchers combined to allow no earned runs, as the Irish swept a 5-1, 12-1 doubleheader from Georgetown in BIG EAST baseball action Saturday at Georgetown Diamond.
Notre Dame (32-9, 12-4)–which has won seven straight and 10 of its last 11–remained within striking distance of league leader Rutgers (16-1), which was rained out at home on Saturday in a scheduled doubleheader versus St. John’s. The Irish close BIG EAST play with three-game home series versus St. John’s, Pittsburgh and Rutgers while the Scarlet Knights also have a series left at Seton Hall before taking a bye week from league play.
Four Irish players combined on the six home runs, with freshman rightfielder Brian Stavisky and freshman second baseman Kris Billmaier each smacking a pair of homers in the second game. Sophomore DH Ken Meyer provided the big hit in the opener, with a three-run shot, while sophomore third baseman Andrew Bushey homered in the nightcap.
The Irish had totaled just 21 home runs in their previous 39 games before Saturday’s barrage.
Georgetown (12-34, 1-18) managed just the two runs while leaving 14 runners on base in the doubleheader. The Irish pitchers allowed just two leadoff batters to reach base in the day’s 16 innings while holding GU to a .133 batting average with runners in scoring position (2-for-15).
The Notre Dame pitching staff-which entered the week ranked third in the nation with a 2.90 team ERA-dropped that figure to 2.72 with Saturday’s absence of earned runs (the Irish allowed just eight earned runs in six games this week, spanning 46 innings).
Senior righthander Scott Cavey (5-2) tossed six scoreless innings in the opener, scattering four hits while posting four strikeouts. Junior righthander Danny Tamayo closed the game, allowing one walk and an unearned run while registering the final three outs. GU junior lefthander Randy Erwin (4-6) took the complete-game loss, allowing the five runs on six hits.
Sophomore righthander Drew Duff (3-2) posted his second win of the week, logging the first five innings in the nightcap while allowing an unearned run on two hits and one walk, with two Ks. Four Irish pitchers then each turned in scoreless innings: freshman Matt Laird, junior lefty Mike Naumann, junior Mike Carlin and freshman Brandon Viloria.
Junior lefty Matt Arizin (1-9) took the loss in the nightcap, allowing six runs on six hits and two walks during the first three innings (with one K).
GAME 1 SCORING RECAP
- Notre Dame pushed across a run in the third inning of the day, with Stavisky drawing a leadoff walk and moving up on sophomore 2B Jeff Perconte’s bunt before scoring on double from sophomore CF Steve Stanley that landed just inside the leftfield line.
- The Irish added to their lead in the fifth, sparked by senior 1B Jeff Felker’s leadoff single to right-center and Matt Strickroths infield single to the left side. Two batters later, Meyer took the first pitch for a ball before launching a shot over the leftfield fence for his second career home run with the Irish (and first in the 2000 season).
- Felker again got things going in the seventh, doubling down the rightfield line before scoring on Stavisky’s double to left-center (Felker’s ball nearly was a home run, but it hit off the top of the 30-foot extended fence near the rightfield foul pole and kicked off the scoreboard before landing back in play).
- The Hoyas averted the shutout in the seventh, with Brian Cassese drawing a leadoff walk before Perconte dropped a popup in shallow right field. Groundouts from Eric Sutton and Mike Green then plated Cassese for the final 5-1 score.
GAME 2 SCORING RECAP
- GU scored its only run of the nightcap in the first inning, with Josh Corman reaching on a fielding error by the 3B Bushey before coming around to score on a stolen base and groundouts from Green and Jim Vankoski.
- The Irish surged ahead in the second, with Bushey drawing a leadoff walk and Stavisky hitting a first-pitch single to right before Billmaier sent a one-out, full-count pitch over the leftfield fence for his first home run of the season.
- Bushey then led off the fourth by drilling a 1-0 pitch over the rightfield fence-for his fourth career home run and second of the season, with the other coming earlier this week. Stavisky followed with his team-leading ninth long ball of the season, a 2-0 shot that sailed well over the rightfield fence. The Irish proceeded to send nine batters to the plate, with Bok drawing a walk and Billmaier reaching on an error by the 3B Eric Santana before Stanley’s two-run double to left-center.
- Bushey opened the fifth with a first-pitch single to left before scoring on Billmaier’s two-out, 2-2 blast to left. The Irish capped the scoring with three runs in the ninth, after sophomore C Paul OToole’s four-pitch walk, Bushey’s double to right and Stavisky’s three-run shot to right.
NOTES: In five BIG EAST seasons, the Irish have posted 31 series wins, with just five series losses and four series ties … the Irish have won 14 of their last 16 BIG EAST series (with one tie) and 26 of the last 31 (with three ties) … ND has played 38 all-time BIG EAST doubleheaders, sweeping 20 of them (with 16 splits and just two DH sweeps by the opponent) … Felker’s double was his 13th of the season and the 51st of his career, moving him into a tie with former classmate Brant Ust (97-99) for fourth in Irish history … Felker’s four-year career stats vs. Georgetown include a .450 batting avg. (18-for-40), with 19 RBI, 15 runs, three home runs, five doubles, three walks and just one K … Stavisky’s nine-game hitting streak has pushed his season batting average to .300 … in six games this week, Stavisky hit .455 (10-for-22) with eight RBI, seven runs, three home runs, two triples and two walks (he had 25 total bases for a 1.136 slugging pct. and reached base 12 times for the week) … Stavisky’s 10 home runs are one shy of tying Ust’s ND freshman record … Bushey (3-for-4, 4 R, RBI, BB) and Stavisky (3-for-5, 4 RBI, 3 R) had big efforts in the nightcap … in the only other BIG EAST action Saturday, third-place Seton Hall (10-6) swept a pair (8-1, 6-5/called after 7) from visiting Pittsburgh (8-10), which dropped into sixth place … three DHs were called due to rain: St. John’s (5-9) at UConn (9-8), Villanova (7-10) at Rutgers and West Virginia (6-7) at Boston College (8-9).
Notre Dame 0-0-1 0-3-0 1 - 5 6 1Georgetown 0-0-0 0-0-0 1 - 1 4 0
Cavey, Tamayo (7) and Nussbaum. Erwin and Wade.
Notre Dame 0-3-0 4-2-0 0-0-3 - 12 12 3Georgetown 1-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 - 1 7 1
Duff, Laird (6), Naumann (7), Carlin (8), Viloria (9) and Nussbaum. Arizin, Salvitti (4), Martinez (8), Lingg (9) and Wade, Peororazio (8).