May 13, 2003
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Steve Sollmann’s 4-for-5 day led four Notre Dame players with three-plus hits while freshman lefthander Tom Thornton logged seven innings en route to his fifth win of the season, as the 23rd-ranked Irish got back on the winning track with a 9-6 win over Cincinnati in Tuesday afternoon action at Eck Stadium.
Notre Dame (38-14) crept closer to its 15th consecutive season with 40-plus runs, scoring in six of the first seven innings thanks to a 16-hit overall attack. Thornton (5-1) tossed 104 pitches in his longest outing of the season, allowing just two runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out five Cincinnati batters.
Cincinnati (14-38) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning and then capitalized on Notre Dame’s only error of the game to make things close with four runs in the sixth. Sophomore righthander Tyler Jones was able to get out of the eighth with a groundball (leaving two runners on base) before senior righthander Brandon Viloria logged a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season and seventh of his career.
Sollmann opened the bottom of the first with a triple and run scored before tacking on a two-out RBI double in the second inning. The junior second baseman and leadoff hitter then added run-scoring singles in the fourth and sixth, also scoring in that frame to ultimately have a hand in six of the team’s first eight runs.
Sophomore Matt Edwards – who made his first start at third base since the April 23 Cleveland State game – hit 3-for-5 from the cleanup spot with a pair of RBI, including a third-inning solo home run over the opposite-field fence in right. Sophomore shortstop Matt Macri added his own 3-for-5 game (RBI, 2 R) while junior first baseman Joe Thaman extended his hot hitting from Sunday’s extra-inning marathon at Rutgers, batting 3-for-4 with a run scored from the 9-hole.
Senior righthander Peter Ogilvie is slated to start Wednesday’s final home game of the regular season (6:05 p.m., versus Butler). The game will include a pregame tribute to Notre Dame’s seven-member senior class.
NOTES: Thaman is batting 5-for-8 in the last two games while his 2-for-4 effort in the Rutgers game makes him 4-for-8 in extra-innings this season (including a triple and double, plus the gamewinning single vs. Wake Forest) … Sollmann’s five triples this season are a career-best while his 11 career triples ranks 11th in ND history (his brother Scott holds the ND season triples record, 11 in ’95, and the career 3B mark of 24) … ND now has outscored its opponents a whopping 58-9 in the second inning this season, with a .320 team batting average in the second (.296 overall) … Sollmann (.366) crept back ahead of Edwards (.364) atop the ND batting charts … the game marked Sollmann’s second 4-hit effort of the season and fifth of his career (plus a 6-for-7 game vs. South Alabama in the 2002 NCAA Regionals) … Sollmann ended a 2-for-20 slump in the last four games while registering his 26th multi-hit game of the season … ND’s top hitters at Eck Stadium this season include Sollmann (.435, 40-for-92, 32 R, 15 RBI) and Macri (.426, 35-for-82, 25 R, 14 RBI).
CINCINNATI 2-0-0 0-0-0 0-4-0 – 6 11 0
NOTRE DAME 1-3-1 1-0-2 1-0-X – 9 16 1
Justin Minges (L, 1-2), Brad Hunt (5), Jack Nelson (8) and Josh Romero.
Tom Thornton (W, 5-1), Tyler Jones (8), Brandon Viloria (9; SV, 2) and Cody Rizzo, Steve Andres (8).
Home Run: Matt Edwards, ND (solo in 3rd; 8th of season).
Triple: Steve Sollmann (ND).
Doubles: Sollmann (ND), Edwards (ND), Drew Saylor 2 (CIN), Jon DeLuca (CIN).