TicketsBearcat Rally Comes Up Short At Notre Dame
Contact: Shawn Sell
5/13/2003
Drew Saylor had the first three-hit day of his career against Notre Dame. |
NOTRE DAME, Ind.---Notre Dame scored in all but two innings and a Cincinnati rally came up short, as the Bearcats fell to the No. 23 Irish, 9-6 on Tuesday afternoon at Fred Eck Stadium.
Steve Sollmann had four hits, missing the cycle by just a homer to lead the Irish attack. Matt Edwards, Kris Billmaier, Matt Macri and Joe Thaman all added three hits for Notre Dame. The Bearcat offense was paced by Drew Saylor who picked up the first three-hit game of his career in stretching his hit streak to seven games. Brad Dorrmann and Jon DeLuca each added two hits for Cincinnati.
The Bearcats surprised the home team by putting a two-spot on the board in the first inning. After Mark Muscenti was hit by a pitch and Dorrmann singled, Saylor lined a two-out, two-run double to left that staked the Bearcats to an early 2-0 lead.
But the Irish quickly took the lead off of Justin Minges (1-2), taking a 4-1 adv after two frames. Steve Anders grounded out to second to score Sollmann after a lead off triple. Notre Dame got three more in the second, as Macri tripled home Billmaier, Cody Rizzo tallied an RBI groundout and Sollmann doubled home the final frame.
The Irish continued to pour it with single runs in the third and fourth innings. Matt Edwards blasted his eighth homer of the year in the third, while Sollmann plated a run with a single in the fourth.
After the Bearcats retired the Irish scoreless in the fifth, Notre Dame piled on its final three runs, two in the sixth and one more in the seventh to take a 9-2 lead into the eighth.
But it was in the eighth inning that the Bearcats came to life, batting around and plating four runs to cut the Irish lead to the final 9-6 margin. With one out, Saylor and Brad Schutz singled, before DeLuca was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases. Jake Smith pinch hit and walked home the first run of the inning. Josh Romero was next and he hit a sacrifice fly that scored Schutz. After Justin Niefer reached on an error, Muscenti came up with the big hit, a two-run single up the middle that scored the final runs.
Tom Thornton picked up the win for Notre Dame, allowing just two earned runs and eight hits in seven innings of work. Brandon Viloria earned his second save, pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Minges took the loss, yielding six earned runs and eight hits in four innings. The Irish improve to 38-14 with the victory, while the Bearcats slip to 14-38.
Cincinnati wraps up the regular season beginning Thursday with a three-game home series against Charlotte.