Baseball Drops 8-2 Decision to Notre Dame

Notre Dame vs Connecticut (May 03, 2008)

STORRS, Conn. (May 3, 2008) —  Three homeruns by the Fighting Irish, including two from Jeremy Barnes, led Notre Dame over the University of Connecticut baseball team 8-2 in BIG EAST Conference action on Saturday afternoon at J.O. Christian Field.

With the loss, UConn falls to 23-26 overall this season and 8-15 in the BIG EAST while the Irish improve to 31-13-1 overall and 14-6 in conference play.

Notre Dame got on the board early in today's contest as a lead-off four-pitch walk ended up hurting the Huskies as the Irish took a 1-0 lead. Brett Lilley picked up the walk and later scored on a two-out single through the right side of the field by teammate Evan Sharpley.  For the second straight inning, freshman starting pitcher Dan Mahoney (Boston, Mass.) walked the lead-off batter of the inning. But the Huskies were able to get three quick outs to end the second with no trouble.

UConn got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the second inning as Mike Nemeth (Washington, N.J.) singled to left center. Sophomore Peter Fatse (Hampden, Mass.) grounded into a fielder's choice before recording his 14th steal in 14 attempts this season.

The Irish recorded their second run of the game as David Mills scored on a double by A.J. Pollock. Pollock's hit was just out of the reach of the diving Harold Brantley, Jr. (Silver Spring, Md.) in centerfield. Jeremy Barnes followed with a double off the wall in left center to score Pollack from third, who advanced to the corner on a wild pitch, to put the Irish up 3-0.

Gordon Stevens (Vista, Calif.) led off the third with a double down the right field line, which was followed by a five pitch walk to Brantley to put runners on first and second with no outs. But the Huskies could not get any runners home and left two on the bases.

In the fifth inning, Notre Dame recorded back-to-back homeruns as Barnes hit a two-out homerun over the wall in left center and was followed by a shot over the wall in right center by Ross Brezovsky. With the two homeruns, the Irish took a 5-0 lead.

Stevens recorded his second hit of the game with a single into left field and followed with a stolen base to get into scoring position with one out. Brantley was able to reach base on an infield single to put runners at first and second for the Huskies. But UConn could not record a run in its second opportunity with two runners on base.

Two walks, a single and an error put the Huskies on the board in the sixth and loaded the bases with two outs. But a strikeout by Notre Dame starter Wade Korpi ended the inning and left three Huskies stranded on the bases.

Dusty Odenbach (Rochester, N.Y.) came into the game for the Huskies on the mound in the sixth and gave up a lead-off single but recorded six straight outs from that point. Brezovsky singled through the right side in the eighth with one out then advanced to second as Sean Gaston was hit by a pitch.

Notre Dame closer, Kyle Weiland, took the mound in the eighth as he struck out Nemeth for the first out of the inning. Weiland was able to get two more quick outs to retire the Huskies in an 1-2-3 order. UConn's Matt Karl (Wallingford, Conn.) came into the game in the top of the ninth inning as he faced the top of Notre Dame's line-up. Karl was able to get his first two batters to fly out to left field before walking both Pollack and pinch hitter Casey Martin to extend the inning. Jeremy Barnes connected for his second homerun of the game as he hit a three-run shot over the left field wall to pull the Irish ahead 8-1. After another infield hit, Karl was able to end the inning on a groundout to second base.

The Huskies could not pull together a large enough rally in the bottom of the ninth, despite an opposite field homerun down the left field line by Brantley, as the UConn ball club fell to the Irish in the second game of the three-game series.

Korpi finished the game with eight strikeouts in seven innings thrown. He allowed five hits and one unearned run, while walking four. With the win, Korpi improves to 6-2 on the year. Dan Mahoney takes the loss, to drop 0-5 on the season. Mahoney pitched five innings as he allowed five runs and six hits.

Stevens and Brantley finished the game with two hits each while Brantley added one RBI and one run scored.

UConn will return to action Sunday as the Huskies host Notre Dame for the weekend series finale. The first pitch will be thrown at 11:00 a.m. at J.O. Christian Field. Tomorrow UConn will also honor its four seniors prior to the game's first pitch.

-UCONN-