Cardinals take advantage of Irish errors
Chris Federico
Sports Writer
So far this year, the Irish baseball team has not often been an offensive powerhouse, relying instead on outstanding pitching and solid defense to win ballgames.
Last night for the first time, the defense failed to show up for the Irish, leading to a tough 4-3 loss to the Ball State Cardinals.
Two errors and a few misplayed balls negated another strong outing from pitcher Peter Ogil-vie (2-1), who picked up his first loss of the year. The sophomore pitched six innings and gave up eight hits and four runs, only two of which were earned.
"Our defense let us down a little bit tonight," said coach Paul Mainieri after the game. "We've played well defensively all year, but the two errors tonight were costly."
The Irish bats, which were red-hot against Seton Hall over the weekend, were still productive against the Cardinals. Notre Dame actually out-hit its opponent 12-11, but had trouble knocking in runs by leaving 13 men on base.
"We were a little sloppy tonight at the plate," said Mainieri. "We missed some signals and failed to execute on bunts and hit-and-runs. We just played a sloppy ballgame on both sides."
Ball State struck first in the third inning when catcher Doug Boone led off with a single. With one out, the Cardinals strung together three consecutive singles that moved two runs across the plate. Ogilvie was able to end the inning by striking out Ball State designated hitter Aaron Zehnal.
Notre Dame struck back in the bottom of the inning with back-to-back singles by centerfielder Steve Stanley and second baseman Steve Sollmann, who went 2-3 to raise his team-leading average to .429. Stanley then stole third and was able to score on an error by the Ball State catcher.
The Cardinals increased their lead in the fifth inning with a double by shortstop Paul Henry, who then advanced to third on rightfielder Brian Stavisky's misplay. Henry scored on a groundout by second baseman Matt Wood.
Once again the Irish cut into the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Sollmann singled, stole second and later scored on Stavisky's hit to center field.
After Ball State picked up another run in the sixth, Notre Dame attempted to seize the lead. With the bases loaded and two outs, Sollmann got an RBI walk. That would be all of the scoring, however, as senior Alec Porzel grounded out to end the threat.
After the game, Mainieri gave credit to the Ball State team.
"We expected a tough game against these guys, and they came out here and outplayed us to earn the win," he said.
With the Irish currently holding the highest rankings ever by a Notre Dame baseball team — sixth, seventh and eighth in the three major polls — a mid-week loss to a non-conference opponent can be hard to swallow, but Mainieri is confident his team will move on.
"We're looking forward to playing again tomorrow so we can get everything right back on track," he said. "You've really got to play each game like a separate part of the season and not let what you do on other days affect you."
The Irish will be looking to bounce back against Dayton (10-12) today at 5:05 p.m. at Frank Eck Stadium, before returning to Big East play this weekend at Rutgers.
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, April 4, 2001
