BASEBALL: Naumann wins, Irish bounce back to smack Flyers
By CHRIS FEDERICO
Sports Writer
After the Irish dropped a tough game to Ball State Tuesday night, head coach Paul Mainieri was noticeably displeased with his team's performance. His Irish looked out of sync most of the night, committing errors, missing signals and failing to execute on bunts and hit-and-runs.
With all of these problems, Mainieri was even more eager to get back on the field Wednesday to correct these uncharacteristic mistakes — and that is just what the Irish did. Notre Dame returned to its classic style of baseball in an impressive 8-1 victory over the Dayton Flyers, scoring runs with perfect bunts and multiple hit-and-runs while holding opponents helpless with precise pitching and solid defense.
"We executed all of the small things like the steals, bunts and hit-and-runs tonight," Mainieri said. "We were able to get some key hits at the right times to bring some runs across the plate."
With a stiff wind blowing in from center field, the power hitting of both teams was neutralized.
"This is the way we have to play under these conditions," Mainieri said. "The power hitting is definitely there in our lineup, but the wind is keeping balls inside of the park. To score you just have to move runners around the bases one at a time."
Irish pitcher Mike Naumann fared well, picking up his first win on the season and improving his career mark to 9-1. Naumann looked strong, pitching six innings and only allowing one run on five hits.
The Irish set the tone for the game in the first inning when center fielder Steve Stanley and second baseman Steve Sollmann started off with consecutive singles. After a walk by shortstop Alec Porzel loaded the bases, right fielder Brian Stavisky brought home Stanley with a sacrifice fly ball. Sollmann then scored on an RBI groundball by left fielder Kris Billmaier.
The 1-2-3 combination of Stanley, Sollmann and Porzel provided a real catalyst for the Irish offense, batting six for 12 collectively and scoring five runs.
"Tuesday I hit the ball in the air too much, and that does nothing for our team," Stanley said. "I need to put the ball on the ground so I can get on base and score for us. That is what Steve [Sollmann] and I tried to do tonight. With the top of our lineup, we have the ability to generate a lot of runs."
Notre Dame blew the game open in the seventh inning, scoring four runs off of a leadoff walk by freshman Soran Leahy and three hits by Stanley, Sollmann, and Porzel.
The Irish are anxious to begin this weekend's series against Big East rival Rutgers, who won both the regular season and tournament titles last year.
"It's going to be a huge series," said an eager Stanley. "Our teams are a lot alike. They have great pitching, and we have great pitching. They have great hitters, and we have great hitters. We are expecting a tough matchup, be we are definitely ready for them."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, April 5, 2001
