Baseball: Irish dismantle Red Storm
By JOE HETTLER
Sports Editor
Notre Dame played 16 innings of baseball Sunday, scored 29 runs, collected 25 hits, allowed only three earned runs and won two Big East games.
Not a bad way to end the weekend.
Notre Dame used two offensive explosions and solid pitching from Chris Niesel and Ryan Kalita to sweep a doubleheader from St. John's, 11-3 and 18-3. The wins were the Irish 10th and 11th in a row, which is the fourth-longest winning streak in Irish baseball history.
"Everybody's feeling really good right now," infielder Matt Edwards said. "It's big getting any Big East win. It's always good to win in conference."
Notre Dame jumped on St. John's early in game one by scoring 11 runs in the first three innings. Javier Sanchez tripled in teammates Kris Billmaier and Brennan Grogan to put Notre Dame up 2-0 in the first inning. Left fielder Cody Rizzo opened up the second inning with a solo homer. Steve Andres followed the homer with a walk and was driven in on a Steve Sollmann two-run shot to right field.
The Irish put the game away in the third inning by scoring six runs, capped by an Edwards three-run home run. It was the first of two Edwards bombs on the day.
Meanwhile, Niesel shut down the Red Storm's offense all afternoon. The right-hander didn't have his best stuff but still went six innings, allowing two earned runs and striking out four, to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Matt Laird pitched the seventh and struck out two Red Storm batters.
Notre Dame picked up in the second game where they left off in game one by scoring a run in the third and five more in the fourth to stake a 6-3 lead.
The Irish were holding onto that lead with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning when the floodgates opened.
Rizzo singled to third base and scored Grogan to extend Notre Dame's lead to 7-3. Designated hitter Craig Cooper then walked to score Edwards and Joe Thaman knocked in two more runs with a single to put the Irish up 10-3.
After St. John's made a pitching change, Sollmann doubled to score Cooper. Grogan followed with a triple to center, scoring Sollmann and Thaman. Edwards, Billmaier and Sanchez then all singled in succession before Matt Macri walked to plate the ninth Irish run of the inning and give the Irish a 15-3 lead.
"Right now, everyone is bearing down. We're finding ways to get runners on base and then get hits with two strikes or two outs," Edwards said.
Notre Dame added single runs in the next three innings to extend their advantage to 18-3. Both Sollmann and Edwards had dingers in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively.
"Today was just one of those days when we were feeling really comfortable in the batter's box," Edwards said.
Kalita continued his early season success by winning his fourth game.
Kalita went seven innings, yielding only one run and walking zero. The senior recorded 14 ground ball outs and only gave up one solid hit all day long. He is now 4-0 this season and 11-0 during his Notre Dame career.
"There were a lot of ground balls and I was just letting our defense do their job behind me," Kalita said. "[Run support] takes a little bit of the pressure off, but you have to focus on throwing strikes and getting outs so your offense can get back up as soon as possible."
Game Notes:
Infielder Greg Lopez was hit by a pitch early in the first game and did not return. According to Notre Dame official, he was a little "woozy" but the injury was not serious.
In their last five games, the Irish have outscored their opponents 20-0 in the second inning.
In the nine-run fifth inning, Notre Dame had nine batters bat with two outs.
Friday's scheduled doubleheader between the Irish and Boston College was cancelled due to rain in the area. Under Big East doubleheader rules, the two-game set will not be made up.
All Sports Stories for Monday, April 7, 2003
