Irish arms baffle Red Storm in weekend sweep
By CHRIS FEDERICO
Sports Writer
Notre Dame moved to within one win of the regular season Big East title with a three-game sweep of the St. John's Red Storm this weekend.
The Irish, now 40-6-1, reached the plateau of 40 wins faster than any other team in Notre Dame history.
The Big East sweep was very important in providing a confidence boost to the Irish after a tough mid-week loss to Valparaiso last Wednesday. Heading into the weekend, St John's was the closest team behind Notre Dame in the Big East standings.
"A sweep over the No. 2 ranked team in the conference shows what we're capable of doing this year," said senior co-captain Alec Porzel.
The shortstop played a key role in Sunday's 7-3 victory over the Red Storm with a 2-for-4, three RBI performance that included a double and a home run.
The sweep ensured that the Irish could capture the Big East regular season title with only one win in its next six games against Connecticut and Boston College.
"This was a big weekend for us," said head coach Paul Mainieri. "We knew that St. John's would bring a good team, but our guys really stood up to the challenge."
Once again, the Irish got phenomenal performances from their starting pitchers. In the first game of the series, Aaron Heilman became the first Notre Dame pitcher to win his first 11 decisions of a season, going all seven innings for the victory.
Heilman's senior classmate Danny Tamayo followed suit in the second game with a gem of his own. The right-hander pitched a two-hit shutout, his third of the season, and lowered his ERA to 1.42, .01 of a run lower than his All-American teammate Heilman.
"I feel like I'm getting better with each game," said Tamayo, who made a strong plea for Big East Pitcher of the Week. "Our defense has been great behind us. That really gives you the confidence to throw any pitch you want."
On Sunday, sophomore J.P. Gagne added his own strong performance, allowing only two runs in seven innings of work to improve his record to 5-2.
"I actually didn't feel like I had my best stuff," said Gagne. "The last two innings I felt like I really had to make some tough pitches in certain situations. What gave me confidence was watching the first two pitchers [Heilman and Tamayo] going out and throwing so well on Saturday."
In the first game Saturday, the Irish provided all of the runs that Heilman would need in the first inning.
Steve Stanley started off the game with a double and then scored on Brian Stavisky's single. After Kris Billmaier and Paul O'Toole walked to load the bases, third baseman Andrew Bushey pushed the lead to 3-0 with a two-run single.
In the nightcap, Notre Dame plated one run in each of the first four innings to grab the early lead.
Tamayo faced only three hitters over the minimum in the 5-0 victory.
On Sunday, the Irish scored seven runs getting solid contributions at the plate from Porzel, Bushey, and O'Toole. The three combined went 7-for-11 with all seven of the team's RBIs.
With their strong weekend play, the Irish will likely retain their No. 1 ranking as they return to action Tuesday night at Michigan.
All Sports Stories for Monday, April 30, 2001
