March 8, 1999
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Junior shortstop Brant Ust hit his sixth home run of the season and sophomore righthander Aaron Heilman pitched seven strong innings at Notre Dame defeated Penn State, 3-1, Sunday afternoon at V.J. Keefe Field on the campus of St. Mary’s University.
Heilman (1-1), making just the third start of his career, allowing one unearned run on four hits and five walks while striking out eight PSU batters (equaling his career high). Freshman righty Drew Duff worked a scoreless eighth and ninth to earn the first save of his career.
Penn State starting lefthander (2-2) allowed two runs on one hit and four walks over four and two-thirds innings, with five Ks.
Ust again led the offense for Notre Dame (4-5) by smacking his 35th career home run (and third in two days), a solo shot in the fifth inning that cleared the opposite-field fence in right-center.
The Nittany Lions (4-3) struck first by notching an unearned run in the third inning. Eric Spadt slipped a one-out single through the left side of the infield and Shawn Fagan drew a walk before Donnie Wright’s fly ball to right field advanced the runners. Ust’s relay to second base hit a sliding Fagan and, as the ball rolled towards the vacated mound, Spadt was able to slide in for the first run of the game.
Notre Dame took the lead by plating two runs in the fifth. Junior leftfielder Matt Nussbaum led off by stroking a 1-2 pitch into center field. Freshman catcher Paul O’Toole then drew a one-out walk before sophomore rightfielder Ben Cooke advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt to the left side. Sophomore second baseman Alec Porzel then drove in two runs with his fourth triple of the season, a shot to left that was just out of the reach of a diving Scott Hamilton.
Ust’s homer in the sixth wrapped up the scoring, as the Nittany Lions stranded 10 baserunners in the game while the Irish stranded seven.
Penn State (4-3) 001 000 000 1 5 1Notre Dame (4-5) 000 021 00X 3 5 3
McCall (L, 2-2), Wager (5), Yodis (6) and Puliafico. Heilman (W, 1-1),Duff (8; S-1) and O'Toole.
In the day’s second game, Yale junior righthander Suday Reddy turned in a strong outing that lasted into the eighth inning while the Yale offense received timely plays from several players in their 4-3 win.
Irish junior righthander Scott Cavey did not factor in the final outcome, after allowing three runs (two of them earned) on five hits and one walk over the first five and two-thirds innings, with four strikeouts. Senior lefthander Chris McKeown (1-1) suffered the hard-luck loss, allowing an unearned run on four hits over three and one-third innings, with six Ks.
Reddy (1-0) allowed three runs on 10 hits and two walks over the first seven and two-thirds innings while freshman lefthander Craig Breslow struck out the next three Irish batters. Senior righthander Mike Finnegan closed out the game by forcing Porzel to foul out down the leftfield line.
Notre Dame (4-6) received solid offensive efforts from freshman centerfielder Steve Stanley (3-for-4, run scored) and Ust (2-for-3, RBI).
The Irish opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, after a one-out bunt down the third-base line by Stanley, a wild pitch by Reddy and Ust’s RBI single to center field.
Yale (2-0) then took the lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth. A throwing error by freshman third baseman Andrew Bushey allowed leadoff hitter Tony Coyne to reach safely and move on to second base. Chad Miller then bunted Coyne to third and Todd Kasper followed with a single up the middle, plating Coyne as an unearned run.
Yale’s number nine hitter Mike Kahney came through with a two-out, 0-2 single up the middle in the fifth and motored all the way around to score on Ben Johnstone’s double into the leftfield corner.
The Irish went back ahead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Junior rightfielder Jeff Perconte sent a first-pitch single to the shortstop and took second on the errant throw before scoring on a first-pitch double down the rightfield line by Porzel. Stanley’s bunt single to the right side moved Porzel to third before Bushey grounded into a double play, with Porzel scoring on the play for a 3-2 Irish lead.
Yale answered with two runs in the sixth, sparked by Coyne’s leadoff triple. Miller then struck out swinging before McKeown took the mound. A passed ball by freshman J.P. Drevline allowed Coyne to score, followed by Kasper’s double down the leftfield line and Matt Lindsay’s single to left. Kasper then scored an unearned run on the second passed ball of the inning, for a 4-3 Yale lead.
The Irish had a chance to tie the game in the eighth, after Ust beat out a groundball and took second on a pinch-hit, sacrifice bunt by Cooke. But Nussbaum grounded out the shortstop and junior first baseman Jeff Felker struck out looking to end the threat.
The game featured an unfortunate moment in the top of the ninth, producing a 35-minute delay, after Yale’s Shea Treadway tried to score from second base on Ben Teal’s pinch-hit single to shallow right-center. Stanley fired a strong throw to the plate and the ball one-hopped before O’Toole tagged out Treadway in a collision at the plate. Treadway fell to the ground in the grass area behind home plate and ultimately was removed by stretcher due to an apparent leg injury.
Yale (2-0) 000 112 000 4 10 1Notre Dame (4-6) 100 020 000 3 10 2
Reddy, Breslow (8), Finnegan and Kasper. Cavey, McKeown (6) andDrevline, O'Toole (7).