Junior shortstop Mick Doyle.

Fighting Irish Baseball Monday Report Card

April 5, 2010

Overall Record: 9-17, 1-5 BIG EAST
Last Week’s Record: 1-2, 1-2 BIG EAST

Recent Results:
April 1 – Georgetown 10, Notre Dame 9 – Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md.
April 2 – Notre Dame 12, Georgetown 8 – Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md.
April 3 – Georgetown 11, Notre Dame 7 – Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda, Md.

Upcoming Games:
April 5, 5:30 p.m. (ET) – Notre Dame vs. South Bend Silver Hawks – Coveleski Stadium in South Bend, Ind.
April 6, 5:05 p.m. (ET) – Notre Dame vs. Oakland – Frank Eck Stadium in Notre Dame, Ind.
April 7, 5:05 p.m. (ET) – Notre Dame vs. Western Michigan – Frank Eck Stadium in Notre Dame, Ind.
April 9, 5:05 p.m. (ET) – Notre Dame vs. Rutgers – Frank Eck Stadium in Notre Dame, Ind.
April 10, 1:05 p.m. (ET) – Notre Dame vs. Rutgers – Frank Eck Stadium in Notre Dame, Ind.
April 11, 12:05 p.m. (ET) – Notre Dame vs. Rutgers – Frank Eck Stadium in Notre Dame, Ind.

Star Watch:

Player AVG GP GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP SO GDP OB% SF SH SB ATT
Connolly, Ryan .368 25 24 87 19 32 6 1 5 17 55 .632 9 7 23 0 .462 1 3 4 4
Mills, David .356 23 22 87 17 31 7 0 1 14 41 .471 13 2 10 0 .442 2 1 8 9
Martin, Casey .351 22 18 77 13 27 6 0 3 16 42 .545 4 4 15 0 .407 1 0 1 1
Desico, Frank .310 22 19 71 15 22 5 0 0 9 27 .380 5 1 10 1 .359 1 5 1 2
Player ERA W L APP GS CG SHO CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO 2B 3B HR AB B/Avg WP HBP BK
Ispas, Dustin 0.00 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.1 1 4 0 3 1 0 0 0 5 .200 0 0 0
Spizzirri, Joe 1.59 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 5.2 6 1 1 2 2 0 0 0 19 .316 0 0 0
Mazur, Steven 2.53 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 2 10.2 8 4 3 4 10 0 0 0 39 .205 1 1 0
Miller, Todd 3.00 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 6.0 6 2 2 4 6 0 0 1 21 .286 1 0 0
Spano, Joe 3.09 0 3 14 0 0 0 0 0 11.2 7 5 4 11 9 1 0 0 36 .194 5 0 2
Mills, David 3.38 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 0 10.2 13 6 4 3 7 1 0 1 44 .295 0 0 0
Richter, Ryan 3.78 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 16.2 17 11 7 5 14 4 2 1 64 .266 0 3 0

Weekly Recap:
The Notre Dame baseball team finished last week with a 1-2 record after its BIG EAST weekend series at Georgetown. The Irish rallied from a five-run deficit in the top of the ninth inning to tie the score, 9-9, only to have the Hoyas answer with a walk-off RBI single in the bottom half of the inning to secure a 10-9 victory in the opener. Notre Dame responded with a 12-8 triumph on Friday to even the series. The Irish battled back from an early 7-0 deficit, drew within two runs, 9-7, and brought the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning, but four errors and three unearned runs proved to be too much to overcome as Georgetown held on for a 11-7 victory in the series finale.

Notre Dame hit .287 as a team over the weekend. Leading the way at the plate was junior shortstop Mick Doyle, who hit .400 (6-for-15) with four runs scored, two home runs and seven RBI. Doyle hit three-run bombs on consecutive games against the Hoyas. Senior outfielder Ryan Connolly went 5-for-13 on the week, hitting .385 with four RBI, two home runs, a double and six runs scored. Connolly registered his second leadoff home run of the season. Freshman third baseman Adam Norton hit .308 in three games with a home run, three doubles, four RBI and two runs scored.

For the season, Connolly leads the Irish offensively with a .368 batting average, five home runs and 17 RBI. Connolly also leads Notre Dame in runs scored (19), hits (32), total bases (55) and is tied for the team-lead in triples. Senior outfielder David Mills is batting .356 on the year. Mills has scored 17 runs, added seven doubles, one home run and 14 RBI. He has also drawn a team-best 13 walks and swiped eight bases. Senior first baseman Casey Martin is hitting .351 with 13 runs scored, six doubles, three home runs and 16 RBI.

The Notre Dame pitching staff posted an 8.17 earned run average over the weekend. Senior RHP Billy Boockford retired the only batter he faced over the weekend. Sophomore RHP Will Hudgins allowed an earned run on three hits in 2.1 innings of work. Sophomore LHP Ryan Richter yielded two earned runs on five hits in 4.2 innings of relief.

Senior RHP Steven Mazur leads Notre Dame on the mound for the season with a 0-0 record and a 2.53 ERA. Junior RHP Brian Dupra has been the top starter for the Irish. He is 2-2 with a 5.01 ERA in seven starts and 41.1 innings of work. Prior to his last outing against Georgetown, Dupra had registered four consecutive quality starts. The righty had worked at least 6.0 innings and allowed three earned runs or less in each of those outings. Dupra was 2-1 with a 2.73 earned-run average over the span. He also fanned 21 and walked only five in 26.1 innings of work.

Notre Dame returns home this week for five games, including its opening BIG EAST series at Frank Eck Stadium. The Irish host Oakland on Tuesday and Western Michigan on Wednesday, both at 5:05 p.m., before welcoming league-leading Rutgers this weekend. Game times against the Scarlet Knights are scheduled for 5:05 p.m. on Friday, 1:05 p.m. on Saturday and 12:05 p.m. on Sunday.

— ND —