March 1, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The 14th-ranked Notre Dame baseball team fell victim to another strong pitching performance as senior righthander CJ Woodrow logged six strong innings Saturday in Minnesota’s 8-2 victory over the Irish, during second-day Metrodome action at the Dairy Queen Classic.
Notre Dame (2-4) again struggled to generate any sustained offense, totaling six hits and just one walk while scoring single runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
Minnesota (3-3) scored its first three runs on RBI groundouts before All-America second baseman Luke Appert pushed the hosts to a 5-0 lead with a two-run blast over the rightfield fence in the bottom of the fifth.
Woodrow (1-1) – the 2002 Big Ten Conference pitcher of the year – retired the first 14 batters he faced en route to eight strikeouts in his 86-pitch, six-inning outing, allowing an unearned run on four hits and no walks. Lefthander Brian Bull then closed the final three innings for the save, allowing another unearned run on two hits and a walk (with one K).
Senior righthander Peter Ogilvie (0-2) suffered the loss, after allowing five runs on six hits and two walks in four innings (with three Ks). His classmate Ryan Kalita then logged 3.1 innings, yielding three more runs on six hits and three walks.
Appert (3 RBI) combined with his middle infield partner Scott Welch (two doubles) in collecting two hits each in the No. 3 and cleanup spots while third baseman David Krncirik (3-for-3, 3 RBI, double) delivered from the No. 8 spot in the lineup.
Junior shortstop Javi Sanchez collected two hits for the Irish, including a fifth-inning single through the left side of the infield to break up Woodrow’s perfect start.
Notre Dame plated a run in the sixth, after freshman leftfielder Brennan Grogan legged out an infield single, stole second, advanced on Krncirik’s two-out fielding error and scored on a single off the rightfield wall by sophomore third baseman Matt Edwards.
The Irish added another run in the seventh, when Sanchez singled to the right-center gap and motored all the way to third on a two-base fielding error (by rightfielder Ben Pattee) before scoring on Matt Macri’s rightside groundout.
NOTES: Junior 2B Steve Sollmann had not struck out in his previous 16 games with the Irish before suffering a rare 2-K game on Saturday (he totaled just three multi-K games in 2002) … Minnesota became the third straight opponent to claim a 1st-inning lead vs. the Irish (ND has been outscored 6-1 in the 1st inning and is batting just .245 in the 1st and 2nd innings combined, compared to .407 team batting in the 3rd inning) … the Irish traditionally have started slow (25-26 in Jan./Feb. during the nine-year Paul Mainieri era, compared to 97-41-1 in March and 159-36 in April) … one of the most noticeable differences in ND’s team stats at this point in the season (compared to the six-game totals in 2002) is the batters’ ratio of walks to strikeouts (16 BB/37 Ks in ’02, 11 BB/44 Ks in ’03) and the pitchers’ K-to-BB ratio (51 Ks/14 BB in ’02, 19 Ks/37 BB in ’03).
PELTIER JOINS BROADCASTS: Former Notre Dame great Dan Peltier (’87-’89) – who remains the program’s only player ever to couple All-America and Academic All-America honors – served as a guest color commentator on the ND radio broadcasts for Friday’s loss to Nebraska and Saturday’s game … Peltier – who played in the Major Leagues with the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants – holds the ND record for career batting average (.406; also 2nd with a .659 slugging pct. and 3rd with a .484 on-base pct.) while his 202 RBI still rank 3rd in ND history (despite playing just three seasons) … his final season as a junior in 1989 remains one of the most impressive in Irish baseball history (.446 batting, .783 slugging, .513 on-base, 115 hits, 202 total bases, 93 RBI, 15 HRs, 32 2Bs and 81 R) … Peltier now lives in the Minneapolis area with his wife (the former Amy Tri, a varsity swimmer at ND) and their three children (his sons Coltan and Connor also made a special guest appearance in the Metrodome pressbox, with daughter Paige unable to attend).
Notre Dame 0-0-0 0-0-1 1-0-0 – 2 6 0
Minnesota 1-0-0 2-2-1 0-2-X – 8 12 2
Peter Ogilvie (L, 0-2), Ryan Kalita (5), Ryan Doherty (8) and Javi Sanchez.
CJ Woodrow (W, 1-1), Brian Bull (7, SV) and Gary Dick.
Home Run: Luke Appert, MN (1 on in 5th, 2nd of season)
Doubles: Matt Macri (ND), Ben Pattee (MN), Scott Welch 2 (MN), David Hrncirik (MN)