March 13, 2006
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Wade Korpi continued his team’s trend of strong outings by starting pitching while five different Notre Dame batters drove in runs, as the Irish completed a 4-0 showing at the University of Texas San Antonio’s Express Baseball Classic with Monday night’s 6-2 win over Iowa at Wolff Stadium.
Notre Dame (6-5) rapped out a season-high 15 hits – from eight different players – while doing most of its damage in the top of the third, using four hits and three walks to push across five runs. Junior catcher Sean Gaston batted 4-for-5 from the cleanup spot with an RBI, run scored and double while senior leftfielder Matt Bransfield was 3-for-5 with an RBI and double.
Korpi (1-0) matched his week-one start by striking out seven batters and ultimately allowing two runs on six hits and just one walk, in five innings. Junior righthander Jess Stewart then logged the final four innings for the first save of his career, striking out one of the 15 batters he faced with two walks and one hit allowed.
Walks by Greg Lopez and Craig Cooper put runners on the corners in the third and Brett Lilley followed with an RBI double to the left-center gap. Gaston then scorched a ball that kicked off the third baseman’s chest (scoring Cooper) and Jeremy Barnes added the inning’s third walk before Bransfield plated another run with a leftside single that sent the shortstop deep in the hole. Ross Brezovsky capped the big inning by pulling a first-pitch offering from righthander Luke O’Loughlin (0-2) through the right side for a two-run single.
Notre Dame and Iowa (5-5) are slated to meet four times during the Spring Break trip – with the Irish earlier winning the first meeting 16-2 on Saturday, with two more games to follow at double-A Wolff Stadium on March 16 and 17.
Notre Dame (6-5) 0-0-5 1-0-0 0-0-0 – 6 15 0
Iowa (5-5) 0-0-0 0-2-0 0-0-0 – 2 7 0
Wade Korpi (W, 1-0), Jess Stewart (6; SV, 1) and Sean Gaston.
Travis Sweet, Luke O’Loughlin (2; L, 0-2), Chase Stephens (5), Tim Gudex (9) and Dusty Napoleon.
Triple: Nathan Price (Iowa).
Doubles: Brett Lilley (ND), Cody Rizzo (ND), Sean Gaston (ND), Matt Bransfield (ND), L.J. Mims (Iowa).