Feb. 21, 2010
GREENVILLE, Miss. – Notre Dame senior 1B Casey Martin (Chesterton, Ind.) registered a team-high four RBI as the Irish had five players with at least two RBI in a 19-3 rout of Mississippi Valley State in college baseball action from Legion Field Sunday afternoon. Notre Dame improved to 3-0 on the season and capped off its first perfect opening weekend since 2004.
Martin, who homered in each of Notre Dame’s first two games of the season, went 2-for-6 with a double, run scored and four RBI. He finished the weekend with seven RBI. Freshman OF Charlie Markson (Whitefish Bay, Wisc.) came off the Irish bench with two hits and three RBI. Junior DH David Casey (Whitefish Bay, Wisc.) went 2-for-2 with a run scored and two RBI. Senior OF Matt Grosso (Hebron, Conn.) went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI, while freshman C Joe Hudson (Odessa, Fla.) went 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBI on a pair of sacrifice flies.
Markson, Hudson and fellow freshman 2B Frank Desico (Cleveland, Ohio) all picked up their first career hits in a Notre Dame uniform.
Sophomore LHP Steve Sabatino (Lockport, Ill.), who picked up the victory, tossed 3.0 shutout innings in his first start of the 2010 campaign. The southpaw did not allow a hit and struck out five, but did walk three.
Senior RHP Eric Maust (Alpharetta, Ga.) was equally sharp. He allowed one hit in 3.0 scoreless innings of relief. Maust did not issue a walk and struck out one. Sophomore LHP Joe Spano (Verona, N.J.) tossed a scoreless inning of relief, including a pair of strikeouts.
Junior RHP Ryan Sharpley (Marshall, Mich.) made his first appearance since the 2008 season after missing all of last season with shoulder surgery. The righty did allow a pair of runs on two hits, but also recorded a pair of strikeouts. Senior RHP Steven Mazur (Round Rock, Texas) tossed the ninth and allowed one unearned run on one hit.
Senior OF Bill Warrender (Collegeville, Pa.) picked up his first career RBI.
Notre Dame is now 3-0 for the first time since the 2004 season.
The Irish return to action next weekend with the Big Ten/BIG EAST Challenge. Notre Dame opens the tournament against Illinois on Friday, Feb. 26, at Jack Russell Stadium. First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m. The Irish will also play Ohio State (Saturday, 4:00 p.m., Bright House Network Field) and Penn State (Sunday, 1:00 p.m., Naimoli Complex).