April 29, 2009

Recap | Final Stats

Notre Dame vs. Bowling Green
April 29, 2009

• Bowling Green plated three runs in the top of the first inning. It marked the fourth time in the last five games that Notre Dame has surrendered runs in the first inning.

• Notre Dame plated seven runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to grab a 9-3 lead. The seven runs are the second-most in any inning for the Irish this season. Notre Dame scored eight runs in the bottom of the seventh inning against Illinois on Feb. 21.

• Freshman Steve Sabatino (Lockport, Ill.) improved to 2-0 on the season in the fourth start of his young career on Wednesday night. The southpaw was making his first appearance for Notre Dame since a Mar. 25th start against Oakland.
• Sabatino went 5.0 innings and allowed three earned runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out four. After the first four Falcons of the game reached on Sabatino (a pair of HBPs and two singles) and three scored, he kept Bowling Green scoreless over his final 4.1 innings of work. Sabatino allowed just a pair of singles after the first four batters of the game.

• Sophomore Matt Scioscia (Westlake Village, Calif.) delivered an RBI double in the bottom of the first inning to bring the Irish within two runs, 3-1. The RBI was Scioscia’s 12th of the season and marked the fourth consecutive start in which he drove in at least one run. In fact, he has recorded an RBI in seven of his last eight starts.
• Scioscia added two more RBI with a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning.
• He added his career-best fourth RBI with an RBI ground out in the bottom of the seventh inning.

• Senior Ryan Connolly (Binghampton, N.Y.) drew walks in each of his first two plate appearances, twice stole second and came around to score both times.
• Connolly picked up an RBI in the bottom of the fourth inning with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch.
• Connolly reached base four times on the night and scored three runs.

• Senior Jeremy Barnes (Garland, Texas) drove in his 50th run of the season in the bottom of the third inning, which equaled his output from both the 2006 and 2008 seasons. The RBI also was his 177th of his career that moved him into sole possession of seventh place on the all-time career Irish RBI list (passing Joe Binkiewicz, 1989-92).
• Barnes surpassed his previous season-high total for RBI in his next at-bat when his singled in another run for his 51st RBI of the year.

• Sophomore Mick Doyle (LaGrange Park, Ill.) extended his career-best hitting streak to 10 games following his single in the bottom of the third inning.

• Junior Brayden Ashdown (Tucson, Ariz.) registered hits in each of his first three at-bats. In fact, he had a pair of singles, both right back up the middle, in the seven-run fourth inning. The three hits were also a career-high for Ashdown.

• Sophomore Todd Miller (Franklin, Tenn.) registered his second career save. The righty tossed 3.1 scoreless innings of relief with a career-high four strikeouts. The outing was Miller’s longest of the season without allowing a run.

— ND —