May 1, 2009
Notre Dame vs. Connecticut
May 1, 2009
- Notre Dame dropped its fourth consecutive BIG EAST series opener after winning its first three series openers.
- The Irish fall to 18-3 on the season when scoring first.
- Connecticut improves to 13-4 on the road this season, including 5-2 in BIG EAST games. The Huskies are just 9-9 at home and 4-7 in neutral-site games.
- After allowing seven runs (five earned) on ten hits, Irish starter Cole Johnson (Hudson, Ohio) now has a 10.50 ERA over his past three starts, yielding 30 hits (exactly ten in each game) over 18.0 innings. In the previous three starts, Johnson had registered a 1.63 ERA, throwing at least 9.0 innings in each start.
- Johnson cruised through the first four innings, allowing a pair of singles and throwing just 46 pitches, but allowed seven runs on eight hits after the fourth. Six of the eight hits, as well of both of Johnson’s walks on the night and his only hit batsman, came with two outs.
- Johnson has now tossed at least 5.0 innings in nine consecutive starts (all but his first start of the season against Gonzaga).
- Sophomore Mick Doyle (LaGrange Park, Ill.) extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a two-out, two-run single in the first inning. Doyle is batting .475 (19-for-40) over that stretch with 11 RBI and seven runs scored. The streak ties Golden Tate and Jeremy Barnes for the longest by an Irish player this season. In fact, both of those streaks began on March 29 and ended on April 18.
- Doyle also recorded his seventh sacrifice fly on the season in the third inning, tying him with USF’s Jonathan Koscso for the BIG EAST lead.
- Doyle tied his career high with three RBI in the game. He also drove in three on March 14 against Trinity and on April 26 against West Virginia.
- Sophomore David Casey (Whitefish Bay, Wisc.) has now recorded a hit in 13 of his last 14 starts after going 1-for-4 with an RBI against the Huskies.
- Senior Jeremy Barnes (Garland, Texas) recorded his second consecutive three-hit game and is now batting .419 (13-for-31) over his last seven games.
- Connecticut starter John Folino retired the Irish in order in the fourth and fifth innings on just 13 pitches. In fact, he retired the first two batters in the fourth on two pitches and the first two batters in the fifth on three pitches.
- Sophomore Cameron McConnell (Bannockburn, Ill.) nailed his BIG EAST-leading 20th and 21st attempted base stealers against Connecticut. The last Irish catcher to throw out 20+ runners in a season was Paul O’Toole in 2002. O’Toole threw out 23 runners (67 attempts) that season.
- Seven of Connecticut’s eight runs in the game came with two outs.
- Notre Dame pitchers held the top of the Connecticut order in check, as the first three batters went a combined 1-for-14. However, the 6-8 hitters went 8-for-11 and collected all six of the RBI for the Huskies.
- The Irish pitching staff has allowed just one extra-base hit (an eighth-inning triple against Connecticut) in the past two games.
— ND —