April 5, 2010
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame sophomore left-handed hurler Dustin Ispas tossed 3.0 solid innings in defeat as the South Bend Silver Hawks bested the Irish, 4-0, in the third annual Battle of the Bend Monday night. A crowd of 1,735 fans at Coveleski Stadium came out to not only watch the two teams, but also donate all the proceeds to support Niemann-Pick Type C disease and Cancer research.
Ispas, making just his second appearance since offseason surgery, struck out Silver Hawks leadoff hitter and 2009 supplemental first round draft pick Chris Owings to open the game. He did allow a two-out single to Bobby Bochering, a first round pick, 16th overall, by the Arizona Diamondbacks last year, but retired the next three South Bend hitters to keep the Silver Hawks off the scoreboard.
Ispas fanned Bobby Stone for the second out of the second inning and quickly got ahead of Alberto Diaz 0-2, but Diaz gave South Bend a 1-0 lead with a solo home run just clearly the left field wall. Ispas was victimized by an Irish error to open the third inning, which led to an unearned run, but he fanned his third batter of the game.
Ispas allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits in 3.0 innings of work. He did not issue a walk and struck out three.
Senior outfielder Ryan Connolly led off the game with a single. Notre Dame got two other hits from senior outfielder Billy Boockford and senior outfielder Matt Grosso.
Freshman right-handed hurler Patrick Veerkamp tossed the final 3.0 innings. He scattered five hits and yielded two runs, both earned. Veerkamp fanned three and walked two. He did not allow a run over his first two innings of work, but seemed to run out of gas and allowed two runs on two hits and two walks in the sixth inning.
The Irish played a total of 21 different position players. In fact, most of the Notre Dame everyday lineup was out of the game by the fifth inning, which gave a number of people an opportunity to play.
Notre Dame returns to the diamond on Tuesday, April 6 when they host Oakland at Frank Eck Stadium. First pitch versus the Golden Grizzlies is scheduled for 5:05 p.m.
— ND —