March 21, 2008

ALEXANDRIA, Ky. - Notre Dame split a pair of games against Urbana University Saturday, winning 5-1 and losing 1-0. The games were played in Alexandria, Ky., as the two American Mideast Conference (AMC) squads fled Ohio to get the games in a day ahead of schedule amid poor weather and soggy field conditions in the Buckeye State.

Senior Chris Balmert (Lakewood, OH) and junior Mick Robinson (Canal Winchester, OH) started for NDC and each pitched a gem. Both went the distance allowing a solo run. Balmert pitched the opener, while Robinson toed the rubber in the nightcap. They pitched a combined 13 innings, yielding just 13 base runners and one extra-base hit. As a staff, Notre Dame pitching now sports a nifty 3.16 ERA through 13 games. NDC hurlers have allowed three or less earned runs in six consecutive games.

The games were played on the campus of Northern Kentucky University.

Game one
Balmert was staked to a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the opener when the Falcons strung together a walk and a pair of singles. The veteran righthander retired nine of the first 11 Blue Knights that he faced before Jeff Hartwig (Sr/Toledo, OH) slugged a homer to left in the fourth.

Third baseman Mike Wilsey (Sr/Vermilion, OH), who scored NDC's first run of the game, drove in a pair in the next inning (top of the fifth) to give the Falcons a 4-1 lead.

Notre Dame added a fifth marker in the sixth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of right fielder Eric Pelot (Jr/Lakewood, OH). His fly out to center scored Nate Campbell (Jr/Lakewood, OH), who led off the inning with a single. He then motored to third on a double by Dustin Taulbee (Sr/Elyria, OH).

That was more than enough for Balmert, who cruised after allowing the solo shot in the fourth. Balmert retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced to close out the complete game victory, his second of the season. The senior hurler allowed four hits in the 7-inning effort. He struck out three and walked none. In shutting down the Blue Knight offense, Balmert did not allow the lead-off batter to reach in any inning.

Game two
In the nightcap at NKU's Friendship Field, the Falcons get another stellar pitching performance, this time on the left arm of Mick Robinson. The Falcons' southpaw battled through four tough innings before Urbana (7-7, 1-1) finally pushed across a run in the fifth.

Time and again, Robinson wiggled out of jams, stranding Blue Knights in scoring position. He held UU to a 1-for-11 mark with runners in scoring position (RISP) for the game.

In the other dugout, the Falcons' bats suffered a fate much the same - NDC went 1-for-4 with RISP. In both the second and fourth innings, the Blue & Gold had runners on second and third with less than two outs. In both cases, Urbana starter Jaeson Hudnall (Jr/Carlisle, OH) escaped run-free. He went the distance in a three-hit shutout. Hudnall walked one, hit two, and fanned five in garnering his fourth win of the season. He owns a 3.33 ERA through five starts for the Blue Knights.

Notre Dame (7-6, 2-2) did not manage a hit in the game after a lead-off single by Eric Pelot in the fourth.

"The second game was disappointing," said NDC Head Coach Craig Moro. "We didn't get hits when we needed them. But I do like what I see on the mound. Chris and Mick kept their hitters off balance all day."

Robinson was tagged with a fourth hard-luck loss after going six. He yielded six hits and three walks, while striking out six. The lefty newcomer induced eight ground ball outs. NDC has scored a total of five runs in Robinson's four starts. His last two turns have come on the wrong end of shutouts. The Falcons have now been shut out three times this season.

Mike Wilsey led Notre Dame offensively in the twin bill. The veteran infielder went 2-for-6 with a run scored, two batted in and a walk. Freshman designated hitter Trent Crow (Daytona Beach, FL) also reached base three times on the afternoon.

NOTES FROM THE NEST...

MERT-CHANDISE: Chris Balmert's complete game marked his second this season. The senior hurler now has three full efforts in his nine starts as a Falcon. In three-plus seasons, he has appeared in a program-high 65 games. Over his last two seasons (2007-08), the Lakewood native owns an ERA of 2.55 in 88-1/3 innings of work. ... His 7-inning outing against Urbana pushes him over 150 innings (152.0) for his career. That ranks second to Matt Kidd's (2005-06) 188 career frames on College Road.

WIL-POWER: With a hit in each game Friday, Mike Wilsey now has a seven-game hitting streak. The senior from Vermilion is batting .360 (9-for-25) in that stretch. He's hitting .316 (12-for-38) on the season with seven RBIs.

POWER OUTAGE: The Falcons collected just one extra-base hit (a double)in the twin bill against the Blue Knights. Through 13 games, NDC has 21 extra-base hits (19 doubles, one triple, one home run) - an average of 1.6 per contest. Last year, the Falcons banged out 110 doubles, triples, and homers in 47 games (2.3 per game). ... Eric Pelot set a NDC single-season record with 23 extra-base hits in 2007. Catcher Josh Bieneman's (Sr/Baltimore, MD) five extra-base hits leads the team this year.

EVENLY MATCHED: The Falcons-Blue Knights' meeting in Ky. marked the first-ever match-up between the two programs. Urbana is 69-42 over the last two seasons (2006-07). They are 7-7 this season, 1-1 in the AMC. ... Half of the AMC's 10 teams have now opened conference play this season. Walsh University (2-0) is the early leader. The Falcons' 2-2 mark has them in a three-way tie for second.

SCHEDULE CHANGE: The games at Northern Kentucky were supposed to have been played at Urbana Saturday. The Falcons flip-flopped opponents for their weekend, but Saturday's split doubleheader in Canton has been postponed due to snow. Those games (against Malone and Walsh) have been rescheduled for Monday. The Falcons are slated to take on Malone at 11:00am and Walsh at 1:30. Both games are to be held in Thurman Munson Stadium.