Notre Dame Baseball: Irish Sweep Canisius, Beat Northwestern

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish baseball team welcomed the Canisius Golden Griffins to South Bend this past weekend where they won all three games. After the sweep, Notre Dame traveled to Evanston, IL for a midweek game against the Northwestern Wildcats. The Irish offense came alive for the trip, scoring 12 runs in another win.

Game 1: Notre Dame 5 (20-26) - Canisius 4 (22-24)

Notre Dame opened things up in the bottom of the second inning. Eric Gilgenbach singled and stole second before Jared Miller drove him home with a double. Canisius tied things up in the top of the third though on a Notre Dame error.

Canisius took the lead in the fourth inning after another run scored on a Notre Dame error to make it 2-1. In the top of the eighth, Connor Morro hit a two run home run to give Canisius a 4-1 lead.

Notre Dame started their come back in the eighth inning, scoring two runs to draw within one. Jake Singer walked with the bases loaded to bring in the first run and Daniel Jung hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the second.

The Irish continued their comeback in the ninth, loading the bases to start the inning. Spencer Myers hit an infield single that was knocked down by the shortstop, but no play could be made and everybody moved up a base, scoring a run and tying the game. Niko Kavadas was next up and he worked the count full before drawing a walk to score the winning run.

W: Tommy Vail, ND (3-2)

L: Will Frank, CAN (1-3)

Game 2: Notre Dame 3 (21-26) - Canisius 0 (22-25)

Notre Dame started things off again in game two, scoring a run in each of the first two innings. Jake Singer grounded into a fielder’s choice to score the opening run in the first inning and Spencer Myers drew a bases loaded walk in the second.

Eric Gilgenbach homered in the sixth inning to make it a 3-0 game, providing all the runs Notre Dame would need. Cameron Junker threw six innings for Notre Dame, striking out 10 batters. Tommy Vail threw the final three innings to earn the save, striking out seven batters of his own.

W: Cameron Junker, ND (3-2)

L: Nolan Hunt, CAN (5-2)

S: Tommy Vail, ND (6)

Game 3: Notre Dame 3 (22-26) - Canisius 2 (22-26)

Notre Dame opened things up in the first inning of game three. Niko Kavadas doubled to score Spencer Myers and give the Irish the lead. Notre Dame added another in the third when Daniel Jung singled, scoring Zack Prajzner.

Canisius managed to tie the game in the top of the eighth. An RBI single with the bases loaded scored two to tie things up. The game headed to extra innings and stayed tied until the eleventh inning.

The Irish put runners on second and third after two singles and a wild pitch. A balk brought home Daniel Jung with the winning run to end the game and finish the sweep.

W: Joe Boyle, ND (3-2)

L: Jarod Burmaster, CAN (2-5)

Game 4: Notre Dame 12 (23-26) - Northwestern 4 (23-25)

Notre Dame jumped out to a lead early in the mid week match up, scoring four runs in the first inning. Daniel Jung started things off by driving in Spencer Myers with a sacrifice fly. Eric Gilgenbach then tripled to left center scoring two more runs. Zack Prajzner finished off the inning with a single that scored Gilgenbach.

The Irish offense continued the early fireworks in the second inning, scoring two more runs to add to their lead. Niko Kavadas and Jack Zyska hit back-to-back solo home runs for a 6-0 lead.

Northwestern got themselves back in the game in the fifth inning thanks to a few Irish errors. The Wildcats put up four runs to make it 6-4. Those four runs, however, were all Northwestern could manage on the day.

Notre Dame went on to score three runs each in the sixth and seventh innings to put the game out of reach. In the sixth, Spencer Myers hit a two-run home run, which was followed by an RBI single from Daniel Jung later in the inning. The next inning, Jared Miller drove in tow more runs with an RBI double before coming around to score himself on a sacrifice fly.

W: Andrew Belcik, ND (2-3)

L: Parker Hanks, NU (3-5)

Up Next

The Irish close out their regular season this weekend in Chestnut Hill, MA with a series against the Boston College Eagles.