SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame broke a 2-2 tie with a four-run fifth inning and never looked back en route to an 11-2 victory over Rutgers in baseball action Saturday afternoon in front of 1,446 fans at Frank Eck Stadium.
Notre Dame (15-9, 6-2 BIG EAST) opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the third thanks to an RBI triple to the gap in right-center field from David Mills, and Mills came around to score on a sacrifice fly on the next play.
A scary moment occurred for the Irish in the fifth when Dan Betteridge (Sewell, N.J.) drilled a line drive that ricocheted off Notre Dame starting pitcher Wade Korpi's head, leaving the Irish hurler stunned on the mound for nearly 10 minutes. He was removed from the game as the Irish were forced to go to their bullpen with reliever Cole Johnson. Junior Tom Edwards (West Caldwell, N.J.) greeted the new Notre Dame pitcher with a two-run home run well over the fence in right field - his first of the season - to tie it up at 2-2.
Rutgers starter Kyle Bradley (Howell, N.J.) had worked an effective four innings but ran into trouble in the fifth when he put the first two runners on. Mills' attempt to sacrifice them over was fielded by Bradley but his throw to first was wild, allowing both runners to score on the play and Mills to move all the way over to third as the Irish re-gained the advantage. Sophomore Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven. N.J.) came on in relief of Bradley. Lillis' first hitter, A.J. Pollock, doubled down the left-field line to drive in a run, before the Irish pushed across a fourth run in the inning on a sacrifice fly.
ND pushed its lead to 8-2 with two runs in the sixth to end Lillis' day as RU turned to lefty reliever Matt Patterson (Passaic, N.J.) with two outs in the frame.
Rutgers threatened to chip away at the ND lead, loading the bases with one out in the seventh, but Johnson got Edwards to hit into an inning-ending double play. Johnson got his third double-play ball in as many innings to end another RU threat with runners on first and second in the eighth.
Notre Dame added three runs against newly-inserted reliever Tony Wargo (New Providence, N.J.) in the eighth inning to balloon its lead to 11-2.
Johnson picked up the win in place of Korpi, who eventually walked off the mound under his own power after being struck with the ball. Johnson tossed 4.1 innings of relief, allowing one run on five hits with three strikeouts. Bradley (0-1) suffered his first career loss after allowing four earned runs (five total) on five hits with a strikeout in four innings of work.
Notre Dame's Brett Lilley reached base five times with three hits, a walk and reaching on a hit by pitch for the 90th time in his career. He scored four runs for the Irish.
Rutgers and Notre Dame will close out its series tomorrow with a noon game at Frank Eck Stadium. Junior righty Ryan Beard (Point Pleasant, N.J.) will be on the mound for the Scarlet Knights against sophomore righty Eric Maust for the Irish.
