Notre Dame baseball fell to 17-13 overall on Tuesday night as they dropped an extra inning affair to Michigan State. The following is courtesy of Notre Dame athletics:
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (17-13) fell in their midweek matchup against the Michigan State Spartans (19-10) at Frank Eck Stadium on Tuesday, April 11. This is the first midweek loss for the Irish as the Spartans took the 7-6 victory in Notre Dame’s first extra inning game of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish were able to take the early lead after Jack Penney reached on a walk and was followed by a 410’ homer to right center field from Zack Prajzner. Prajzner’s fourth home run of the season gave the Irish the 2-0 lead heading into the second.
The Irish defense went three up, three down in the top of the second as Blake Hely recorded his second strikeout of the day. A scoreless second inning allowed the Irish to maintain the 2-0 lead, but a Spartan run in the third closed the gap to one to make it a 2-1 ballgame.
Both the Spartans and the Irish scored three runs each in the fourth inning with all six runs coming from home runs. Michigan State recorded a two-run home run and a solo home run in the top of the inning to take the lead 4-2. The Irish would respond with three runs of their own in the bottom frame as TJ Williams homered to left center field to score DM Jefferson and Danny Neri. Notre Dame took the lead again at 5-4 heading into the fifth.
Another solo home run by the Spartans in the top of the fifth tied it up at 5-5 and a scoreless fifth for Notre Dame kept it at an even ballgame.The Irish would take the lead in the bottom of the sixth as Jefferson was scored by Williams on a sac fly to give the Irish the 6-5 advantage.
After a scoreless seventh, Michigan State would tack on another run in the top of the eighth to tie it up again with a score of 6-6. Another scoreless frame from the Irish kept it at 6-6 heading into the ninth.
Notre Dame had a strong defensive frame, going three up, three down, as they looked to get the Irish offense rolling in the bottom of the ninth. Williams recorded his second hit of the day for a base hit through the right side, but the Irish were unable to capitalize on the offensive opportunity as the Irish went into extra innings for the first time this season.
The Spartans recorded two base hits in the tenth and while the Irish recorded a base hit of their own from Brooks Coetzee, it was another scoreless inning as it went into the eleventh.
Michigan State hit a solo home run to center field in the top of the final inning to take the 7-6 lead. Williams singled in the bottom frame for the only Irish hit in the inning and the Irish would come up just short in the extra innings loss to the Spartans.
UP NEXT
The Irish resume conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Clemson starting on Friday, April 14.
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