Saint Louis was able to keep the Notre Dame bats quiet for the first half of Thursday’s game, but the bottom of the sixth changed the game. A grand slam for Eric Gilgenbach put the Fighting Irish in the driver’s seat as the Billikens fell 7-3 in San Antonio, Texas.
Saint Louis (1-4) took control early thanks to a shaky inning by Notre Dame starting pitcher Scott Tully. Center fielder Aaron Case got a key base hit with one out in the top of the third, which set the table for the first Billiken run.
Tully continued the inning by walking three consecutive batters after getting Cole Dubet to pop out, and Saint Louis posted its first run of the game thanks to the run-scoring walk issues to Jake Garella.
The Billikens made it 2-0 in the fourth as Case got in on the action yet again. The Saint Louis leadoff man grounded-out to short, which scored Ryan Hernandez, and made it 2-0.
The Fighting Irish came storming back in the sixth.
Miller Hogan, who was lights-out through five, ran into trouble with a pair of hits allowed to lead-off the inning. An error on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Nick Podkul set-up a big opportunity for a St. Louis native.
Matt Vierling, a product of CBC High School in St. Louis, came to the plate with the bases loaded and delivered the first RBI for the Irish on the day. The junior singled to third, which scored Cole Daily, and cut the Billiken lead to 2-1.
With the bases still loaded, the most dangerous batter in the Notre Dame lineup came to the plate. After clubbing a three-run shot and a grand slam in the getaway game on Sunday against LSU in Baton Rouge, the junior tagged another grand slam, his second of the season, and opened the game up for the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame chipped-in two more runs in the seventh and held Saint Louis to just four hits to go on to their third win of the season.
Saint Louis’ Hogan was outstanding through five innings and kept the hot-swinging Notre Dame offense off its game. The junior held the Irish hitless through the first three innings and recorded and allowed just two hits in the first five.
On the whole, Hogan allowed five runs, four of which were earned, and had five strikeouts to his credit.
Andrew Belcik put together a big performance on the mound for Notre Dame in relief of Tully. The 6-3 sophomore tossed five scoreless innings in relief and allowed just two hits.
The Billikens posted a late run in the top of the ninth, with an RBI single from James Morisano, but that was as close as the team from Midtown came.
Case recorded two hits in the game and led the Billikens offensively. Carter Hanford, Morisano and Alex King also added a hit in the game. It was his first hit of the season for King, the Saint Louis shortstop.
The Billikens will try to get back into the win column on Friday at noon when they will face the Purdue Boilermakers.
