The Irish did tie UCONN 1-1 earlier today. Wade Korpi started for Notre Dame and he hurled another gem. The sophomore lefthander pitched seven innings and allowed one run on six hits while striking out five. Korpi lowered his ERA from 1.56 to 1.53, which is the best in the Big East. He was matched pitch-for-pitch by the Huskies’ Nick Tucci, who surrendered an unearned run in 7.2 innings of work.
Notre Dame got their only run of the contest in the fifth. Cody Rizzo was hit by a pitch from Tucci and then stole second base. He scored a few batters later when UCONN shortstop Dennis Donovan committed an error on a grounder by the Irish’s Jeremy Barnes to give Notre Dame a 1-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Huskies to tie the game back up. Donovan atoned for his error by leading off the bottom of the fifth with a base hit. He scored later in the inning on single up the middle by UCONN’s Austin Wasserman to tie the game at 1.
A stalemate then ensued for the next eight innings. Both teams had their chances. A combined 28 runners were left on base. Notre Dame got perfect relief pitching from Mike Dury and freshman Kyle Weiland. Weiland was particularly impressive as he struck out seven in five innings of scoreless relief work.
The Irish now come back home for their last four regular season games of the year at Frank Eck Stadium before hitting the road for the final seven contests. On Tuesday, Notre Dame hosts Cleveland State. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. Next weekend, Louisville visits South Bend for a three-game set with games planned for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
***The Notre Dame Sports Information Department contributed greatly to this article.