The Notre Dame baseball team is officially on a roll.
The Irish captured their fifth straight victory on Wednesday night with a 10-4 win over Valparaiso at Frank Eck Stadium in the second home game of the season. Notre Dame jumps to 12-5 on the season while the Crusaders fall to 5-10.
For the second straight game, Notre Dame needed runs late to grab the win and used seven runs in its last three innings at the plate to break up a 3-3 tie.
The Irish offense was led by Jeremy Barnes, who went 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored. Golden Tate had two hits and stole two bases while David Mills, Cameron McDonnell and Greg Sherry each had a pair of hits.
Freshman starter Steve Sabatino allowed only three hits and just a pair of earned runs in 5.1 innings, but did not figure in the decision.
Freshman Ryan Richter pitched 2.0 innings in relief and allowed just an unearned run to earn the win. It was the South Bend native’s first career victory for the Irish.
The Irish scored twice in the bottom of the first on RBIs from Casey Martin and Barnes. Notre Dame added another in the fifth when A.J. Pollock walked and stole second and third before coming home on a Martin groundout.
Notre Dame start Big East play with a three-game series against Seton Hall this weekend. The first game of the series will be played on Friday at 5:05.