Notre Dame lost the second game of its weekend series at Cincinnati, but used a strong pitching performance and a late rally to grab the second half of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Irish lost game one 7-3 before taking the nightcap 6-2. The Bearcats took the opening game of the series 5-4 in 11 innings on Friday night. Notre Dame is now 20-12 overall and 6-6 in the Big East while Cincinnati stands at 16-5 and 6-6 in the conference.
Notre Dame starter Eric Maust was touched for a pair of runs in the first inning of game two, but shut the Bearcats down for the next 6.1 innings before being relieved. Maust, who picked up his fourth victory of the season, was relieved by Ryan Richter before Steven Mazur came on in the ninth to record the final two outs.
Cincinnati starter Brian Garman did not allow a baserunner in the first four innings, but Casey Martin led off the fifth with a single and scored on Greg Sherry’s single. The Irish tied the game in the seventh after Jeremy Barnes hit a one-out double and scored on a Billy Boockford single.
Notre Dame took the lead and busted it open with four runs in the seventh, including an RBI single from Martin and a two-run double from Barnes.
The Irish committed a season-high four errors in the opener and the Bearcats scored four times in the bottom of the first.
Starter Brian Dupra pitched six innings to pick up the complete game in the shortened opener, but gave up seven runs (six earned) and the Irish managed just six hits in the game. Notre Dame did not have a player with more than one hit, but Boockford, Sherry and David Casey notched RBIs.
The Irish have a pair of non-conference games at neutral sites this week. On Tuesday, Notre Dame will play Western Michigan in Battle Creek before playing Northwestern at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday.