Irish eyes smiled on the University of Notre Dame baseball team on St. Patrick's Day against Ball State University.
The Fighting Irish (11-5) won 5-4 Tuesday to extend their winning streak against the Cardinals to four games. Three costly errors by Ball State (9-8) led to three runs for the home team, including an unearned run in the seventh and eighth innings.
Coach Greg Beals said some bad bounces led to his team's loss.
"It was St. Patrick's Day at Notre Dame," Beals said. "I'm not going to blame it on anything. We didn't do enough to win the ball game, and they got some breaks tonight."
Junior reliever Scott Brothers Jr. (0-1) allowed one run and took the loss. Notre Dame freshman reliever Will Hudgins earned his first win, and junior Steven Mazur picked up his second save of the year.
Wearing green uniforms, Notre Dame took the lead in the eighth after senior shortstop Jeremy Barnes led off the inning with a single off Brothers. He advanced to third on a single and junior left fielder Kory Benbow's error. Sophomore catcher Cameron McConnell gave the Fighting Irish the lead with an RBI infield single.
The win marked Notre Dame's sixth comeback win of the year. Ball State took a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning when Benbow hit a three-run home run into left field. The home run was Benbow's sixth of the year and gives him 25 RBIs.
"We had figured [pitcher Dustin Ispas] out a little bit by then," Beals said. "We took good swings, and it all added up to that inning."
The Cardinals' other run came in the fourth when sophomore pitcher Kolbrin Vitek hit a leadoff double and was brought home by freshman first baseman Ian Nielsen's two-out single. Nielsen came into the game hitting .500 with two outs.
Vitek said he was sitting on a fastball from Ispas.
"He was a one-dimensional pitcher," Vitek said. "He couldn't get anything else over."
All of Ball State's runs came off Ispas, a freshman, who allowed six hits and struck out five in 5 2/3 innings. The Cardinals were held to one hit by Hudgins and Mazur in the final 3 1/3 innings.
Vitek pitched well for the Cardinals and left the game with a lead. He allowed two runs on five hits and struck out seven in five innings of work. He also did not walk a batter. Vitek said five of his strikeouts came on his slider.
Beals said Vitek's slider allowed him to be successful.
"Kolbrin was sharp," Beals said. "He was pitching like himself and throwing his breaking ball for strikes."
The failure by the bullpen to hold a late lead for the Cardinals was a first this season. Entering the game, Ball State was 6-0 when leading after six innings. The Cardinals also had outscored opponents 37-18 in the final three innings.
Beals said junior closer Morgan Coombs was unavailable for this game and that the bullpen will bounce back.
"I don't feel like the bullpen lost the game," Beals said. "That's going to happen occasionally. They got their go-ahead run off an infield chunker. There were some tough breaks."
Nielsen was the only Cardinal to record multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. For the second straight game, junior leadoff hitter Jeremy Hazelbaker did not record a hit after collecting one in 15 straight games. The Cardinals were also without a stolen base for the first time in seven games.
Notre Dame was led offensively by sophomores Golden Tate and Greg Sherry, who each collected two hits and two runs.
The Cardinals were the latest team to suffer a loss to Notre Dame on St. Patrick's Day. Notre Dame extended its unbeaten streak on the holiday to six games.
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