June 5, 2004
Box Score |
Quotes |
Notes
After Kent State got a superb pitching performance to upset the Irish on
Friday, sophomore lefthander Tom Thornton returned the favor Saturday evening,
striking out a career-high 12 and giving up only three hits and one run in 8.1
innings to lead top-seeded Notre Dame (51-11) to a 7-1 victory over the Golden
Flashes (36-27) at Frank Eck Stadium in the second elimination game of the
South Bend Regional of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Thornton's
performance sent the Irish, ranked as high as fifth in the national polls, into
the regional championship for the fifth consecutive season, with the task of
beating Arizona twice on Sunday.
Thornton (9-2) didn't give up a hit until the fifth and only let six balls out
of the infield in pitching eight or more innings for the fourth time this
season. In one stretch over the sixth through eighth innings, he struck out
seven consecutive batters en route to setting a modern-day (post-1970) Irish
record for strikeouts in an NCAA tournament game. Thornton ended up throwing
118 pitches, 81 of them for strikes.
"We went with Tom tonight because we felt so strongly that he could pitch us
deep into the game," said Irish head coach Paul Mainieri. "He's done it almost
every time he's pitched this year; he's given us a lot of innings. Tom was
doing exactly what we were hoping he would do. He threw a lot of strikes; he
was in total command out there."
The Irish, who have won 18 of their last 20, moved into the regional
championship for the eighth time since 1992 and will face third-seeded Arizona
on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. (EST). A Notre Dame win would elicit a second game
between the teams 45 minutes following the end of the first one. The winner of
the South Bend Regional will then face the winner of the Palo Alto Regional in
super-regional action next weekend. Long Beach State will face either host
Stanford or St. John's in the Palo Alto Regional final on Sunday.
Thornton was unblemished early, retiring the first eight batters he faced until
he was struck by a comebacker off the bat of Adam Crowder. After his body
knocked the ball down, Thornton gathered it and, stumbling, made the play.
After a brief delay for the trainer to examine him, the Irish sophomore walked
the next batter, Erick Holick, before resuming his dominance with a strikeout
of Joe Tucker to retire the side.
For the second game in a row, Notre Dame could not put together a big inning
against the Flashes. But the Irish hit a number of balls hard and plated two
runs in the first to take an immediate lead as the visiting team and then added
single tallies in the third, fifth, and sixth innings before scoring twice in
the seventh for the final margin.
Sophomore left fielder Steve Andres was Notre Dame's main offensive standout,
going 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI and three runs scored, while senior catcher
Javi Sanchez drove in three runs.
Will Vazquez lined a ball through the left side to lead off the fifth inning
for Kent State's first hit of the contest. It extended his hitting streak to
seven games. He then scored the lone Golden Flash run when Chuck Moore doubled
into the left field corner two batters later.
Freshman Evan Smith (3-4) started for KSU and went six innings, giving up five
runs on eight hits. He matched a season high with six strikeouts.
After managing just one unearned run against the Golden Flashes on Friday, the
Irish struck for a pair in the first in Saturday's contest. Matt Macri lined a
single to right to lead off the game, then moved to second on a balk by Smith,
reached third on a sacrifice fly by Steve Sollmann and scored on a deep single
to right by Andres, who was pulled from the starting lineup in Notre Dame's
morning win against UC Irvine. After another Irish single, Andres scored on a
sacrifice fly by Sanchez to put Notre Dame up 2-0 before the Golden Flashes had
gotten to bat.
"We ended up with a freshman pitcher on the mound today in a hostile
environment with elimination status on the line," said Kent State head coach
Rick Rembielak. "We did not get off on the right foot, and we just could not
get anything on track."
The Irish added another run in the third on an RBI single from Sanchez that
scored Andres.
In the fifth, Macri walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on a wild
pitch and third on a sacrifice bunt by Sollmann before walking home on a double
by Andres.
Craig Cooper led off the Irish sixth with a two-base hit, then reached third on
a sac bunt from Matt Edwards and scored on a fly to right by Cody Rizzo.
The seventh produced a pair of unearned insurance runs for the Irish. Sollmann
singled up the middle, then stole second and advanced to third on an error by
the KSU catcher. After an Andres walk, Matt Bransfield then drove Sollmann in
on what looked to be a Kent State double play. But another KSU error allowed
Andres to advance all the way to third and Bransfield to be safe at first.
Sanchez then grounded out to first to score Andres.
