The Notre Dame baseball team was in a race of a different kind Monday evening and the Fighting Irish came out on top in all three categories.
Facing the Bledsoe County Warriors at Notre Dame’s Hunter Field, the Irish beat the rain, they got finished before dark and most importantly, beat the Warriors 11-1 in five innings as they improved to 4-2 overall with the same record in District 7-AA.
Bledsoe County is now 1-3 overall.
Warrior starting pitcher Trent Finkel zipped through the first inning with two strikeouts and a pop to third, but things didn’t go nearly as smoothly in the second.
Sending a dozen hitters to the plate where at least nine reached base with five hits, two walks and two Bledsoe errors, Notre Dame basically put the game away in that frame with eight runs to overcome the one run the Warriors had tallied in the top of the second.
Two more in the third extended the Irish lead to 10-1 before Trea Johnson’s double to deep center in the fifth sent Dallas Brown home with what turned out to be the winning run.
“I’ll take it,” said Notre Dame coach Trey Hicks after the game ended with one out in the bottom of the fifth.
“That second inning was our biggest of the year so far and I was really happy to see us respond like that after they had scored once in the top of the inning. Our mindset at the plate was good and we hit it really well today. I was really proud of Daniel Anderson, who had been hitting the ball hard and on the line, but no hits to show for it in our first five games.
“He came through with three hits today. All I ask is that we put the ball in play and we did a good job of that today, but I’m glad we finally scored that last run to save another pitcher. Not to mention that it was getting dark and the rain was ready to start falling,” Hicks added.
Bledsoe County coach Lucas Nunley is hoping that better days are ahead for his young squad.
“We’re struggling right now as we’re not seeing it well at the plate and we have a bunch of new kids in new roles this year,” he began.
“They blew the game wide open with those eight runs in the second, but we’ll keep working and I’m sure we’ll get better as the season progresses,” he added.
Junior Cam Dickens was the winning pitcher for the Irish as he finished with a two-hitter as he walked three and struck out 10. His pitch count at the end was 71.
“I feel like I pitched okay, but I was able to battle back in the count. And it was nice to see my teammates rally behind me,” the 16-year-old Dickens said after improving to 2-0 on the young season.
Anderson led off the Notre Dame second with a double while Dickens followed with a double in almost the same spot in left-center to drive in the tying run.
Parker Brock later had a run-scoring single while Johnson and Joseph Ripper both got RBIs with bases-loaded walks. Anderson’s second hit of the inning – a two-run single – concluded the scoring for the Irish in that frame.
Lane Cannon and Brock led off the Notre Dame third with back-to-back singles. Courtesy runner Chris Nelligan scored the first run on a groundout by Johnson while Brock later scored on a balk.
Then in the fifth, Cannon lined out hard to right for the first out before pinch-hitter Dallas Brown and Matthew Nelligan both walked. Then with a 3-1 count, Johnson ripped a shot to deep center for a double as Brown scooted home with the game-ending final run.
Anderson had the big bat for Notre Dame with three hits, two run scored and a pair of RBIs while Brock had two hits and also scored twice. Johnson only had that last double, but he drove in three for the day and also scored once.
The Warriors scored their only run in the second when Chaise Sarrow reached on a third-strike passed ball. He went to second on a grounder to second, to third on another third-strike passed ball before scoring on a grounder to the pitcher by Austin Frady.
Jake McGee got Bledsoe’s first hit with a one-out single in the fourth while Tyler Browning led off the fifth with a single before getting thrown out trying to steal second.
While Dickens was the complete-game winner for Notre Dame, Finkel was the loser after allowing eight runs on five hits with two walks in two innings. He also had four strikeouts.
These same two teams will play again in Pikeville on Tuesday.
BLEDSOE CO. 010 00 – 1 2 2
NOTRE DAME 082 01 – 11 8 1
Finkel, Richardson (3), McGee (5) and Sarrow; Dickens and Cannon.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)