Notre Dame baseball: Irish fall in 12
On a frigid Sunday at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., host Notre Dame fell to Virginia Tech, 5-4, in 12 innings. (Notre Dame was playing in Westfield because of field availability.)
The deciding run came on a fielder’s choice against sophomore lefty Michael Hearne, who was in his ninth inning of relief duty.
In extras, Notre Dame (8-14, 1-8 ACC) had a runner on in every inning, but couldn’t advance them past second base. The Irish are 3-7 in one-run games and 2-3 in extra-innings.
Hearne (1-2) allowed nine hits and gave up two runs (one earned) in relief of Pat Connaughton. He also struck out two and walked none to up his season total to 26 strikeouts compared to just six walks.
Connaughton gave up three runs (two earned) on three hits in 3ð innings. He walked four and struck out three.
Junior Blaise Lezynski upped his season average to .313 with a pair of hits, an RBI and two runs scored. Sophomore Ricky Sanchez also notched two hits.
| VT | 111 | 000 | 100 | 001 — 5 12 3 |
| ND | 300 | 001 | 000 | 000 — 4 8 3 |
Pat Connaughton, Michael Hearne (4, L, 1-2); Jon Woodcock, Aaron McGarity (6), Phil Sciretta (8), Luke Scherzer (9), Sean Kennedy (12)
2b: Kyle Wernicki (VT)