Central Michigan University
Notre Dame
Chippewas Drop A Heartbreaker At Notre Dame
4/20/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Matt Vierling's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted Notre Dame to a 7-6 victory over Central Michigan on Wednesday in a non-league baseball game at the Fighting Irish's Frank Eck Stadium.
It was the third straight loss and the fifth in the last six starts for the Chippewas, who are 8-29 and play host to Toledo in a three-game Mid-American Conference series beginning on Friday.
Notre Dame (23-12) has won seven straight games.
Morgan Oliver (0-1), the fifth CMU pitcher, took the loss. Oliver, who had thrown 6 1/3 scoreless innings this season coming in to Wednesday's game, took the mound to start the ninth and surrendered a leadoff double to Cavan Biggio.
Jake Shepski singled Biggo to third and Zak Kutsulis was intentionally walked to load the bases. Vierling singled on an 0-2 pitch to score Biggio.
The Chippewas outhit the Irish, 13-11, and built a 6-3 lead before Vierling tied it with a three-run homer in the seventh off Jordan Grosjean.
Ryan Heeke led the Chippewas at the plate with three hits, while Dazon Cole, Daniel Jipping and Alex Borglin added two each.
With the game tied 6-6, Heeke led off the top of the ninth with a double and was bunted to third by Jarrod Watkins. But he was stranded there when Cole struck out and Dylan Goodwin lined out to left field.
Cole, a redshirt freshman right-hander, started and allowed three runs on four hits over four innings. He walked five and struck out one.
Jimmy McNamara, Grosjean and Colton Bradley each worked in the relief.
Vierling (2-0), the Notre Dame center fielder, pitched the final two innings for the win. He finished with three hits to lead the Irish at the plate.
