'DOGS SHOWCASE EFTINK'S BAT

When St. Louis Cardinals behemoth Mark McGwire is mired in a home run slump, fans wonder what's wrong. When the same happens to Notre Dame High's version of Big Mac, shortstop Josh Eftink, he hits the batting cage.

Eftink responded with a towering two-run homer to left field in the first inning Friday that gave Notre Dame a 3-0 lead. The blast held up as the winner in the Bulldogs' 4-2 victory over the Calloway County (Ky.) Lakers in the first game of the inaugural Tiger Showcase.

"I've been working in the cages trying to get out of my little slump that I'm in," said Eftink, whose nine homers led the area last season as a freshman. "It felt good. I haven't done that in a while."

Nathan Essner led off the Notre Dame first by drilling a fastball near his eyes for a double. Brian Obermann then reached on an error by first baseman Scott Charles that allowed Essner to score from second.

The next batter, Eftink, took two balls, then ended his slide with his second homer of the year.

"It was a 2-0 pitch, so I was just looking for anything in my zone," Eftink said. "It was right there. I'd say that was one of the hardest ones I've hit."

Said Notre Dame coach Gregg Muench: "There wasn't much doubt that is was going to go out."

With Calloway County bumbling in the field, Notre Dame (5-4) added a run in the fifth inning. Tom Wencewicz reached and took second on an error by center fielder Matt Keel, went to second on pitcher Jeff Owen's errant pickoff try and scored on a passed ball.

"You can't do that," said Lakers coach Eddie Morris, whose team fell to 3-10. "You have to make the routine plays, and that's what we've had problems with this year."

Notre Dame's Obermann, a left-hander, started the game with four straight strikeouts and shut out the Lakers for five innings. In the sixth, Calloway County's Justin Morton tripled with one out. With two out and the count 3-2, Keel spanked a homer to dead center, making the score 4-2 and knocking Obermann out.

"One bad pitch," Muench said. "I really think he just kind of ran out of gas."

Ryan LeGrand entered and struck out the next batter and two of three in the seventh to get the save.

Obermann, a sophomore, struck out seven and allowed four hits.

"That helped us a lot getting out to an early lead," Muench said. "Brian just threw excellent."

Notre Dame had just three hits but took advantage of five Lakers errors.