Heisserer pitches Notre Dame baseball team past Central

Notre Dame ace Cody Heisserer was faced with at least one Central runner on base in five of the seven innings he pitched Wednesday.

"It don't bother me," the junior said. "I don't even pretend like they're there. I've just got to get this batter."

Heisserer did that flawlessly in a 6-0 conference win over the visiting Tigers. The shutout was the second for Heisserer (5-1) in SEMO Conference play after blanking Kennett earlier this season.

No Central runner reached third base despite nine Tigers batters reaching base in the game.

"We had guys on base, we had chances," Central coach Steve Williams said. "You're asking a lot for somebody to come through with two outs, but good teams do that. And we've got to continue to find ways to be productive when we make out. We had too many unproductive outs."

Heisserer, who like his counterpart Andrew Williams was pitching on three days of rest, gave up four hits, two walks and hit one batter while striking out six.

"He goes right at hitters, so his pitch counts don't get very high because usually in three or four pitches, he's usually got something going on there," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "He does a good job of attacking hitters, and he gives up some hits because of that, but he does well pitching out of jams."

Notre Dame's Alex Beussink reached base to start the bottom of the second inning when the ball rolled out of the glove of a diving Central center fielder Christian Cavaness, who had made an impressive dive forward to get his glove on the ball. Cavaness' right wrist, his catching hand, appeared to be badly injured on the play. He quickly ran off the field after the play and left the field with his wrist stabilized by a board.

"Actually you could hear it hit his glove, so he had the catch originally and then of course he must've rolled over on it or something because the ball came out and he was injured," coach Williams said. "That's a tough situation obviously for Christian, but it's tough for our kids, too. It's tough to continue to play when your teammate's hurt like that."

After a bunt single and a strikeout, No. 8 hitter Tyler Buelow hit an RBI single that scored Beussink.

"I've just been struggling a lot lately," Buelow said. "I don't even know the last time I had a hit. It's been a long time. Last night I think I went 0 for 4, so I went home and set up my tee and net in the garage and hit for about two hours with my dad. I've just been working on getting back to my old swing. I've been trying to change some things, and it's not working, so I'm going back to the basics. It just really paid off today."

The Bulldogs (12-3) added two more unearned runs in the inning. One scored on a wild pitch and the other on a fielding error.

"With Cody, it's about getting runs on the board," Graviett said. "He's going to keep you in the ballgame, and it's going to be a close ballgame, so you want to jump on them early and make them fight back against him. Getting one run was good that inning, but putting up a three spot was huge."

With Notre Dame still holding a 3-0 lead, Central (10-7) placed runners on first and second with one out in the sixth inning before Heisserer induced an inning-ending double play.

"I didn't think we'd get it, but they turned it," Heisserer said. "Yesterday we had a botched double play, and we've had a couple of them this season."

The Bulldogs scored three more times off Central reliever Ronnie Scott in the bottom of the sixth inning, one of which came on Buelow's second RBI single of the day.

"I talked to him before the game and told him he's in the lineup for a reason," Graviett said. "He's a senior, and we need him to do like he did today. He stepped up and had a big day."

Central 000 000 0 -- 0 4 2

Notre Dame 030 003 X -- 6 10 1

WP -- Cody Heisserer, 5-1. LP -- Andrew Williams. Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Alex Beussink 2-3, Tyler Buelow 2-3. Records -- Notre Dame 12-3, Central 10-7.