ND duels way to 10-0

~ The Bulldogs were held hitless into the seventh inning, but defeated Scott City 6-1.

SCOTT CITY -- Notre Dame junior hurler Colton Young had been eager to match up against Scott City ace Shae Simmons since before the regular season began.

"He's one of the best pitchers in the area," Young said. "[I knew] it would be a good game, a good matchup."

Young outdueled Simmons, a senior who has signed to pitch at Southeast Missouri State and who kept the Notre Dame bats hitless through the first six innings Tuesday.

Austin Greer stroked a two-run triple off Simmons in the seventh that gave Notre Dame its first lead. Greer's hit was part of a five-run rally against Simmons and reliever Jake Campbell. Young, meanwhile, finished his complete-game effort by pitching a scoreless seventh as Notre Dame won 6-1.

"It was insane," Notre Dame junior Aaron Tomaszewski said about Young's performance. "That's the best I've ever seen him pitch."

Notre Dame remained perfect, improving to 10-0, while Scott City dropped to 6-6. Notre Dame players called the victory sweet revenge after Scott City beat the Bulldogs 8-0 at Notre Dame last year, which had marked the Rams' first victory over the Bulldogs in baseball since 1997.

"They embarrassed us last year," Tomaszewski said. "It was fun to get them back at their own field."

Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett told Young last week that he would start against Scott City. Young used both a fastball and slider effectively to keep the Scott City lineup off balance. The hurler struck out 13 batters and allowed seven hits. Simmons also struck out 13 while allowing just three hits.

"At the beginning, there was a little more extra adrenaline out there," Young said. "But I calmed down and got through it."

Young and Simmons both had some control problems. Simmons walked seven and hit one. Young walked four and hit two.

Both right-handers had to pitch out of early jams because of the free passes. And both were able to get out of bases-loaded jams in the third inning.

Scott City took a 1-0 lead off Young in the fourth when Jaris Hye doubled, Caleb Gray singled and Austin Raines stroked an RBI sacrifice fly to right-center field.

"I had confidence in my team that we were eventually going to hit the ball, get on some bases and score some runs," Young said.

Notre Dame tied the game in the fifth inning on an unearned run. The score remained 1-1 until the top of the seventh.

Simmons struck out Young, the leadoff batter that inning, but then walked speedy Jake Pewitt.

"A walk changes things," Scott City coach Lance Amick said. "He was looking good and then he walked a guy on four straight pitches. Walks were the killer."

Right after the walk to Pewitt, Simmons gave up the first hit he allowed all game when Dylan Drury singled to left field.

Greer then stepped to the plate with two runners on and ripped a fastball into the gap in right-center that scored both runners to give his team a 3-1 lead.

"He was very overpowering in the early innings," Greer said about Simmons. "It looked like he started wearing down. I just happened to catch up to it. ... Me and Dylan, anytime I bat fourth and he bats third, we call ourselves the 3-4, 1-2 punch. It's a knock you out type of thing.

"Before the beginning of the seventh inning started, we looked at each other and we were like, 'All right, 3-4, 1-2 punch. We've got to get it done now.' Dylan went up there and he smoked one and I came up there and got a line drive."

Tomaszewski followed with a bloop RBI single that made it 4-1 and knocked out Simmons, who had thrown about 110 pitches before the seventh, Amick said.

"Looking back on it, I probably wish I [had] taken him out, but he's got a no-hitter going," Amick said. "He said his arm felt good and he wanted the ball. ... It's hard to take a kid out in one of his biggest games of the year. He looks forward to this game. Their kids look forward to this game."

Graviett had Drury warming in the bullpen during the top of the seventh, but Young returned for the seventh. He threw about 128 pitches in the game, Graviett said.

"Colton's a gamer and he would have been disappointed if we didn't try to let him finish," Graviett said.

Young allowed a single to the leadoff batter in the seventh but then retired the side on two pop outs and a fly out.

"It comes down to we had bases loaded once, we had two people on once and we struck out," Amick said. "We just cannot get the timely hitting, and Notre Dame capitalized."

Notre Dame 000 010 5 -- 6 3 0

Scott City 000 100 0 -- 1 7 4

WP -- Colton Young, 5-0. LP -- Shae Simmons, 4-2. 3B -- Austin Greer (ND), 2B -- Jaris Hye (SC). Multiple hits -- Scott City: Skylar Cobb 2-3. Records -- Notre Dame 10-0, Scott City 6-6.