POPLAR BLUFF -- Notre Dame opened its season like the top-ranked baseball team in Missouri Class 2A with a 7-0 blanking of the Poplar Bluff Mules on Thursday.
Winning pitcher Mark Ostendorf and reliever Scott Eftink combined for a three hitter while the offense plated runs in five of the seven innings.
Ostendorf, a senior, allowed just two hits in five innings, walking one and striking out four. Eftink allowed one hit over the final two innings.
Meanwhile Scott Reinagel and Matt Bollinger paced a 10-hit attack with 2-for-4 performances.
Reinagel provided the only runs Notre Dame would need with a two-out, two-run triple in the top of the first. The hit scored both Josh Eftink and John O'Rourke, who both drew two-out walks.
Notre Dame added a single run in the second, two in the fourth and one run in both the fifth and seventh innings.
"I was pretty pleased with 10 hits," said Notre Dame first-year head coach Jeff Graviett. "We made some mental mistakes early, but we swung the bats well."
Notre Dame's JV also won impressively with a 9-0 shutout. Winning pitcher Scott Wittenborn struck out 12 batters in six innings.
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