ND reaches district final with win over Perryville

Notre Dame sophomore Jake Pewitt has jumped from the bottom of the Notre Dame batting order to the leadoff spot back to the No. 9 hole in his first full varsity season.

Pewitt, however, continues to hit well no matter where coach Jeff Graviett pencils him in. He had another strong game Tuesday hitting in the No. 9 spot against Perryville.

He went 2-for-3, including a two-out RBI single that put his team ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning right after the Bulldogs had lost some momentum. They had fallen behind in the top of the fourth when Perryville put together back-to-back home runs to claim the lead.

The Bulldogs never relinquished the lead after Pewitt's hit.

They went on to beat Perryville 7-3 in a Class 3 District 1 semifinal game at Notre Dame.

Pewitt, also showed some skill with the glove, making a nice running catch in left field to end the top of the sixth.

Dylan Drury started the game on the mound for the Bulldogs and earned the win, improving his record to 5-1. Despite struggling some with his control, he went six innings, giving up three runs — all on solo homers. He allowed six hits and three walks while striking out eight batters.

KIT DOYLE ~ kdoyle@semissourian.com Notre Dame's Blake Gaddis connected with a pitch Tuesday, May 13, 2008, against Perryville in Cape Girardeau.

Drury said Pewitt is important to the offense no matter whether he's batting first or last.

"Coach likes the No. 9 spot," Drury said. "He's very cautious about who he puts in the No. 9 spot. It's kind of like a second leadoff hitter. So [Pewitt] going down to the No. 9 spot is not really a bad thing. He came up big with that hit. He's a good ballplayer. He'll get a hit for you if you need it."

Top-seeded Notre Dame (16-6) advanced to today's 6:30 p.m. championship game, which it will host. Mark Himmelberg will start on the mound against second-seeded Dexter, an 8-1 winner against Kennett.

Pewitt's hit got the Bulldogs offense rolling after a slow start Tuesday. Notre Dame went to score two runs a piece in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

Notre Dame also was aided by six errors by Perryville (8-11).

"Any time you think you're going to wind up getting through six errors, it's an unrealistic thing," Perryville coach Don O'Keefe said. "We preach pitching and defense. Our pitching did their job. Defense, we just didn't execute the way we wanted to, and Notre Dame capitalized on it. It's a very good ball team."

Junior Austin Greer called Pewitt the Bulldogs' spark plug. Pewitt is batting better than .340 with a homer and nine RBIs.

"He's pretty vital to the team," Greer said. "If you notice, he just runs full speed out to the outfield every time. He's a good hitter. And he's fast. Very fast. We depend on him to get on base. The No. 9 spot is like the leadoff position. He's doing a great job. Hopefully, he'll stay hot."

Notre Dame needed a spark plug after falling behind in the top of the fourth on solo homers by Lance Roth and Waylon Sparkman to make it 2-1 Perryville.

Graviett said his team didn't get too down after the losing the lead.

"It was only two runs, and that was the big thing," Graviett said. "It could have been a lot bigger blow if there were some guys on base."

Drury added: "We've hitting the ball pretty well lately. So I knew we could come out and forget about it and hit the ball and put more runs on the board."

With one out in the fourth inning, Notre Dame sophomore Colton Young hit a line drive to center with courtesy runnner Mark Glastetter on second base for Jacob Valleroy, who started the inning with a single. The Pirates' center fielder was unable to make the catch and the ball rolled to wall, allowing Glastetter to score and knot the game 2-2.

Pewitt, who said he's been taking more swings in the batting cage lately, later stepped to the plate with two outs and Young on second. He knew he needed to get a hit.

"I felt like I couldn't let it go by and to not leave any runner stranded on base," Pewitt said.

Pewitt singled sharply to right field, plating Young and putting the Bulldogs ahead 3-2.

"We have two guys where we've flipped back and forth between Blake Gaddis and Jake Pewitt up in the top and the bottom," Graviett said, discussing his order. "Both guys are quality hitters. You want somebody kind of what [Tony] La Russa's theory is in St. Louis right now with putting the pitcher in the eight hole. I want somebody who's going to jump start the guys [at the top]. I want somebody in the nine hole that's going to be pesky."

Notre Dame added two more runs in the fifth inning — with the help of three Perryville errors — to grab a 5-2 advantage.

Perryville cut its deficit to 5-3 in the top of the sixth inning, when Sparkman hit his second solo homer of the game.

Notre Dame secured a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth on a double by Pewitt, an RBI triple by Gaddis and an RBI double by Mark Himmelberg all with one out.

"Last year, we got beat by them kind of unexpectedly," Greer said. "This year I was happy to get a little revenge."

Perryville 000 201 0 — 3 6 6

Notre Dame 100 222 x — 7 8 0

WP — Dylan Drury, 5-1. LP — Justin Dailey, 0-0. HR — Waylon Sparkman 2 (P), Lance Roth (P). 3B — Blake Gaddis (ND), 2B — Mark Himmelberg 2 (ND): Austin Greer (ND); Jacob Valleroy (ND): Jake Pewitt (ND). Multiple hits — Notre Dame: Himmelberg 2-2; Pewitt 2-3; Valleroy 2-3. Perryville — Sparkman 2-3. Records — Notre Dame 16-6, Perryville 8-11.