ND sours Rams' return from suspension

Notre Dame's Lee Essner picked a strange time to start on a no-hitter.

The junior right-hander allowed a hit to Scott City's leadoff man in the first inning Tuesday afternoon, but he then took the Rams by the horns with hitless, near-perfect pitching.

With Essner retiring the next 18 batters in a row, Notre Dame took control and posted a 10-0 SEMOConference victory at Scott City.

Essner's perfect string was broken with a leadoff error in the bottom of the seventh inning, but he proceeded to strike out the final three batters to complete his one-hitter.

"Lee's just been throwing phenomenal for us the last few weeks," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said.

Essner (4-0) finished with 12 strikeouts and didn't walk a batter for Notre Dame (8-3, 6-1 conference).

"His curveball was working well, and I thought his fastball was just dominating today," Notre Dame catcher Kyle Diveley said.

He overpowered a Scott City team that was playing its first game in two weeks. Eleven Scott City players were suspended for an alcohol violation, leaving the team with just eight players and forcing the school to forfeit four games.

"It was great to be back out here," said Scott City coach Mike Umfleet. "You hate to start like that, but I didn't think we played that bad. We had a couple defense letdowns in the middle innings that gave them the lead. I wasn't terribly disappointed in the way we played. I was disappointed in the way we swung the bats."

While Scott City (0-8) hadn't played a game since April 4, the Rams had been allowed to practice.

"I can't totally say it was a lack of us being out there, because we've done it in practice the last couple of weeks," Umfleet said.

The Rams are not alone in their hitting woes against Essner. He entered the game 3-0 with a 1.84 E.R.A. In his three previous games he struck out 22 batters and walked just one.

Working with a brisk wind to his back, Essner was throwing his mid-80s fastball past the Rams. It's a pitch that has improved dramatically over his sophomore year, which he played just months after breaking his right wrist in basketball. The injury required surgery and the insertion of pins.

"Last year I was not near 100 percent," Essner said. "I'm getting pretty close now. I'm above 90 percent."

"Last year he didn't have the velocity he's showing right now," Graviett said.

At 5-foot-10 and 145 pounds, Essner is not an imposing figure on the mound, but his numbers are intimidating with 34 strikeouts and only one walk.

"It's all mechanics," Essner said. "Mechanics do everything for you -- control, speed, everything."

The Rams, with sophomore Mark Johnston on the mound, appeared ready to make a statement from the start. Johnston struck out two Bulldogs in the top of the first and stranded Matt Wulfers, who had the first of his two misplayed flyball doubles to right field.

Ryan Glastetter then proceeded to line Essner's second pitch, a fastball, right back through the box for a leadoff single.

"I was pretty mad at myself," Essner said. "That was a pitch that I really threw right down the middle."

At that point there was concern on Notre Dame's side that the Scott City was going to take two weeks of tribulation out on Notre Dame with an emotionally-charged performance.

"They came out excited," Essner said. "Their pitcher was throwing real well early on -- he made us look bad. We just stuck together."

With one out, Glastetter stole second and went to third when the throw bounced off his helmet into the vacant shortstop hole.

But the Bulldogs emerged unscathed when Essner struck out Johnston before center-fielder Dustin Tatum made a charging, diving catch to end the inning on a shallow flyball hit by Kyle Curry.

Essner then set the Rams down in order the next five innings.

Johnston held the Bulldogs scoreless over the first three inning, but he yielded an unearned run in the fourth. Matt Smith doubled with one out and later scored when Andy Ralls two-out grounder to second base was booted.

The Rams' defense contributed to a second run in the fifth when Wulfers had his second flyball misplayed into a double. He stole third and scored on a Tatum groundout.

Notre Dame broke the game open in a seven-run sixth, chasing Johnston in the process. The Bulldogs had five of their 16 hits in the inning, including two-run singles by Smith and Wayne Essner. Notre Dame also utilized a successful suicide squeeze bunt by Lee Essner, a hit batsman and an error.

Johnston retired just one of the first six batters in the inning before yielding to Seth Ward. Johnston (0-2) allowed 10 hits, struck out two and walked two in 5 1/3 innings.

"Our kids were thrilled today," Umfleet said. "Everybody was looking forward to this day. I think they're kind of disappointed now with the way it ended up, but we'll get back out there on Thursday."

jbreer@semissourian.com

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