Notre Dame baseball falls to MICDS in Class 4 quarterfinal

KIRKWOOD, Mo. — A little bit of skill mixed with a little bit of good fortune had guided the Notre Dame baseball team back to the brink of the Class 4 final four, but that all seemed to wear off in Friday’s state quarterfinal against MICDS.

The defending state champion Bulldogs were undone by a five-run inning, as the Rams survived a long rain delay and escaped with an 8-2 win at St. John Vianney High School.

“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They’re as good as advertised,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said about MICDS. “Every scouting report I had on them was pretty much right on. They’re solid, especially they’re top four or five hitters. They’ve got a lot of team speed.”

Notre Dame center fielder Tyler Essner prepares to throw after catching an MICDS fly ball during the third inning of a Class 4 quarterfinal game Friday, May 27, 2016 in Kirkwood, Missouri.Fred Lynch

The Rams broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning when No. 6 hitter Kyle Yamaguchi led off with a single to right. Michael Long followed with a single before Notre Dame starting pitcher Will Ferrell hit William Vogel with a pitch to load the bases. Mccown Rouse scored Yamaguchi on a single to give MICDS a 3-0 lead, and Ferrell was replaced by Ross Essner, who inherited the bases loaded with no one out.

Essner got a strikeout, allowed an RBI single, gave up a run on a wild pitch and issued a walk to load the bases again, extending the Rams’ lead to 5-0.

Officials spotted lightning in the area, and both teams were sent to their respective buses to wait out a mild thunderstorm. After about a 50-minute delay, action was resumed.

“It’s all new to these guys, especially with the turf where we knew we were going to come back and finish it,” Graviett said. “Most of the time, when you get that kind of rain, the game’s over and you’re figuring out what the next day is.

“Having to stay positive down 5-0 at that point was tough. We tried to stay upbeat on the bus. We felt like we were starting to get to them a little bit with our at-bats. We knew we could have a chance if we could keep it around that four or five mark, but they did a good job to just keep scoring when we came back out here.”

Notre Dame starter Will Ferrell pitches to an MICDS batter during the first inning of a Class 4 quarterfinal game Friday, May 27, 2016 in Kirkwood, Missouri.Fred Lynch

Rain continued to pour when both teams reconvened, and a dropped ball in left field plated another run before a sacrifice fly by Luke Layton gave MICDS a 7-0 advantage.

“We knew it was going to be tooth and nail. We were going to have to grind it out,” MICDS coach Tim Canavan said. “We weren’t going to be able to pull away from them, so to be able to put up a crooked-number inning like that really helped.”

Notre Dame’s Nick Lindsay reached on a dropped ball in right field in the top of the fifth, and back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Tyler Essner with one down. Essner grounded into a fielder’s choice that trimmed the Bulldogs’ deficit to 7-1.

Harrison Burns went 2-for-3 with two RBIs to lead the Rams at the plate. He delivered a two-out, RBI single up the middle to give MICDS an 8-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

MICDS starter James Proctor didn’t allow a hit until the top of the sixth when Winston Welter legged out an infield single. Garrett Siebert followed with a line drive to right, and both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Welter scored to cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 8-2 on a sacrifice fly by Jake Edwards, but Notre Dame was unable to extend its rally.

Notre Dame reliever Ross Essner pitches to an MICDS batter during the fourth inning of a Class 4 quarterfinal game Friday, May 27, 2016 in Kirkwood, Missouri.Fred Lynch

“We knew those guys take tough, disciplined at-bats, so we told him that we really needed him to be efficient and get ahead and make them put the ball into play,” Canavan said about Proctor. “He was definitely sharp. I think he was at 41 pitches through four innings until the rain delay hit. He never quite felt back like himself when he went back out there.”

Proctor allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits in six innings of work to pick up the pitching win. The 6-foot-5 right-hander walked three batters and struck out one.

“We hadn’t seen him at all and knew from word of mouth that he was going to come at us with the fastball, and he did,” Graviett said. “That’s what we talked about, just going up there and looking for a fastball to hit.

“We tried to keep our strikeouts down, put it into play and see if they could handle it. That’s kind of been our Achilles’ heel all year long, striking out at the plate, so I thought we had some great at-bats. They made some great plays. We hit some balls hard that didn’t go through. At the end of the day, we just came up on the short end.”

Proctor was lifted in exchange for Long to start the seventh. Long walked the first batter he faced and gave up a hit to Notre Dame’s Sam Dirnberger, but a fly out to center field and a game-ending double play sealed the Bulldogs’ fate.

Ferrell went three innings and was tagged with the loss on the mound. The 6-foot-8 sophomore scattered seven hits, allowed six runs (all earned) struck out two batters, walked one and hit two.

“He got to pitch in this situation, so he’ll be prepared for whatever we throw at him next year,” Graviett said. “He’s just got to learn to get [the ball] down. He elevates, especially in big spots. He starts getting the ball up a little bit, and good teams are going to take advantage of that. So he’ll learn from that mistake. That’s one thing I talked to him about. He kept his head up. You’ve just got to work around the knees.”

Ross Essner threw three innings in his final varsity game. He allowed two earned runs on two hits with three strikeouts and three walks.

Edward Bearden had two of the Rams’ nine hits, including an RBI double in the bottom of the third. Layton plated the team’s first run on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the first, and Long finished 2-for-2 with two runs scored.

MICDS shut out top-ranked Westminster Christian Academy 5-0 to win the Class 4 District 4 tournament before edging Lutheran South 5-4 in the sectional round. The Rams will move on to face Aurora in a state semifinal at 4:30 p.m. on June 3 at CarShield Field in O’Fallon, Missouri.

“I’m just really happy for the guys,” Canavan said. “They worked hard. They’re very talented. I think, to a certain extent, they’ve been overlooked by a lot of the baseball community. There’s a lot of good talent here, so I’m just really happy for them.”

Notre Dame graduates four seniors — Ross Essner, Tyler Essner, Ethan Hunter and Edwards — and concludes its season with an 18-10 record. The Bulldogs finished one game shy of returning to the final four, marking their fourth straight appearance in the state quarterfinals.

Graviett considers this year’s postseason run a tremendous feat after losing 11 seniors, including eight everyday starters and six all-state players.

“They were put in tough circumstances,” Graviett said. “They knew what kind of talent was ahead of them when they came in as freshmen. I don’t remember the number we started with, but it was a lot more than four. For those four guys to stick it out and want to get back here and want to do it for their senior year was their goal from Day 1.

“You keep this program rolling by keeping the next group hungry, and that’s what they did. They got to this stage, and hopefully it’ll motivate next year’s group to take it a step further. You don’t have successful programs without successful seniors, and that’s what we had this year.”

Notre Dame 000 011 0 — 2 3 1

MICDS 101 510 x — 8 9 1

WP — James Proctor. LP — Will Ferrell. 2B — Edward Bearden (M). Multiple hits — MICDS: Michael Long 2-2, Harrison Burns 2-3, Bearden 2-3.