Notre Dame baseball rallies past Cape Central in first round of SEMO Conference tourney

Ben Womack did a little bit of everything for Notre Dame on Monday.

The sophomore center fielder finished 2-for-2 with three RBIs and chased down five of the final eight outs to secure the third-seeded Bulldogs' 7-2 win over sixth-seeded Cape Girardeau Central in the opening round of the SEMO Conference Baseball Tournament at Notre Dame Regional High School.

"He's a tremendous athlete," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "He's really starting to relax and is realizing he's not a sophomore anymore -- he's able to play at this level."

Womack gave Notre Dame (12-6) the lead for good with a two-out infield single in the bottom of the fifth before a wild pitch and an error allowed the Bulldogs to build a 5-2 lead. He added a pair of unearned runs in the sixth when he lined a two-out single to right, giving Notre Dame a 7-2 advantage.

"He had a great day today," Graviett said about Womack, the No. 9 hitter. "He's really proving himself and has really come on for us late in the season."

Bulldogs starter Tyler Essner scattered three hits and threw a complete game to pick up the win on the mound. He held Central (11-8) in check, giving up two runs (one earned) with four strikeouts and no walks.

"I thought he threw a tremendous game," Graviett said. "They capitalized early on to get those two runs home. They manufactured some runs up there on him, but he came out today and threw strikes and did a good job.

"You've got to throw strikes. That's the name of the game. Keep the base runners off because in high school baseball, they're going to make errors behind you. ... Tyler just pounds the zone and does a good job of staying in and out."

After Central starter Brock Baugher walked in a run in the bottom of the second, Jawone Newell scored in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 1-all. Newell led off with a single, stole second and reached home on a pair of passed balls.

Notre Dame answered in the bottom of the inning when Tigers reliever Jacquen Cummins walked in another run to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 edge.

The three Central pitchers combined to issue nine walks.

"You cannot win walking that many and making errors," Tigers coach Tatum Kitchen said. "... I'm disappointed mentally in how we are now. I thought we were a little mentally tougher than we are, but today kind of made me second-guess a few of our guys."

Cummins atoned for his mistake in the top of the fifth. He blasted a leadoff double to left-center field, reached third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Justin Vaught to tie the game, 2-2.

Kitchen said Essner showed effectiveness locating his pitches low in the zone.

"I don't think we ever got in a great rhythm. I thought we did a little bit in maybe the fourth or fifth, but we couldn't capitalize," Kitchen said. "Kudos to [Essner]. He got us out."

Cummins was tagged with the loss for Central. He allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits, struck out one and walked four in three innings of relief.

Trevor Hahs added a pair of hits for the Bulldogs, while his courtesy runner, Noah Arnzen, scored twice.

Central 000 110 0 -- 2 3 4

Notre Dame 010 132 x -- 7 5 1

WP -- Tyler Essner. LP -- Jacquen Cummins. 2B -- Cummins (C). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Ben Womack 2-2, Trevor Hahs 2-3.