Notre Dame baseball team improves to 8-0 with victory over Poplar Bluff

The Notre Dame baseball team has used strong pitching, solid defense and opportunistic offense to carve out a perfect record.

That formula did the trick again Monday as the Bulldogs eased past visiting Poplar Bluff 6-1.

"Our defense is working and our pitching has been good," Notre Dame junior catcher Chase Simmons said. "We haven't hit the ball as well as we can, but we work every day in the cages on our hitting."

Notre Dame improved to 8-0 overall and 5-0 in SEMO Conference play. Poplar Bluff fell to 7-3 overall and 3-2 in the league.

"We're playing good. We just have to keep working," Simmons said.

Notre Dame’s Griffin Siebert throws to first after forcing out Poplar Bluff’s Josh King at second during the fourth inning Monday at Notre Dame. The batter was safe at first. (Laura Simon)

The Bulldogs had eight hits and took advantage of five Poplar Bluff errors, which led to three unearned runs.

Notre Dame did not commit an error.

"Any time you don't put up an error, as a high school coach you're excited," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "We keep finding ways to win. It seems like we get hits when we need to."

The Bulldogs generally don't need all that much offense when senior ace Cody Heisserer is on the mound.

Heisserer, arguably the area's premier pitcher, fired his second consecutive complete game and improved to 3-0.

Heisserer allowed three hits, struck out eight and walked four. Six of his strikeouts came over the final three innings.

"I thought I threw pretty well. I was letting my defense help me a lot," Heisserer said. "We played good. No errors."

Simmons led Notre Dame's offense by going 3 for 3 and drawing a walk. He doubled and drove in two runs.

"It was one of my better games today, the first time being perfect [at the plate]," Simmons said. "I saw the ball really well."

Heisserer singled during his final two plate appearances after striking out in his first two at-bats against sophomore left-hander Wesley Pyles.

"He was a crafty lefty," Heisserer said. "Situational hitting, just trying to put the ball in play."

Pyles allowed seven hits and three earned runs in five innings. He struck out nine and walked four.

"He's one of the better arms we've seen," Graviett said. "He's got a bright future."

The Mules have been one of the region's surprise teams after winning just seven games each of the past two seasons. However, Poplar Bluff coach Stan Bullington lamented the Mules' sloppy defense against the Bulldogs.

"We didn't play well today," Bullington said. "[Pyles] is a good one. We just didn't make plays behind him."

Notre Dame scored two unearned runs in the first inning.

A dropped pop fly allowed junior shortstop Justin Landewee, the Bulldogs' leadoff batter, to reach second.

Senior first baseman Jonathan Lynch then ripped a triple over the center fielder's head to score Landewee.

Pyles struck out the next two batters, but Simmons delivered a double to make it 2-0.

"We gave up two first-inning runs, and we shouldn't have given up any," Bullington said.

The Mules scored their lone run in the fourth inning, getting two of their hits. Sophomore Lucas Tibbs led off with a triple and came home on a sacrifice fly by freshman Brandon Stuckenschneider.

"We got it to 2-1 and I thought we might have a barnburner," Bullington said. "Then in the fifth inning it fell apart."

Notre Dame broke things open with a four-run fifth that featured four hits and two errors. Three of the runs were earned.

Heisserer and Simmons had RBI singles, and junior pinch-hitter Nick Essner delivered a two-RBI single.

"When we put up that four-spot, with Cody on the mound, you felt pretty good," Graviett said.

Notre Dame is back in action today, visiting Jackson for a 4 p.m. SEMO Conference matchup at Whitey Herzog Stadium.

Poplar Bluff 000 100 0 -- 1 3 5

Notre Dame 200 040 x -- 6 8 0

WP -- Cody Heisserer, 3-0. LP -- Wesley Pyles. 3B -- Lucas Tibbs (PB), Jonathan Lynch (ND). 2B -- Chase Simmons (ND). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Simmons 3-3, Heisserer 2-4. Records -- Poplar Bluff 7-3, Notre Dame 8-0.