Notre Dame baseball team picks off Perryville

Notre Dame starting pitcher Ross James may not have had his best stuff early, but he found a way to get by with a little help from his friends.

Notre Dame pitcher Ross James throws a strike to Perryville pitcher Trent Green in the first inning of the Bulldogs' 11-1 six-inning win over the Pirates Wednesday, April 23, at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Adam Vogler)

James allowed seven hits and walked two over six innings, but a couple double plays and two timely pick-offs prevented Perryville from getting anything going against the Bulldogs' tall right-hander, and Notre Dame's offense woke up late to power the host Bulldogs to an 11-1 victory over the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.

"Double plays are always a pitcher's best friend," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said as his squad improved to 13-1 on the season. "(James) was having trouble getting his curveball over and (Perryville) was doing a good job of going the other way with the fastball and taking advantage of what they can do."

The Pirates had their leadoff batter reach base in five of the six innings played, but managed to score just once, and that came in the sixth inning with the game nearly out of reach. Instead, Notre Dame turned double plays in both the second and fifth innings and James picked a runner off first base in both the third and fourth innings, each time thwarting potential Perryville scoring chances.

"Ross buries his pick-off moves and does a great job there," Graviett said. "Once he saw they were going to be aggressive on the base paths, he took advantage of what he's good at. ... Being able to pick him up in those spots and keeping us in the game until our offense exploded was huge."

The Bulldogs scored three times in the third on three hits and taking advantage of a critical fielding error in the outfield. Tom Siebert's RBI single scored Josh Jansen with the game's first run, but Perryville (12-5) caught a break when Adam Pope was caught in a rundown between third and home trying to score on Logan Heiserrer's grounder to second for the second out of the inning. Josh Haggerty followed with a single to left that scored Siebert, and Heisserer scored when the left fielder juggled the ball to make it 3-0.

Jansen hit a sacrifice fly that scored Luke Haines in the fourth to make it 4-0, and Siebert stroked his second run-scoring single of the game in the fifth to score Pope for a 5-0 Bulldogs lead.

Notre Dame shortstop Griffin Siebert throws to first baseman after getting the force out on Perryville shortstop Garrett Martin in the sixth inning of the Bulldogs' 11-1 six-inning win over the Pirates Wednesday, April 23, at Notre Dame Regional High School. (Adam Vogler)

Perryville cut it to 5-1 in the top of the sixth when Trent Green walked, stole second and scored when the Bulldogs threw the ball away trying to make an inning-ending double play.

But the Bulldogs made up for that miscue with a six-run outburst in the bottom of the frame. Heisserer and Haggerty singled, and Chase Urhahn and Haines followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to chase Green, Perryville's starting pitcher. Griffin Siebert greeted reliever Trevor Green with a single to put runners at the corners, and Jansen followed with a run-scoring double to left-center. After a strikeout, Tom Siebert was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Blake Hagedorn blasted a drive over the head of Perryville's center fielder that scored both Griffin Siebert and Jansen and invoke the 10-run mercy rule.

"When you get the bases loaded up there you got a lot of pressure to get a base hit," said Hagedorn, who was 0 for 2 before his game-ending drive. "I was just looking for a pitch to drive. I saw a lot of fastballs, worked it to a 3-2 count and kept fouling them off. But I finally got a good fastball to drive and drove it up the middle."

Trent Green (5-3) was tagged with the loss, allowing nine runs (seven earned) on 12 hits, walking two, striking out two and hitting a batter. Haggerty led Notre Dame's 15-hit parade by going 3 for 3 from the leadoff spot.

"I've been in a slump lately, so it's good to finally get out of it," Haggerty said. "They weren't the best hits, but they got through."

James, who allowed just the one unearned run on seven hits while striking out seven, was happy to see his offense plate three runs early, which helped him settle down after experiencing control issues early.

"We rolled two double plays in the game, and the pick-offs -- I've had a couple this year," James said after improving to 5-1 on the season. "That's something that I've had this year after not really having it in the past."

Perryville coach Dan O'Keefe admitted his team's errors and basepath gaffes were too much to overcome.

"We hit into a couple double plays and (James) had a great pick-off move," O'Keefe said. "It's one of those, you kind of feel like if you're a balloon, you're kind of slowly getting deflated. The second inning got you a little bit, the third inning got you, and it escalated in that last half (of the game), they just kind of finished us off. There's no question that's the type of team you have to be on all cylinders to have a chance. You can't make multiple mistakes."

Perryville 000 001 -- 1 7 3

Notre Dame 031 016 -- 11 15 1

WP -- Ross James (5-1). LP -- Trent Green (5-3). 2B -- Luke Haines (ND) 2, Chase Urhahn (ND), Josh Jansen (ND). Multiple hits -- Perryville: Garrett Martin 2-3; Notre Dame: Josh Haggerty 3-3, Haines 2-4, Griffin Siebert 2-4, Jansen 2-3, Tom Siebert 2-3. Records: Perryville 12-5, Notre Dame 13-1.