Notre Dame baseball team rallies to beat Poplar Bluff in 10 innings

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- The Notre Dame Bulldogs, down to their final four outs, rallied to avoid a losing streak with an extra-inning win Wednesday.

Nate Beussink's two-run double in the sixth erased a deficit and his two-run single broke a tie in the 10th inning as the Bulldogs outlasted host Poplar Bluff 12-10.

Notre Dame, coming off its first loss of the season, fell behind 3-0, 6-4 and 9-5 but took a one-run lead into the bottom of the sixth.

Poplar Bluff (1-7) tied it on Chance Berry's RBI single, and the Mules had the go-ahead run on third with one out. Notre Dame's Jonathan Lynch wiggled out of the jam with a pair of groundouts, including a throw to the plate by shortstop Derek Landewee to keep the game tied.

Lynch retired 11 straight batters before a single to start the 10th. But a double play, Notre Dame's second, ended the threat. The left-hander struck out two, walked one and gave up two hits in 4 1/3 innings of relief.

Notre Dame's Jessie Schott gets down a sacrifice bunt during the 10th inning Wednesday.

Alex Beussink also threw four innings of relief for Notre Dame (7-1), allowing just one hit. But a couple of errors behind him accounted for three unearned runs.

Nate Beussink drove in four runs and was 3 for 4 with a double, while Alex Beussink had two RBIs and Eric Hayes had three hits, including two doubles, and a pair of RBIs. Cody Heisserer and Landewee also had two hits as Notre Dame finished with 16, but the Bulldogs struck out 14 times.

Poplar Bluff starter Quinton West fanned eight but left after 5 1/3 innings due to a high pitch count with the Mules leading 9-6.

Hayes doubled in a run after West left and later scored on Jessie Schott's two-out single that cut the margin to 9-8. Nate Beussink then plugged the right-field gap to give the Bulldogs a 10-9 lead with a two-run double.

Notre Dame loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but Poplar Bluff's Charlie Kayser got a strikeout and a pop fly to end the threat.

The Bulldogs broke through in the 10th when Tyler Buelow led off with a single past the shortstop, who then dropped a fly ball in shallow center. Schott sacrificed the runners up before Nate Beussink's two-run single down the left-field line put Notre Dame ahead.

Poplar Bluff scored three runs in the first, but the Bulldogs answered with four in the top of the second on RBI hits by Landewee, Kyle Campbell and Hayes.

The Mules scored three more in the second and three in the third.

Alex Beussink helped chip away at the deficit with an RBI double in the third and a run-scoring hit in the fifth.

Notre Dame 041 014 000 2 -- 12 16 2

Poplar Bluff 333 001 000 0 -- 10 8 3

WP -- Alex Beussink. LP -- Charlie Kayser. 2B -- Eric Hayes 2 (ND), Nate Beussink (ND), Alex Beussink (ND), Josh King (PB), Charlie Kayser (PB). Multiple hits -- Notre Dame: Nate Beussink 3-6, Hayes 3-6, Alex Beussink 2-6, Derek Landewee 2-5; Poplar Bluff: Kayser 2-4. Logan Faith 2-5. Records -- Notre Dame 7-1. Poplar Bluff 1-7.