Notre Dame baseball team scrapes out win over Perryville

~ The Bulldogs had just three hits in their win against Perryville

Perryville's Jake Dobbelare collected more hits on his own than the entire Notre Dame offense Tuesday.

That's a credit to the lanky senior's pitching as well as his hitting prowess.

But the host Bulldogs made their three hits count to down Dobbelare and the Pirates 4-2.

"It was a little sad, but we played hard today as a team and did our best," Dobbelare said.

The Bulldogs are plenty familiar with Dobbelare, who finished with four hits. He's the pitcher who ended their season in the Class 3 District 1 semifinals last season. But Notre Dame struggled to avenge that season-ending loss.

"He had a good fastball and it was straight, but we were popping it up," Notre Dame senior Cody Heisserer said. "We were getting underneath it. We weren't taking good swings. We'd lay off his curveball good, but it was his fastball that was pretty good."

Dobbelare struck out five and only one of the hits he allowed left the infield, partly because of a weird bounce.

"Very disappointed with how we swung the bats," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "You've got to give them a little bit of credit. Their pitcher did a good job of moving pitches up and really come right at us. I was a little disappointed with our offense. I thought he come at us and told us basically hit the ball, and we didn't do it."

Notre Dame (3-0) struck first in the second inning when it loaded the bases with no outs. Cody DeBrock collected Notre Dame's first hit when his grounder took a high hop down the line that got past Perryville third baseman Bryce Orf. The single came between a pair of walks. Marc Rivas then lined a ball toward center fielder Cale Regelsperger that fell in, but Regelsperger fired to second for the force out. A run scored on the play, and Notre Dame added a second run on a pair of wild pitches later in the inning.

Notre Dame's other hit against Dobbelare came in the sixth inning with the game tied at 2-2. It was an infield single by Heisserer that started the Bulldogs' winning rally. A pair of walks, including one intentionally, loaded the bases with one out. That ended Dobbelare's day.

"It's one of those things that's a hunch," Perryville coach Don O'Keefe said about the pitching change. "I looked at Jake and it was the third time through the lineup."

Colby Brown came on to face Chase Simmons, the Bulldogs' No. 6 hitter.

"I went to Graviett and asked him, 'What do you want me to do -- bases loaded and one out?'" Simmons said. "He said, 'If you get a pitch, swing.' That's what I did."

Simmons hit a little roller to third base and barely beat the low throw to first, which got away from Dobbelare, who had moved to first base. Two runs scored on the play.

"Just turn on the wheels, baby, that's what I like to say," Simmons said was his thought when he saw he'd hit a slow roller in the infield. "I'm not fast, but you got to turn on the wheels."

Brown struck out the next two batters to end the inning with his team trailing by a pair.

Dobbelare collected his fourth hit of the game in the top of the seventh inning off reliever Justin Landewee, but the Bulldogs ended the contest with a double play. Regelsperger struck out and Simmons, Notre Dame's catcher, threw to first to pick off the courtesy runner for the final out.

"What I look for is when the guy is leaning toward second and he's off and I know my first baseman's there, I see a couple steps and I know I can get him," Simmons said.

Heisserer did a good job of avoiding damage against the Pirates. He struck out 12 over six innings to earn the win.

"Just basically my fastball and my cutter," Heisserer said. "My cutter was getting the ground balls and my defense was backing me up. But it was mainly my fastball."

The Pirates (1-2) did manage six hits against Heisserer, including three by Dobbelare.

"He was pretty much relying on his cutter to get those strikeouts," Graviett said. "Still having trouble getting those offspeed pitches over. For him to be effective like he was last year, he's got to get his changeup and slider over. Kind of still a work in progress. Keep running him out to the mound, and he will get better."

Heisserer went 6-1 with a 1.55 ERA last season for the Notre Dame, and the right-hander knows his offspeed pitches are the key to duplicating that success.

"I've been working on them in the bullpen," Heisserer said about his offspeed pitches. "I've been changing up my changeup and making some mechanical moves. It's just still I'm in the process of working on that."

Perryville 001 001 0 -- 2 7 1

Notre Dame 020 002 x -- 4 3 2

WP -- Cody Heisserer. LP -- Jake Dobbelare. 2B -- Alex Green (P). Multiple hits -- Perryville: Dobbelare 4-4. Records -- Perryville 1-2, Notre Dame 3-0.