Notre Dame cruises into district baseball championship game

SIKESTON, Mo. -- With a tie game after three and a half innings, the top-seeded Notre Dame Bulldogs felt some pressure from the fourth-seeded Perryville Pirates in their Class 4 District 1 semifinal game Tuesday.

"In the dugout, everybody was kind of not paying attention too well and we said, 'Everybody get up and let's go,'" left fielder Chase Urhahn said. "Then we started getting a few hits, and it really brought us up."

Then much like during the regular-season meeting between the two teams, which Notre Dame won 11-1, the Bulldogs used a couple of big innings to put the Pirates away and pick up a 12-3 victory at VFW Stadium in Sikeston, Missouri.

The Bulldogs (22-3), the defending district champions, will face Kennett for the title at 7 p.m. today.

Perryville took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first that was quickly erased by the Bulldogs, who plated two runs in their half of the inning.

The Pirates knotted it up in the third inning before Notre Dame regained the lead for good in the fourth.

Perryville starting pitcher Garrett Martin walked the first two batters to start the inning and was relieved by Luke Dobbelare, who walked the first batter he faced.

Center fielder Josh Haggerty singled in right fielder Hunter Eftink for the go-ahead run, but courtesy runner Ross Essner was thrown out at home for the first out of the inning.

"The goal was hoping that we could kind of get Garrett to hang in there, and unfortunately, you know, when he started walking people, with a team like Notre Dame you can't help them at all because they are that talented," Perryville coach Don O'Keefe said.

Urhahn singled to make it 5-2. Designated hitter Luke Haines then grounded out, but Perryville first baseman Devin Hoehn threw errantly to third to try to get Urhahn, who scored on the play.

The Bulldogs plated five more runs in the fifth.

Catcher Blake Hagedorn was hit by a pitch with one out and scored on a Logan Heisserer double.

Heisserer stole third and was singled home by Haggerty, who scored on a double from Urhahn to make it 9-2.

Josh Jansen and Griffin Siebert hit back-to-back, two-out doubles to make it 11-2.

"I think after the fourth you go, 'OK, 6-2, we're still [in it],'" O'Keefe said. "Then you look around and all of a sudden you see those other runs and now it's 11-2, and at that point you look around and go, 'It'll take a monumental effort and we need something to happen.' Any kind of spark we tried to have, there just was no spark. Notre Dame, like I said, well-coached, and they do a wonderful job."

The Pirates scored once in the sixth after Haggerty, who relieved starter Ross James, walked two batters and a run was driven in by third baseman Trevor Green.

James pitched five innings and gave up two runs on four hits, and Graviett said his performance was the difference in the game.

"He had it all," Graviett said. "He had command today and pitching ahead most of the game. I think a lot of the hits he gave up were 0-2, 1-2 counts, so he just couldn't find a way to finish it."

Notre Dame added its final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Haines.

Perryville ended its season with a record of 17-9, while Notre Dame moves on to face a Kennett team it lost to in the championship game of the SEMO Conference tournament earlier this season.

"Just be ready to have a lot of fun tomorrow," Graviett said about what he told his team following Tuesday's game. "You know, we talk about it all year long. It's what you play for since you were a little kid, to come out and have an atmosphere like this tomorrow night. No matter who we play, it's going to be a big game, a little bit of a rivalry. We split with both teams, so it should be a lot of fun."

Perryville 101 001 0 -- 3 5 4

Notre Dame 200 451 x -- 12 7 2

WP -- Ross James. LP -- Garrett Martin. 2B -- Chase Urhahn (ND), Josh Jansen (ND), Griffin Siebert (ND), Logan Heisserer (ND). Multiple hits: Notre Dame -- Urhahn 2-3.