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Sports

Notre Dame Sports Roundup: Pitching Leads Notre Dame Baseball Into Playoffs

Buoyed by a strong set of field event performances, the track team had a second-place showing at their own relay invitational.

Baseball: Notre Dame Coach Robert Kostuch hopes the old adage runs true: pitching and defense wins championships.

After a rough start in California, losing four games, the Dons have been carried by their pitching staff in Illinois. Collectively, the team’s ERA sits at a nifty 2.90.

“We’re only hitting about .280 as a team, which I thought we would need to be a little bit better, but our pitching has pretty much held us up,” Kostuch said. “Eight runs is the most we’ve given up all year.”

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Andrew Gustafson has been the ace in a staff that has held opponents to four runs or less in 17 games this season. Gustafson has a record of 3-2 and a 2.37 ERA.  

“He could easily be 5-0, but what a great job he’s done,” Kostuch said of the Illinois Institute of Technology recruit. “He struggled with his command last year, but this year he’s really put it all together.”

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Still, Kostuch is waiting for the lineup to come around. Jack Wietlispach and Jeff von Moser are two guys he hopes will get hot in the playoffs.

“We haven’t put it all together where we have six good atbats in a row,” Kostuch said. “If we come up with some big hits I think we’re very tough to beat. Our sectional is going to be extremely tough.”

The Dons have played well in conference, sporting a record of 5-4 in the East Suburban Catholic League. After losing a tough 3-1 game to St. Viator, Notre Dame split a pair of games against No. 9 Nazareth on Saturday, winning the first game, 4-2, and falling in the second game, 5-4. Andrew Gustafson got the victory in game one, striking out three in six innings.

Sean Pavel was 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Notre Dame in its 10-8 victory over St. Patrick on May 2. Tony Marcellino was the winning pitcher.

Track: The Dons took second place as a team at the Notre Dame relays. Notre Dame was dominant in the field events as Peter Bird won the discus event with a throw 132-7 and Mike Kane took the shot put (45-10.5).

Joe Szukala took first in the high jump (5-10) and Joe Michels won the pole vault with a mark of 11-0.

SCOREBOARD WATCHING

Volleyball:

Benet defeats Notre Dame 25-12, 25-16 on April 26

Marist defeats Notre Dame 25-9, 25-17 on April 20.

Notre Dame defeats Marian Catholic 25-18, 23-25, 25-17 on April 19

Lacrosse:

Warren 13, Notre Dame 1 on April 26

Notre Dame 10, Montini 9 (OT) on April 20

Tennis:

Joliet Catholic 3, Notre Dame 2 on April 28

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