NO. 15 IRISH BASEBALL DROPS BIG EAST OPENER TO SETON HALL, 4-3

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 15 University of Notre Dame baseball team spotted Seton
Hall three unearned runs and a four-run lead and the Pirates held off an Irish rally
en route to a 4-3 victory Friday night from Coveleski Stadium. Notre Dame dropped to
12-6 and 0-1 in BIG EAST action, while Seton Hall collected their eighth victory in
nine outings and improved to 8-10, 1-0.

Pirates’ ace Jon Prosinski picked up the victory and upped his record to 3-2. The
right-handed hurler scattered seven hits and three earned runs over 7.0 innings.
Prosinski struck out five and did not walk a batter.

Notre Dame junior starting pitcher Sean Fitzgerald took the loss (1-2). He collected
his fourth quality start of the season. Fitzgerald limited Seton Hall to four runs,
only one earned, on four hits in 7.1 innings of work. The right-hander fanned seven
and walked two. Fitzgerald was victimized by a crucial error in the third inning
that led to three unearned runs.

Sophomore LF Mac Hudgins and senior CF Charlie Markson paced the Irish offensive
attack with three and two hits, respectively. Hudgins went 3-for-4 with an RBI
single, while Markson went 2-for-4 with a run scored. Senior 2B Frank DeSico,
freshman RF Zak Kutsulis each added RBI singles.

Seton Hall really took advantage of Irish miscues from the opening pitch. The
Pirates grabbed a 1-0 lead on a Fitzgerald wild pitch in the top of the first
inning.

Seton Hall plated three runs in the top of the third inning to grad a 4-0 advantage.
Fitzgerald issued a leadoff walk. He then appeared to induce a likely double-play
ground ball, but junior 1B Trey Mancini was unable to field the routine ground ball.
With runners on first and second with no outs, the Pirates executed a double steal.
Fitzgerald got a fly out and ground out, which should have ended the inning, but
Giuseppe Papaccio and Sal Annunziata stroked back-to-back doubles to extend their
lead.

Notre Dame finally touched up Prosinski in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Sophomore DH Ryan Bull opened with a single and scampered into scoring position
following an error. After a wild pitch advanced Bull 90 feet, Kutsulis delivered an
RBI single to bring the Irish within three runs, 4-1. DeSico and Hudgins recorded
consecutive, two-out singles to make the score 4-3 with the tying run in scoring
position for junior 3B Eric Jagielo, but Prosinski escaped the frame with the lead
in-tact after Jagielo flew out to centerfield.

Fitzgerald really found his stuff as the game progressed. He retired the final 10
Pirates he faced. Fitzgerald fanned four of the six batters in the sixth and seventh
innings.

Notre Dame advanced the tying run into scoring position again the seventh inning,
but Prosinski got DeSico to ground out to end the threat. Hudgins then led off the
eighth with a single, but Seton Hall reliever Jose Lopez got Jagielo to fly out
before back-to-back strikeouts of Mancini and Bull.

Brian Gilbert picked up his second save of the season with a dominant ninth inning.
He fanned two and touched 94 MPH on the radar gun on four separate offerings.

Sophomore RHP Matt Ternowchek extended his scoreless streak to open the season to
13.2 innings. The right-handed hurler tossed 1.2 innings and yielded a base hit.

With the defeat, Notre Dame dropped to 7-4 on the season in one-run contests. In
fact, seven of Notre Dame's last nine games have been decided by one run, including
each of the last three contests. In all, Notre Dame has played in 49 different
one-run contests since third-year head coach Mik Aoki arrived on campus. That's 49
of 129 games or nearly 38 percent of Aoki's tenure in an Irish uniform. Notre Dame
is 28-21 in one-run games under Aoki.

Nine of the last 11 meetings between the Irish and Seton Hall have been decided by a
single run and two and three runs decided the other two games, respectively.

The weekend series against Seton Hall continues through Sunday at Coveleski Stadium.
The remaining game times against the Pirates are set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday and
11:00 a.m. Sunday.