SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Jeff Samardzija pitched seven shutout innings and allowed just two hits to lead No. 6 Notre Dame to a 4-0 victory over No. 20 UCF Tuesday evening at Frank Eck Field in South Bend, Ind. The Notre Dame freshman starting pitcher yielded just two singles en route to his fifth win of the season.
With the win, Notre Dame improved to 43-9 overall while UCF fell to 39-13.
UCF freshman starter Taylor Meier tossed a gem for the Golden Knights. After allowing two runs in the first, Meier held Notre Dame scoreless over the next four innings on just one hit before yielding an unearned run in the sixth. Meier pitched into the eighth and yielded another unearned run.
For the game, Meier pitched 7.1 innings with seven hits allowed and four strikeouts. He yielded four runs, two earned.
Over his last three starts, Meier is just 1-2 with a 1.21 ERA in 22.2 innings of work. The freshman has allowed just three earned runs over his last three starts with 12 strikeouts and 14 hits.
The Fighting Irish scored first with a RBI-double off the bat of Steve Sollmann to score Matt Macri. Macri led the game off with a walk and scored easily from first on the hit and run. The Irish made it 2-0 when Javi Sanchez singled up the middle to score Sollmann.
UCF had a great opportunity to tie the game in the fourth, but the Golden Knights stranded runners on second and third to end the inning.
Notre Dame started the sixth inning with a single by Sollman and a double by Matt Bransfield. With runners at second and third, Meier got two outs before the Irish scored their third run of the night on a passed ball that got by UCF catcher Drew Butera.
The Golden Knights left another two men on base in the seventh as Samardzija struck out David Mann looking to end the inning.
Notre Dame extended the lead to 4-0 in the eighth on a RBI groundout off the bat of pinch hitter Alex Nettey.
UCF totaled just two hits on the night. The Golden Knights look for the series split Wednesday evening at 7:05 EST in South Bend. Sophomore right-hander Mike Billek will make his first start of the season for UCF.
The UCF ISP Sports Network will air the game with the pregame show beginning at 6:50 p.m.
Game Notes: Dee Brown was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning for the 28th time in his career, tying him for second place in the UCF career record books … UCF is 4-6 vs. ranked teams in 2004 … the Golden Knights are 12-2 when wearing Gold uniforms after dropping Tuesday’s game … UCF is 2-8 when the opponent out hits the Golden Knights.
#6 Notre Dame Blanks #20 Baseball 4-0
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