Final four notebook: Notre Dame players prepared for Smithville ace

More than a week passed between the Notre Dame baseball team's state quarterfinal and the scheduled start of its state semifinal. Add in a day delay due to rain, and the Bulldogs had plenty of time to study their opponent.

"We had a week and just the nerves -- it was like, 'Let's get as much information as we can,'" Notre Dame lead-off batter Chase Urhahn said. "I was looking them up on GameChanger and all of that, looking at the numbers. Their numbers were phenomenal. That's a pretty good ballclub. They hit the ball well."

Smithville starter Quintan Reed had phenomenal numbers as well. He entered Friday's matchup 7-1 with a 0.90 ERA in 70 innings pitched, the most of any pitcher in the final four. But those numbers weren't intimidating the Notre Dame players, who already had seen him.

"I actually watched a little bit of video on him on YouTube before this game," Urhahn said. "I saw he had a fastball -- velocity wasn't too good, but he had a pretty decent curveball, so I was trying to jump on the fastball."

The Bulldogs went down in order in the first then collected 19 hits over the next five innings to set a new state record for hits in a state semifinal.

"He had a straight fastball," said Notre Dame catcher Christian Job, who collected five of the hits. "His speed was slower than what we've seen all year and what we've hit, so it was a comfortable speed for all of us, I think. Not much movement -- his curveball was alright, but it wasn't dominant."

Reed, who had given up nine earned runs this season, gave up six in his 3 1/3 innings of work. He walked two and struck out one.

Early start

Notre Dame's Graham Ruopp delivers to a Smithville batter in the first inning of a Class 4 semifinal, Friday, June 5, 2015, in O'Fallon, Missouri. Notre Dame won 13-3 in six innings. (Laura Simon)

Thursday's rain meant an early start to the Bulldogs' semifinal. After originally being scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. start time, the semifinal began at 10:30 a.m.

"We got a call at 7:30 in the morning to get up and go eat breakfast, and then we went and took a shower, got dressed, went downstairs, ate breakfast and came to the game," Notre Dame catcher Christian Job said.

It was the first morning start for the team this season.

"It was completely different than having games at 4:30 and 6 o'clock during the year," starting pitcher Graham Ruopp said. "It's kind of like going back to summer ball where you have to wake up, get yourself going and it's tough to prepare, but we did it.

Run-ruling the competition

Friday's win was the fourth time in five postseason games that Notre Dame won by at least 10 runs. The other game was an 8-1 victory over Clayton in the state quarterfinal round.

Still, the Bulldogs have trailed multiple times, as was the case after the first inning against Smithville.

"Unfortunately, that's been our M.O.," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "It seems like since districts, even all the way back to the district semifinal giving up a couple runs early on for whatever reason and not doing a whole lot the first time through the lineup. Then [we] light it up after that. If we do it one more time tomorrow I guess I'll be tickled pink."

Coming up

Notre Dame's Adam Pope hands out a high-five in the dugout during the Class 4 semifinal against Smithville, Friday, June 5, 2015, in O'Fallon, Missouri. Notre Dame won 13-3 in six innings. (Laura Simon)

Notre Dame defeated its championship game opponent Sullivan 15-0 on April 11.

Junior Tyler Essner, a lefty who's fourth in line on the Bulldogs' depth chart, pitched that five-inning affair.

Graham Ruopp's complete-game victory in the semifinal means senior right-hander Adam Pope, who is 9-2 with a 1.25 ERA in 67 innings pitched, and senior left-hander Hunter Eftink, who is 5-1 with a 0.45 ERA are both fresh for Saturday's 10:30 a.m. championship.

The run-rule victory in six innings was particularly important because it allowed Ruopp to finish the game with 90 pitches.

"Now we have Hunter and Adam both well-rested," Graviet said. "Graham's pitch count was getting high enough I would've had to make a decision in the seventh to go to somebody else just because of that, so that was big getting us out of there and having both of those guys fully rested for tomorrow."

Graviett, speaking prior to the other semifinal, said he wouldn't make a decision on who to start until he knew who the Bulldogs' opponent would be.

"You don't know if you're going to have a 15-inning game or what you're going to have tomorrow, so saving innings with those guys has been the plan all year long," Graviett said. "But we were putting up a lot of runs."