Notre Dame baseball team shuts down Poplar Bluff

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Notre Dame pitchers Chase Urhahn and Justin Landewee cooled off Poplar Bluff's hot bats Monday.

The pair combined for a three-hit shutout as the Bulldogs won 3-0 at Poplar Bluff in a matchup of unbeaten SEMO Conference teams.

"I saw them play against Cape Central [and] reading in the paper, I never dreamed we'd shut them out completely with the bats they've got," Notre Dame coach Jeff Graviett said. "Especially the top five or six guys, they swing it tremendously well."

Notre Dame (13-1) got single runs in the second and third innings before Chase Simmons iced the win with a towering solo home run in the seventh.

Landewee's two-out single up the middle scored the game's first run in the second, while Stephen Brennan's RBI double in the third gave Notre Dame a 2-0 lead.

Notre Dame’s Chase Urhahn throws against Poplar Bluff on Monday in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Urhahn earned the win, allowing two hits in four shutout innings.

That's all Urhahn, a sophomore, needed for his first varsity win. He struck out three, walked one, hit one and allowed two hits in four innings.

Landewee struck out five in three innings, walking one, hitting one and allowing a hit to the first batter he faced.

"Our approach at the plate, I didn't think was bad, their kids pitched well," Mules coach Stan Bullington said.

Wesley Pyles allowed two earned runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings. The junior struck out three and nearly got out of the second-inning jam.

Matt Westrich and Josh Jansen hit consecutive one-out singles before a flyout. Landewee then hit a 1-0 pitch up the middle that just got past the shortstop to score Westrich.

Simmons drew a walk to start the third and moved to second on a swinging bunt. Brennan sent a 1-1 pitch into the left-field gap to trade places with Simmons. Pyles got two groundouts to keep it a 2-0 game.

Simmons belted a 1-1 pitch off lefty Brandon Stuckenschneider in the seventh.

"That's what we talked about, we wanted to get a run no matter what in that seventh inning," Graviett said. "To do it with one swing of the bat, that's big."

Poplar Bluff (7-2) stranded seven runners, going 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position, including three strikeouts. The Mules also had a runner thrown out at the plate to end the fourth.

With two outs and a runner at first, Drew Dowd hit a fly ball down the right-field line. The throw to second bounced off the glove of Landewee, the shortstop. After momentarily stopping at third, the runner broke for home and Landewee threw a strike to the plate.

"That's the right guy for us to have making that play," Graviett said.

The Mules came into the game averaging 7.3 runs this season and hadn't been shutout since May 2011.

"They played well," Bullington said. "We played well and they beat us."

Notre Dame 011 000 1 -- 3 10 1

Poplar Bluff 000 000 0 -- 0 3 0

WP -- Chase Urhahn. LP -- Wesley Pyles. HR -- Chase Simmons (ND). Multiple Hits -- Justin Landewee 2-4. Simmons 2-3. Matt Westrich 2-3.