Texas State Posts Second Win Over Irish, 6-0

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Texas State Posts Second Win Over Irish, 6-0

Graffy and Kapala log solid relief outings; Connolly doubles in first career start.
Feb. 18, 2007

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Righthander Kyle Gembler and lefthander Justin Fiske combined on the shutout as the Texas State baseball team defeated Notre Dame, 6-0, in Sunday-afternoon action at Wolff Stadium. Texas State - which already has played double-digit games this season - improved to 8-2 while the Irish fell to 1-2, following their first weekend of action.

Sophomore lefthander Sam Elam (0-1) took the loss, after allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits, a pair of walks and two hits batters in 2.2 innings (with one strikeout). His classmate Brett Graffy then came on to log 4.1 innings of relief, allowing two runs on seven hits. The righthander inherited a bases-loaded situation in the third inning and rolled up a leftside groundball for the third out. Graffy - who will join Elam and fellow sophomore pitcher Kyle Weiland as members of the Cape Cod League's Falmouth Commodores this summer - located 72% of his pitches for strikes (46 of 64).

Senior righthanded Dan Kapala closed out the game while making his first official appearance with the Irish since being an all-tournament selection at the 2005 NCAA Gainesville Regional. Kapala, who missed the 2006 season due to shoulder surgery, faced just eight batters while allowing one run (H, HB, K).

Aaron Garza and Laren Randell each had a pair of RBI for Texas State, which had no extra-base hits or multiple-RBI plays in the game. The first three Bobcats runs - one in the 2nd and two in the 3rd - came home on a groundout, hit batter and passed ball. A sacrifice bunt then scored the fourth run and an infield single made the game 5-0 (both in the fifth). The final run was scored on a 9th-inning sacrifice fly, as Texas State finished the game without any RBI hits to the outfield.

Sophomore leftfielder Ryan Connolly - who missed all of the 2006 season due to his own shoulder injury - drew the first start of his Notre Dame career and had the game's only extra-base hit, pulling a one-out double down the leftfield line in the bottom of the 3rd.

Texas State 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 - 0 10 0
Notre Dame 0-0-0 0-0-0 0-0-0 - 0 2 3

Kyle Gembler (W, 1-1), Justin Fiske (7; SV, 1) and Gerry Cervantes.
Sam Elam (L, 0-1), Brett Graffy (3), Dan Kapala (8) and Ross Brezovsky.

Double: Ryan Connolly (ND)