Enthusiastic baseball coach Pete Capone, who can always find a silver lining in the darkest of clouds, generates a winning spirit from the first pitch to the final out.

So yesterday was no exception as he rallied his Northstars from an early three-run deficit to a 7-4 victory that shattered Notre Dame's six-game winning streak and spoiled the Irish's final game of the season.

Paul Talbot doubled home a run for ND in the first inning, then back-to-back doubles by Derek Shunk and Mike Graziano chased home two runs in the third frame that gave ND a 3-1 lead. Nottingham had manufactured a run in the first to take a short-lived early lead.

It hardly looked like the Northstars would win their final home game of the season when Notre Dame scored again in the fourth, this run courtesy of an infield hit, sacrifice bunt and Paul Vacca's seemingly harmless fly to right that the 'Stars surrounded and somehow allowed to drop for a hit.

But that was ND's last hurrah.

Ten Northstars batted in the fifth and nine reached base. Hits by Bill Langdon, winning pitcher Scotty Kuhen, Frank Bennett, Jason Scarlata, Bill Crawford and Charlie Iacono sent Irish pitcher Bill Petitto down to defeat as six runs crossed home plate.

Petitto was the third of four pitchers used by ND, who gave their seniors a final fling in this their last career contest. Chris Cannizzaro started for the Irish and was followed to the mound by Ryan Goodwin, Petitto and Jay Graber.

Nottingham needed only Kuhen on the mound and the three-sport senior hung tough to get his fourth win of the fast fading season.

"It crossed my mind a little bit before the game that this was my final start, so I wanted to come out and have a good game," said Kuhen.

"I felt good, felt strong. I was a little bit wild in the early innings, not hitting my spots, but, as the game went on, I felt comfortable on the mound."

He wasn't overly concerned when Notre Dame dashed away to its early lead.

"We knew that we could come back because we have a pretty good hitting team. And lately we have been scoring a lot of runs," Kuhen pointed out.

The 'Stars had scored eight in one inning on Wednesday in a victory over Lawrence.

Scarlata, who had struck out in his two previous plate appearances, delivered a key hit in the big fifth, a two-run single off a 2-2 count that chased home the 'Stars tying and go-ahead runs.

"I was nervous the first two times up, but hugged the plate the third time up, looking for a curve-ball and hit it," said Scarlata.

"It wasn't really a curve-ball, just an outside pitch. I was happy to get the hit, proud of myself. Last game I came through for the win and did the same thing today."

Scarlata had doubled twice in one inning during the 'Stars triumph over Lawrence.

"Seniors are coming up with the big hits and the underclassmen are taking their cue from them," Capone pointed out as his player's celebrated the win.

"Everbody has contributed, which is what we have been looking for all year long.

"Last couple games we have been hitting the ball, which is what we have been looking for.

"Kuhen did a nice job. He's a tough kid. We supported him defensively. He kept his calm, kept his cool and made the pitches when we needed them down the stretch."

LOGUE'S LINES: CVC batting leader Iacono, limping noticeably from an aggravated old injury, still went 2-for-2 at the plate...Nottingham concludes its season Tuesday with an away game against West Windsor North...Paul Talbot and Chris Romano each had two hits for ND, which had four doubles among its nine safeties.

The winning streak coach Joe Drulis' team needed to qualify for the state tournament two weeks ago is being run off now. Hamilton got in the way of the skein yesterday and fell victim to it.

ND scored all of its runs in two innings which started with Brian Stuetz's two-run homer in the first, then Chris Voigtsberger and Justin Binder combined on a five hitter to insure the Fighting Irish of a 5-4 victory and their sixth straight win.

Hamilton coach Jimmy Maher paid the ultimate compliment to the Fighting Irish.

"They're the best team in the league. How they have that record (12-9) I have no idea. That amazes me. They have the most talent in the league, by far. I don't think it's close," he said. "I compare their guys to our guys, man for man. We don't match up. Player for player, they beat us in every position. They beat us, West Windsor (Plainsboro South) and Steinert the last three games."

Earlier in the season, ND got stuck in a six-game losing streak and failed to earn a spot in the NJSIAA South Jersey Parochial A Tournament before the .500 record cut off date.

"It's a nice compliment from him (Maher). We ran into a little bad streak," Drulis said. "Right now, we're doing the little things that make us win. Unfortunately, it's a little late. You gotta give our players a lot of credit. We were 6-9. We could have packed it in and we didn't."

The Fighting Irish also threw a monkey wrench into the Colonial Division race of the Colonial Valley Conference.

Hamilton fell into a first place tie with West Windsor South with identical 12-3 records, followed by Steinert's 11-5 CVC Colonial mark.

Stuetz tagged starter Pat Sharples for a two-run homer, which smacked off the glove of rightfielder Steve Rinz and went over the fence for a 2-0 lead.

"We're playing with no pressure," said Stuetz. "It would have been nice if we beat everybody the first time around. We really got a lot of talent."

The Hornets got one run back in the bottom of the second on Matt Mayhew's run-scoring single. Hamilton added two more runs in the fourth inning to take the lead, 3-2.

Tom Metzler singled. Sharples and Rinz walked. Mike Papp's sacrifice fly scored courtesy runner Guy Ritt. Eric Ammirata, running for Sharples, stole home before Rinz was tagged out in a run down between first and second on an attempted delayed double steal.

Notre Dame answered with three runs in the top of the fifth to go in front for keeps, 5-3.

"We didn't want to give up the lead. We owed them one from the last time we played them," said junior second baseman Mike Graziano. "We're up. We're winning a lot now. We're upset we couldn't do this during state (tournament qualifying) time."

Chris Romano led off with a single. Sharples was lifted. Mike Oliver came on, walked Derek Shunk and surrendered a two-run double to Graziano. That prompted Maher to yank Oliver and bring in Ammirata, who yielded an RBI single to Dan Czepiga, scoring Graziano.

"Sharples hasn't thrown in two weeks. He's had a bad elbow," Maher said. "This is the first day he was cleared. I thought he threw well. I thought it was time to make a move. Oliver and Ammirata did the job the other night (against Lawrence). You got to throw strikes."

The Hornets pulled to 5-4 on Tom Metzler's solo home run over onto the roof of the Hornets' fieldhouse in rightfield during the sixth inning.

Voigtsberger prevented further trouble in the sixth and gave way to Binder to close out the seventh. The sophomore righthander retired the side in order.

"We really got a lot of talent," said Stuetz. "It's a shame we didn't put it together quicker. At least we're going out well."

"The losing streak, we knew what that was like," said senior centerfielder Dan Czepiga. "Once we got winning, as a team we didn't want to go back to losing and we just kept that momentum."

Recently, the Fighting Irish have experienced a reversal of fortunes.

Notre Dame overcame a two-run deficitwith pairs of runs over the last two innings, and sophomore pitcher Justin Binder shut the door on a potential game-tying rally in the seventh inning to preserve the Fighting Irish's 6-4 victory over host Trenton High, which earned ND its fourth straight win yesterday.

"Found a way to win when we had to," said Notre Dame coach Joe Drulis. "Sometimes when you get on that roll of being confident, you just feel you can do it. You've won three in a row, now it's four in a row."

ND starter Jay Graber was protecting the visitors' two-run edge entering the bottom of the seventh inning. Jose Gomez reached on second baseman Paul Talbot's error with one out. Ty Drummer walked.

Exit Graber. Enter Binder.

"I really wasn't expecting to come in today," said Binder. "I thought Jay would pull it out. I'm used to these situations 'cause that's what I'm for. I'm a relief pitcher."

The righthander quickly put an end to the tension by getting Corey Thomas to bounce into a five-three double play.

"I wanted to either strike the kid (Thomas) out or hopefully yield a ground ball and get a double play and end it," said Binder.

"Too many mistakes," said Trenton coach Frank Partyka. "The kids don't know how to win. That's difficult to do here. We're not quite there."

Trenton had taken a 3-1 lead after three innings. Gomez and Drummer smashed back-to-back doubles for one run and Thomas singled home Drummer.

ND closed to 3-2 on an errorwhich allowed Andres Guadarrama to score from third, but the Tornadoes got the run back in the fifth. Gomez's single scored Brian Seiber from third to make it 4-2.

The Fighting Irish tied the score in the sixth on Zack Melker's two-run single.

Czepiga, who slashed three singles, scored twice and stole three bases, opened the sixth inning with a single, stole second and went to third on a passed ball. Dan Federico walked with one out. Melker pinch hit for Kevin Drulis and delivered the game tying two-run hit which chased Drummer.

"We're relaxed and finally came together a little too late 'cause we didn't get into the state tournament," said Melker. "I think we just felt confident today. We're playing for pride and will bounce back and show people we're not as bad as people think we really are."

Thomas came in from playing left and relieved Drummer to prevent further trouble but was touched for the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning.

Brian Stuetz and Czepiga singled with one out. Courtesy runner Andy Larkin and Czepiga executed a double steal andTalbot's sacrifice fly scored Larkin. Czepiga came home on Federico's single.

The come from behind meant that much more to ND.

Mike Graziano, the junior starting second baseman and number three hitter in the lineup, injured his elbow in the second inning. He was removed to have x-rays taken but may feel a bit better today knowing his mates rallied.

"Now even when we're down, you kinda have that feeling that 'Hey, were gonna do it,' '' said Drulis. "Whereas when you're going bad, you're kinda like, 'Well, what's going to go bad.' When we were 6-9, we could have folded our tents and called it quits. Right now, we're playing good baseball."

The Fighting Irish took an early exit from the Mercer County Tournament and didn't qualify for the NJSIAA South Jersey Parochial A Tournament.

"It's hard. It's hard," said coach Joe Drulis, the disappointment of a six-game losing streak that gyrated the Fighting Irish to oblivion still etched on his face. "I told them (his team) now it's pride. How do you want to be remembered as a Notre Dame baseball player? If I were in your shoes as a player I want to be known as a winner. After we were out of the states, the only thing left was pride."

A bit of that Fighting Irish pride appeared yesterday.

Chris Voigtsberger and Bill Petitto combined on a two-hitter, while ND erupted for six runs over the three later innings against newly crowned MCT champion West Windsor- Plainsboro South High for a proud 8-2 triumph and its third straight triumph.

"The little things got us," said Drulis, reflecting on the season's slide. "It's really a shame. Right now, we're playing really good baseball, but we lost three one-run games, lost two extra inning games where if a ball's hit this way or a ball's caught here, we are playing in the states, but that's baseball."

WW-P South coach Don Hutchinson didn't take anything away from ND's pride.

"They're (ND) a good ball club. They've fallen on hard times this year. They're a very talented team, as talented as anybody around. They just had some tough breaks that put them in a little hole early in the year." said Hutchinson.

Voigtsberger hurled the first five innings and stymied the Pirates on two hits and one run. South loaded the bases in the second inning, but just got one run out of the threat on a bases loaded walk to J.T. Hutchinson.

The Pirates managed an unearned run off Voigtsberger in the fifth. That was on shortstop Derek Shunk's throw away of Justin Muir's bouncer that scored Hutchinson.

Petitto arrived at the top of the sixth and held the Pirates hitless over the last two innings.

Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish made sure they didn't dig themselves into a hole against the MCT kingpins.

Notre Dame scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning. Center-fielder Jeff Fisher dropped Dan Czepiga's fly ball, letting two runs score.

ND never trailed again, and slowly tore into Pirates' starter B.J. Watkin beginning in the fourth inning.

Dan Federico drew a one-out walk and moved to second on Kevin Drulis' single. Andres Guadarrama's bounce out chased them to second and third. Watkin uncorked a wild pitch to score one run.

Mike Graziano seemed destined to be stranded at third base in the fifth inning with two out. He opened the frame by being hit with a pitch, stole second and tagged to third on Brian Stuetz's fly out to left. Paul Talbot came up and belted his fourth home run of the year over the leftfield fence, scoring Graziano ahead of him for a 5-2 edge.

"Just a winning record, pride," said Talbot, what ND is shooting for now. "We just come out here and have fun. We're coming more together as a team. We're better friends now."

No, this is not a Rice Krispies commercial.

That snap you heard was Notre Dame snapping a six-game losing streak yesterday by handing Steinert a 4-3 defeat.

And the pop was supplied by Paul Talbot and Kevin Drulis, who slammed home runs as the Irish simply overpowered the Spartans.

The win gained sweet revenge for that never-to-be-forgotten shocker earlier in the season when Steinert came from eight runs back to edge the parochial club, 9-8.

Yesterday's lightning came off the bat of Talbot, who greeted Steinert relief pitcher Tom Meyer with a two-run homer over the left-center field fence that provided the margin of victory.

The teams were deadlocked at 2-2 when Dan Federico opened the bottom of the sixth with a solid single.

That brought Steinert coach Brian Giallella to the mound, where he waved off starter Matt Perks and signaled Meyer in from the bullpen.

Talbot was up there to bunt the go-ahead run into scoring position.

"I fouled off the first pitch," recalled Talbot, "then I held back on the next one, which was a ball. Then I fouled off the next pitch, which meant I then had to swing away."

And swing he did, connecting for his third home run of the season.

"It looked like a breaking ball that he left high and in," said Paul of the ball he hammered over the fence.

"I knew it was going when I hit it," said Talbot. "I was really excited. I was glad to help the team out."

Drulis, son of head coach Joe, got his first starting assignment as the ND skipper shook up his starting lineup in an effort to break the losing streak.

His first scholastic home run came in the second inning.

"I didn't know I was starting until 10 minutes before the game," said Kevin. "I had some butterflies, but after the first inning everything fell into place.

"I jumped on a 3-1 pitch, a fastball that was in my zone. I just cranked it. I was hoping it was going out. Happy when it did," said the 6-foot-3, 220-pounder.

Steinert scored single runs in the second, fifth and seventh innings.

Dan Sczweck doubled home Mike Platas, who had connected for the first of his three singles, in the second, then Jim Sapia reached on an error in the fifth, one of three miscues committed by the Irish in that frame, and reached home plate on a miscue.

In the seventh pinch hitter Nick Gessner singled with one man out and Matt Fryczynski came in to run for him. A walk to Dan Mattonelli, a wild pitch and Mike Carney's infield out plated what was to be the last run of the afternoon.

Justin Binder had started on the mound for Notre Dame and pitched a strong game, departing in the fifth only because his defense let him down. Bill Petitto came on to finish the contest and pick up his second win of the season.

"We lost six in a row so we tried a little different lineup and it was successful for us," said coach Drulis.

"Got a couple home runs and we were patient when we had to be. We made the pitchers work for Steinert and I felt that helped us be successful today.

"Justin Binder has done a great job for us all year. We are really lucky because he is only a sophomore.

"Had we played a little bit of defense behind him he would have gone a little bit longer.

"We are just happy to shake that losing streak. When you lose two extra inning games and three one-run games it is really tough.

"Today we made the plays and Billy Petitto came on and shut the door, doing a good job for us."

LOGUE'S LINES: Spartans left fielder Joe D'Andrea made two nice catches in the fifth inning, diving to snare Chris Romano's sinking liner, then backhanding Dan Czepiga's drive while on the run ... Steinert had two men cut down at the plate, while ND pulled off a snazzy double play in the sixth when Mike Platas rounded second base on Mike DeRose's drive to deep center, only to be nipped at first on Czepiga's catch and great throw as Mike tried, unsuccessfully, to scamper back to the bag.

Trailing in the seventh inning by three runs, Lawrence High had rallied to get back two of them. But the Irish were still one out from advancing in the Mercer County Tournament.

Kevin Schneider, the work horse of the Cardinals mound staff, was at the plate. Batting cleanup. The one guy coach Brian Carter wanted up there in such a crucial situation.

Schneider jumped on a Jay Graber curve ball and lashed a run-producing single to left field, tying the score.

With the momentum having shifted, the 10th seeded Cardinals went on to score six runs in the top of the ninth inning to defeat seventh seeded Notre Dame, 9-3, and advance to a MCT quarter final round date next Saturday with second seeded West Windsor South.

"We were having a tough time staying back on him (Graber) all game, popping 'em up, hitting the ball hard on the ground," Schneider noted. "So for me, that was a good at bat."

What does such a big win do for his club?

"This is huge, beating Notre Dame, winning a Mercer County Tournament game. We haven't been playing to our full potential. We have been inconsistent. We showed at the end that we can really do some nice things."

Schneider, the winning pitcher in four of the Cardinals five victories, hurled the entire nine innings, striking out 11 and walking only three batters.

Junior Charlie Park had a double and single and drove in three runs for the Cardinals, two of the RBIs coming during the tying rally when he singled sharply into left field.

"We tried to pump each other up, especially late in the game," said Park. "We wanted to win this game real bad. I was waiting on the pitches late in the game, concentrating a lot more."

Park not only contributed a key single to the seventh, but also singled home a run in the ninth when the Cardinals sent 10 men to the plate, connected for six hits against ND relief pitcher Justin Binder and pulled off the first major upset of the MCT.

Jared Smith also worked his way into the limelight during that inning, tripling home three runs.

"Schneider was throwing well, even in the last inning," felt coach Carter. "I was going to take him out if he got another guy on, but he waved me off. I have to put the ball in his hands, he's our workhorse. He got us to that point, offensively and defensively. He was around the plate, so we had to go with him."

The coach had high praise for most of the players in his lineup.

"In the North Hunterdon game, we scored three runs with nobody on, two strikes and two outs, we started no on, no outs, no strikes here so I told them there was no reason we couldn't do the same thing. And the kids finally believed in themselves. They are good players, so they had to go out there and show it."

John Haggerty had three hits and stole two bases. Schneider had two hits, as did Brian Bunn. All told, the Cardinals connected for a dozen hits.

Paul Talbot blasted a 373-foot home run for the Irish en route to a 3-for-5 day but the Irish attack consisted of only six hits.

Graber pitched well for ND, blanking the Cardinals through the first six innings. However, four of the seven batters he faced in the seventh connected for hits and an error, one of four charged to the Irish, kept the Lawrence inning alive long enough for them to tie the score.

"When you are leading by three runs in the last inning with your top pitcher on the mound it should be a done deal," theorized ND coach Joe Drulis.

"It wasn't so you have to give Lawrence a lot of credit. Down 3-0, two outs and Kevin came up big for them. He made the big hit.

"Obviously, we all feel we should win. Coaches, players. But you have to go out and make the plays.

"You don't win games in the newspaper. Potential is a strong word. Doing it is the bottom line. And right now you can't give the other team six outs and expect to win. You have to make the basic plays. You have to catch pop ups. Runner on third with less than two outs, you have to put the ball in play.

"We aren't doing those things and we almost got away with it because our pitcher pitched a great game. He pitched outstanding, but he ran out of gas. Them we bring in Justin Binder and he does a great job.

"That last inning we just gave them too many outs and they cashed in. Give them credit. They had the will to win and came through."