Seton Hall
Game Preview: Seton Hall plays Xavier in an elimination game at the Big East Tournament (5/24)
Date: May 23, 2019By: Michael Daly
The Seton Hall Pirates (25-27 Overall, 9-9 Big East) will take on the Xavier Musketeers (25-30 Overall, 12-4 Big East) on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in a Big East Tournament elimination game.
Seton Hall returns from a difficult 10-9 loss to the Creighton Bluejays on Thursday afternoon. In the game, the Pirates jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top half of the first inning, and Creighton responded by scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
The Hall scored three runs in the second inning, off a triple by Steve Grober and a sacrifice fly to center field by Chris Villa. For Creighton, Isaac Collins’ single up the middle brought in two runs and tied the game up at four in the bottom of the second inning.
The Pirates produced four runs during the span of the fourth through the sixth inning, to take an 8-4 lead heading into the seventh inning. Grober singled to right center field and Connor Hood jogged home from third to give the Pirates a 5-4 lead. Matt Toke’s two-run home run in the fifth opened up the Pirates’ advantage over Creighton and the distance in the score grew to 7-4.
With one out in the eighth inning, a stoppage in play occurred due to lightning that was detected several miles away from Mason, Ohio. The delay lasted nearly one hour and Seton Hall eventually squandered their 8-4 lead in the final two innings.
Creighton scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and another three runs in the bottom of the ninth to seal the come from behind victory. The Pirates lost 10-9 from an infield error that allowed Will Hanafan to score.
Seton Hall’s opponent on Friday will be the Xavier Musketeers, who suffered a shutout, 2-0 loss against St. John’s in their first game of the Big East Tournament. The offense in the game faced a standstill during the first four innings of the game.
St. John’s broke the tie in the top of the fifth, 1-0 after a Xavier infielder committed a throwing error to first base and Sean McGeehan scored. The Red Storm held Xavier scoreless for the rest of the game and St. John’s scored an insurance run from Mike Antico’s RBI single to left-center field. Xavier fell to St. John’s 2-0.
The Musketeers’offense totaled five hits through the nine innings of actions, compared to the Red Storm’s 12 hits in the game. Xavier’s senior pitcher Damien Richard received the loss and his record dropped to 2-3 on the season.
For Friday’s contest between Seton Hall and Xavier, Noah Thompson is the probable starter for the Pirates and Xavier’s probable starter is yet to be determined. The loser of this game will be eliminated from the Big East Tournament, while the winner will advance in the tournament.
Tune-in to 89.5 FM WSOU for coverage of the game that will start at 2:15 p.m., as Dalton Allison and Heaven Hill will handle the pregame duties in-studio. On the call in Mason, Ohio, will be Jose Feliciano and Chris Russo.
Michael Daly is the Web Editor at WSOU Sports and can be reached at michael.daly@student.shu.edu.
