Seton Hall
Penn rallies late, drops Seton Hall 5-2
Date: April 24, 2019By Ben Harris
In a game filled with many hits and relief pitchers, the Pirates lost 5-3 against the University of Pennsylvania Quakers at Meiklejohn Stadium in Philadelphia.
Seton Hall lost this matchup with a tight score, however, those who watched the game could see Penn was in complete control from the beginning of this one. The Quakers outhit the Pirates 13-4.
The Pirates had an extremely slow start to the game and could not get anything going offensively. They thought they were making moves in the top of the fourth inning as Steve Grober’s groundout to first base advanced Matt Toke to second base and Casey Dana to third. With multiple runners in perfect scoring position, the inning ended anti-climatically with catcher David Haberman striking out. In the bottom of the fourth, the Quakers took advantage of the Pirates’ inability to score by taking a 1-0 lead on a Josh Hood RBI triple to centerfield that scored first baseman Sean Phelan.
However, in the fifth inning is where The Hall bounced back and took a temporary lead. After Nick Dabrio got on base with a walk, catcher Jerry Huntzinger got to second while Dabrio stopped at third after Pennsylvania shortstop Josh Hood committed an error. On the very next at-bat, outfielder Tyler Shedler-McAvoy blooped a single into centerfield that scored both Dabrio and Huntzinger, giving the Pirates a 2-1 lead heading into the sixth inning.
Those two runs ended up being the Pirate’s last ones of the game. In fact, they did not even get another hit until Shedler-McAvoy hit a double in the top of the ninth. A quiet second half caused the Pirates to fall as Pennsylvania did not give up. The Quakers tied the ballgame up in the bottom of the seventh as right fielder Peter Matt’s triple was backed up by catcher Matt O’Neill’s single to make it an even 2-2. It took only one more inning to see them take control as the bottom eighth saw an offensive explosion. Sean Phealon kicked the inning off with a double, where he was then replaced by pinch runner Kyle Cronk. Cronk was then brought home by a Hood single to left field.
The bases were then loaded after Pirates pitcher Ryan McLinskey hit Matt McGeagh with a pitch and then allowed a Tommy Courtney single. McLinskey was then replaced by Corey Sawyer, who was put in a very tough position. Sawyer ended up walking the next batter in, allowing the second run of the inning. This was followed by an O’Neill sacrifice fly to bring home McGeagh for the Quakers’ fifth and final run of the game.
A large list of pitchers took the mound for both sides today as Seton Hall put five different men on the mound, starting with freshman Brennan O'Neill who went four innings and allowed six hits and one earned run. However, the previously mentioned McLinskey took the loss to fall to 0-2. For Penn, they put eight different pitchers out there. The starter was the lefty, Joe Miller who only pitched for two innings. The win ended up going to reliever Jacob Sadowitz who improves to 1-2, and the save was earned by Kevin Eaise for his second of the year.
The Pirates who are now 16-21, and will be back in action on Friday, April 26th against the Butler Bulldogs. The Big East matchup will take place in Queens, New York at Jack Kaiser Stadium at 2 pm on 89.5 FM WSOU.
Ben Harris can be reached at benjamin.harris@student.shu.edu.
