Seton Hall
Pirates drop rubber match to Liberty on Sunday, 5-3
Date: February 24, 2020By: Angelique McKenzie
The Seton Hall baseball team is now 3-3 on the season after losing the final game of the series against Liberty University, 5-3, this Sunday, Feb. 23.
David Festa, started the game on the mound for the Pirates and pitched four full innings in what would go down as his first loss of the season, bringing him to a record of 1-1. During his time on the mound he pitched two scoreless innings before Cam Locklear of the Flames hit a grand slam to help his team take the lead. Festa threw 68 pitches, 26 strikes, and now has an ERA of 3.48.
It took the group effort of Brennan O’Neill, Tyler Burnham and Blake Espinal to stop the Flames from gaining an even bigger lead. These three pitched the remaining four innings and gave up one run while striking out four batters. They also threw a total 71 pitches, with 46 being strikes. O’Neill is the only one from the group with an ERA, which is now 2.70 on the season.
Outside of pitching, the team showed that their defensive efforts didn’t rely solely on the pitchers. Liberty’s final run of the game after their designated hitter Owen Wilson flew out to right field and the base runner Garrett Wilkinson was just fast enough to beat the throw home.
Unfortunately, what really brought the Pirates down was their hitting. The team had a combined 31 plate appearances and only reached base 11 times, and five of those were walks. They also struck out a combined eight times.
It wasn’t all bad though, right fielder Connor Hood went 4-5 and got two RBIs for his efforts. The other run came off the bat of the left fielder Devin Hack, who hit a single to drive-in what would be the Hall’s final run. The team will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Los Angeles, to take on the University of Southern California in a three-game series.
The first chance to see them locally at the newly renovated Mike Sheppard Sr. Field won’t be until March 11 when they take on Fairleigh Dickinson.
Angelique McKenzie can be reached at angelique.mckenzie@student.shu.edu.
