Seton Hall
Pirates lose wild first game of Big East Tournament to Creighton
Date: May 23, 2019By: Ronny Castaneda
After leading for the majority of the game, the Seton Hall Pirates could not defend the offensive pressure from Creighton late in the ballgame. Seton Hall fell to the first-seeded Bluejays, 10-9, in walk-off fashion on Thursday afternoon.
After catching fire in Big East play, the Pirates grabbed the four-seed in the Big East Tournament and were set up against the top-ranked Creighton Bluejays in Mason, Ohio.
Both teams got to work early, as Seton Hall and Creighton combined for three-runs in the first inning. The Pirates got on early after Jerry Huntzinger swung on the first pitch of the ballgame that resulted in a triple and he was brought in by Tyler Shedler-Mcavoy with the very next at-bat. Creighton answered back with two-runs of their own.
The Hall would add another two-runs by way of a Steve Grober triple. Grober would then be brought home on a sacrifice fly by Chris Villa. The Bluejays would tie the game back up in the second inning, after a base hit from Isaac Collins would bring in two more runs for the Bluejays.
After a quick third inning that saw both teams go scoreless, the Pirates would go on to score in each of the next three innings. Grober would bring in his third RBI of the day. In the fifth, Matt Toke would hit the game’s first home run to bring in two more runs for the pirates.
Ace Ricky Devito, was pulled in the sixth and replaced by Blake Espinal after throwing for six innings and allowing four runs off of seven hits, to go along with seven strikeouts. Espinal would work out of an early jam to retire the side and send the game to the seventh inning.
After a lightning delay pushed the game back an hour, Creighton’s scoring drought would end, but not before Del Castillo would bring in another run to put the pirates up 8-4 heading into to the eighth.
The final two innings would prove to be the Pirates’ demise. Following a scoreless seventh, the Bluejays would go back-to-back on homers from David Vilches and Chase Upton to bring Creighton within one run. The Pirates would add an insurance run, as Del Castillo would slide home off a wild pitch.
With the score 9-7 in favor of The Hall, the Creighton Bluejays needed to pull out their explosive offense that has propelled them all season. The Pirates managed to get their first two outs, but the Bluejays would score on a two-RBI single. Finally, Will Hanafan would bring in the game-winning run from an error by third-baseman Matt Toke.
In stunning fashion, the Creighton Bluejays rallied back from a four-run deficit to give the Pirates their first loss of the Big East Tournament. The Pirates will go on to play the loser of Xavier and St. John’s in a win-or-go home matchup.
Tune-in to 89.5 FM WSOU’s coverage of Seton Hall’s matchup against Thursday night’s loser with their season on the line. Chris Russo and Jose Feliciano will have the call while Dalton Allison and Heaven Hill will give you in-studio pre-game and post-game coverage. Coverage begins at 2:15, first pitch is set for 2:30.
Ronny Castaneda can be reached at ronny.castaneda@student.shu.edu
