Seton Hall
Pirates open Xavier series with 3-1 win
Date: May 4, 2019By Ryan Clayton
The Seton Hall Pirates started their series against the Xavier Musketeers with a 3-1 win that now puts them even in the Big East standings. The Pirate bats got things going early in this game as they were first to get on the board in the top of the second. Sebastiano Santorelli and Matt Toke started the inning off with singles that would eventually lead to Steve Grober earning an RBI single.
Seton Hall had a couple of good innings where the hits would come in bursts, as on the day they had eight hits. Offensively, there were three Pirates having multiple hits including Christian Del Castillo, Grober, and Toke who reached base in three appearences at the plate.
As great as the hitting was for Seton Hall, what really won them this game was their bullpen. Starting off the day was Ricky DeVito, who pitched seven innings, struck out eigth batters, and only gave up one run (which evened out when the Pirates scored the following inning). DeVito pitched phenomenally as he only had one walk for the day and had three innings where he did not give up a hit.
When it looked as if the Musketeers might make a comeback in the bottom of the eigth with the bases loaded and no outs, Hunter Waldis was brought in for relief. Waldis was able to get out of the inning thanks to a ground out and a double play. The ninth was more of the same as he did not give up any hits and was able to close out the 3-1 victory for the Pirates.
With this win the Pirates get back to a .500 record in the Big East as they now sit at 5-5. On the season the Pirates sit at 21-22 overall, and with the loss for Xavier their record turns to 20-26. The second game of the series will be played today at 2 pm.
Ryan Clayton can be reached at ryan.clayton@student.shu.edu
