Seton Hall
Pirates Suffer Setback against Wofford
Date: February 24, 2018
(Photo: SHU Athletics)
By: Chris Russo
The escape to idyllic sunny South Carolina this winter was not enough for Seton Hall to pull out a victory in the first half of a Saturday doubleheader in Spartanburg, as they fell to Wofford 12-5.
Wofford opened the scoring through small ball. Seton Hall's Andrew Politi allowed a run in the first because a lack of control, as walked three batters and balked with the bases loaded to make it 1-0.
Wofford's mistakes also led to SHU runs. Rob Dadona singled in an unearned run in the second, and an error helped give the Pirates the lead in the third.
However, Wofford committed three errors in the first five innings, and SHU failed to score with a man on second and one out in the fifth, keeping their opponents within striking distance.
Despite the final score, the Pirates still took a 2-1 led to the bottom of the fifth inning. It was there, however, that Wofford finally broke through against Politi for five runs, and knocked him out of the game. Even more disappointing for Seton Hall, three runners scored in that inning with two outs. The rally included only one extra base hit, but Wofford turned small ball (three singles, two steals, a hit batsman, and a bunt) into large run production.
Don Bosco graduate Ryan McLinskey came out of the bullpen, and initially stopped Wofford's potent lineup. In the seventh inning, he ran out of gas, and so did the young men behind him.
Rob Dadona took away from Wofford with his earlier RBI single, but gave back even more with an error in the seventh that put the game away for good. Wofford pushed six runners across the plate following the seventh inning stretch to make it 12-2.
Casey Dana's 3-run blast in the eighth gave a brief glimmer of hope for a comeback, but the Pirates stranded runners at first and third to end the frame, and it was all formalities from there.
Head Coach Rob Sheppard sided with conventions by keeping Politi in for 104 pitches, but it was just too late, and he peaked too soon.
Seton Hall wraps up play on Saturday with the second end of their doubleheader as they take on Pittsburgh. Check back to wsou.net tonight for the recap.
Chris Russo can be reached at chrisrusso98@gmail.com.
