Prendergast No-Hitter Leads Pirates to Doubleheader Sweep, Big East Tournament Berth

Solid pitching on Sunday, headlined by Zach Prendergast's no-hitter, led to a sweep for the Pirates in their doubleheader against Villanova, clinching a berth in the Big East Tournament in the process. Pirate pitchers did not allow a run in 16 innings of play on Sunday over the two games, winning game one by a score of 2-0 and following it up with an historic 1-0 victory in game two.

It all got started in game one, where Cullen Dana threw seven shutout innings for a complete game shutout in the Pirates 2-0 victory. The game was shortened to seven innings due to NCAA doubleheader rules. The Pirates got their runs in the second and third innings to secure the game one win.

However, the story of the day is of course Zach Prendergast, who fired his first career no-hitter in Seton Hall's 1-0 win in game two. Prendergast was nearly perfect on Sunday, as the only baserunner to reach base came on a Joe Poduslenko error in the bottom of the sixth. Prendergast gave up no walks and struck out ten hitters, all on only 82 pitches.

The Seton Hall bullpen was not seen at all today, as Prendergast and Cullen Dana both went the distance and tossed shutouts in their respective outings today.

The offense for Seton Hall was quiet once again, but with Prendergast's gem, one run was all they needed. Matt Toke had an RBI single in the third inning to drive home the only Pirate run of game two. 

The next time the Pirates hit the field will be at Owen T. Carroll Field against the Monmouth (16-25) in a mid-week contest this Tuesday. You can listen to that game on wsou.net.

Jose Feliciano can be reached at jose.feliciano@student.shu.edu.

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