Seton Hall
Seton Hall baseball splits double header with Nova
Date: April 6, 2019By Michael Daly
The Seton Hall baseball team split a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon with the Villanova Wildcats in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania.
The Pirates fell to Villanova 6-5 in the opening game of the doubleheader. Jerry Huntzinger scored in the first inning after Matt Toke was thrown out at second base, and Huntzinger stole home from third base. However, the Wildcats responded in the bottom of the first when JP Radvany singled to left field and drove in Chris Rotondo.
Tyler Shedler-Mcavoy hit a lead-off triple in the top of the second inning and scored during the next at-bat, via Steve Grober’s RBI single into right field. Grober would come around to score from third base, after Connor Hood’s single that escaped the right side of the infield. In the middle of the second inning, the Pirates were ahead 3-1.
Villanova recaptured the lead when they put up four runs in the second inning. The scoring affair began when Tyler Bruno put himself in scoring position with a triple and eventually scored off of a Will Reiner single in the right-center gap. With the bases loaded for Villanova, Ricky Devito walked in a run by giving up a walk to Radvany. Pat O'Neill capped off the inning with a two-run RBI single to left field that brought in Rotondo and Reiner.
The Wildcats added another run in the fourth inning when Timothy Lilly’s sac-fly to center field scored Rotondo to make it a 6-3 contest. The Pirates attempted a comeback in the eighth inning by scoring two runs, but Seton Hall was unable to leapfrog the Wildcats in the first game. Villanova starter Gordon Graceffo (2-4) received the victory for his efforts on the mound, while Devito (1-2) came up on the losing end for Seton Hall.
The Pirates defeated Villanova 6-3 in the second half of the doubleheader against the Wildcats.
Toke flew out to left field in the first inning and Huntzinger tagged up to score from 90 feet away to give the Pirates an initial 1-0 lead over Villanova. Grober extended the Pirates’ lead to 3-0 because of his two-run RBI triple.
Casey Dana smacked a solo home run over the left field wall in the top half of the third, which put The Hall up by four runs, 4-0. Shedler-Mcavoy added onto the offensive outpouring with an RBI triple, and he would later come around to score. The Pirates scored three runs in the third inning and were on top of Villanova 6-0.
Villanova scored one-run in the sixth inning and a pair of runs in the eighth, but the Wildcats ultimately fell short to Seton Hall. The Hall held on to win by a score 6-3. David Festa (2-1) was the winning pitcher in the final game of the doubleheader.
Seton Hall’s record goes to 12-14 on the season and is next in action on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Villanova in the rubber match of the road series.
Michael Daly can be reached at michael.daly@student.shu.edu.
