Seton Hall
Seton Hall earns crucial sweep over Georgetown
Date: May 11, 2019By Dalton Allison
Thanks to some sturdy pitching and electric offensive performances, Seton Hall baseball was able to sweep the Georgetown Hoyas on Saturday in a doubleheader. They swept the double header with 7-1 and 6-2 victories, respectively.
The first game between Seton Hall and Georgetown saw both teams take a while to wake up in terms of swinging the bat. Despite Seton Hall scratching an early run out in the bottom of the first, it was a quick moving game for the early going. This was thanks to the effective starting pitching of Noah Thompson and Nick Morreale.
Morreale held the Pirates to one hit through the first four innings. The Pirates approached their at bats differently in the bottom of the fifth however, and that is when their offense put them over the top. Following a two-out single by Steve Grober, Jerry Huntzinger laced a single to score him and advance Chris Villa to third. The big strike came in the next at bat, when Tyler-Shedler McAvoy muscled a double that drove in Villa and Huntzinger, which increased the Pirate lead to 4-0.
Following the impressive six inning performance of Thompson, Tyler Burnham pitched three effective innings of relief. His only blemish was a solo home run allowed, but was spotless otherwise in guiding the Hall to a 7-1 victory.
With the series already in their pocket, Seton Hall went for the kill in the second game of the doubleheader. Seton Hall again struck early, thanks to the craftsmanship of Shedler-McAvoy. After drawing a walk, Shedler-McAvoy was able to find his way around the bases by stealing second and then advancing to third on a throwing error. He was driven in on a sacrifice fly by Christian Del Castillo to put the Pirates up early, 1-0.
The game would go without a run being scored until the sixth inning due to another strong starting pitching duel, this time between David Festa and Jack Cushing. Festa finished with a line of 7.0 innings pitched, with one earned run and 10 strikeouts. Cushing did not fare as well, and with the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, he gave up the lead for good. Following a leadoff double by Villa, a flurry of hits by Shedler-McAvoy, Del Castillo, and Toke, the Pirates found themselves on top 3-1, and would remain on top for the remainder of the contest.
With the win, Seton Hall improved their record to 25-23, and earned a sweep over Georgetown. Looking forward to a pivotal series next weekend against St. John’s, Seton Hall head coach Rob Sheppard feels confident in his team’s ability to play in Queens. “We should be really comfortable heading into next week. But Seton Hall vs St. John’s series are always really tough, so we’re looking forward to it.”
Dalton Allison is the Sports Director at 89.5 FM WSOU, and can be reached at wsousports@gmail.com.
