Seton Hall topples St. Mary's, 6-1

Date: March 5, 2020

By: Ben Harris

In the first game of a three-game series, the Seton Hall Pirates defeated the Saint Mary’s Gaels, 6-1, Thursday evening in Moraga, Calif.

This series with Saint Mary’s is the Pirates third straight in the Golden State on their Spring Break trip to California. They kicked things off with three games against Southern California, which resulted in a 1-2 finish, as well as a one-off game against Fresno State, which ended in a 5-4 walk-off loss off of a run scored on a throwing error from third baseman Casey Dana.

In Thursday’s matchup, the Pirates earned their victory via some late-game run support. The first run of the game did not come until the fourth inning when senior center fielder Tyler Shedler-McAvoy scored on Dana’s single to left field. Defense and strong pitching performances left the game at a tight 1-0 Pirates score for the following three innings.

This was until Gaels junior first baseman Gabe Giosso hit a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie things up. The Pirates proceeded to take things into their own hands, not wanting a repeat of last games heart-wrenching extra-innings loss, and dropped a smooth five runs on the board in the top of the eighth inning.

Devin Hack, Christian Del Castillo, and Matt Toke loaded the bases for the Pirates early in the inning, which set them up for success, with the three scoring on a wild pitch, and a Connor Hood single down the right field line. They capped off the hot eighth inning with runs scored by Dana and Hood off of singles from junior designated hitter Thomas Holdorf and sophomore catcher David Haberman. An impressive display of offensive depth from the Pirates to close out the game

The statistical leaders for Seton Hall in this matchup were Toke and Haberman with two hits apiece, Shedler-McAvoy with a stolen base, and Hood with two RBI. Payero earned the win for the Pirates as Saint Mary’s Carlos Lomeli received the loss.

The remaining two games against Saint Mary’s will be played on Friday, March 6 at both 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. as a doubleheader. The Pirates will then end their road trip and travel home to Mike Sheppard Sr. Stadium at Owen T. Carroll Field to take on Farleigh Dickinson on March 11 at 4 p.m.

Ben Harris can be reached at benjamin.harris@student.shu.edu.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Men's Basketball, Baseball