SHU Summer Baseball Update: June 27th

Date: June 27, 2017

By: Tim Best

July is just around the corner and summer baseball season is now in full swing. As the weather has heated up, so have some of Seton Hall's finest across the country. Here is this week's update on how the Pirates have been doing.

Al Molina had a monster game on Friday for the Upper Valley Nighthawks, who are currently ranked sixth in the country. The soon-to-be senior went 3 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs in a 15-0 rout of the Keene Swamp Bats. As of Monday, he is hitting .333 and is tied for fifth on the team with six RBIs. Meanwhile, the Ocean State Waves have emerged as the #3 team in the country in the first national rankings that were released last Thursday with a 10-1 record. Leading the way at the top of the order has been outfielder Liam McArthur, who is hitting at a .360 clip going into Monday. On Saturday, he drove in his first run of the summer and picked up three hits in four at-bats in an 8-2 win over the Plymouth Pilgrims. Ryan Ramiz came through in the clutch with an RBI single that put the Mystic Schooners up for good in the seventh inning to defeat the Sanford Mariners 7-6 on Thursday. In five games, he is hitting .278 with that one RBI to his name.

In the ACBL, Tyler Shedler-McAvoy hit a two-run single to cap a four-run rally in the sixth inning for the North Jersey Eagles on Saturday. However, the comeback effort fell short as the South Jersey Giants scored a run in the top of the eighth to come away with a 5-4 victory. The rising sophomore is currently hitting .283 and is second on the team with nine runs batted in. Corey Sawyer is continuing to mow down hitters and has now struck out 23 hitters, tied for the most in the league. He also has a 0.66 ERA, which is good for third in the ACBL in that category. Rob Dadona had two doubles, one of which plated two runs in a six-run second inning rally to lead the Staten Island Tide to a 6-5 win over the Jersey Pilots. Mainly hitting in the leadoff spot, Dadona is hitting .311 with six RBIs.

One of the few bright spots in a 6-0 loss for the Winchester Royals against the Purcellville Cannons on Wednesday was pitcher Dylan Verdonk, who threw four scoreless innings while striking out four in the process. Pitchers Noah Thompson and Billy Layne, Jr. have made major strides for the Gastonia Grizzlies of the Coastal Plains League, each picking up their second wins of the summer this past week. Thompson now has a 2.40 ERA in three starts while Layne is at 3.86 in five appearances, four of which have been starts. Finally, Cullen Dana made his summer debut on Sunday with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod League, throwing a scoreless inning in a 5-1 loss to the Wareham Gatemen.

Next week's update will be up on the 4th of July, so expect a lot of fireworks in the coming week from some of Seton Hall's best returning players!

 

Tim Best can be reached at timothy.best@student.shu.edu.

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