Seton Hall
Thompson pitches well, Pirates fall to Creighton 3-1
Date: April 20, 2019By Andrea Keppler
After losing the first two games of the series against Creighton, Jerry Huntzinger’s lead-off homerun in the bottom of the first inning in the final match of the series provided hope for this struggling Pirates baseball team. However, the team’s offensive woes continued and they dropped the third and final game to Creighton 3-1 at Richmond County Bank Ballpark in Staten Island, New York.
In the three games, the Pirates had a total of 10 hits and only three hits in Saturday’s loss, but the highlight of the day for the Hall was Noah Thompson’s 6.1 inning performance of two-run ball.
In the top of the fourth, Thompson gave up a lead-off single to Will Robertson who then advanced to second on a throwing error. He would count as an unearned run as he scored on Jack Strunc’s single to left field. He surrendered on more run in the following frame, but was the only consistent force for the Hall the whole day as the Pirates offense couldn’t find any rhythm.
After throwing 93 pitches, Thompson was pulled from the game with one out and Will Hanafan on first. Ryan McLinskey picked up where Thompson left off and stranded Hanafan and stuck out Robertson swinging to end the inning.
The Blue Jays added an extra insurance run with a pinch-hit homerun by Upton to start off the ninth inning off of Corey Sawyer. The Pirates now saw themselves in a deeper deficit, and went down in order against Creighton’s closer Bobby Kametas who posted a .091 opponent batting average in 12 appearances this season.
Joining Huntzinger’s hits on the day were Christian Del Castillo’s double down the left field line in the bottom of the fourth, and Tyler Shedler-McAvoy’s single to right-center in the sixth.
The Pirates’ next game comes on Wednesday, April 24 against Penn while Big East action resumes on Friday, April 26 with a three-game series against the Butler Bulldogs. Coverage can be found on 89.5 FM WSOU, wsou.net or on WSOU on iHeartRadio.
Andrea Keppler can be reached at andrea.keppler@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @keppler_andrea.
