Pirates Drop Weekend Opener as Iona Dominates

Published: Friday, March 21, 2025

by Anthony Collins

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — The Seton Hall Pirates (8-13) dropped the opener of their three-game home series against the Iona Gaels (6-13) on Friday, falling 12-7. The loss marks just the second at home for the Pirates this season.

The Pirates got their bats going early, as AJ Soldra crushed a leadoff triple over the left fielder’s head on the second pitch of the first inning. He was driven in by an RBI groundout from Marco Ali, giving the Pirates the first run of the game heading into the second.

In the next inning, Kevin Milewski smashed a leadoff double off the wall. Magnus Krieger followed with a line-drive RBI single to bring in the second run, and Joey Calabretti added another RBI to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead heading into the third.

Iona responded in the third inning as Kemp, who had five hits on the day, delivered a two-run single. In the fourth, the Pirates' defense collapsed, allowing four runs. In the fifth, a Manzo RBI single through the left side scored Krieger, cutting the Pirates' deficit to 6-4 heading into the bottom of the inning.

After a scoreless sixth inning from both sides, Iona's Glareto found his rhythm, recovering from an early four-run inning to shut down the Pirates' offense. For the Pirates, Reich cruised early before running into trouble later, but Stephen Curry delivered a strong relief outing out of the bullpen, racking up strikeouts despite allowing a couple of runs after entering with the bases loaded.

A six-run seventh inning by Iona made the difference, highlighted by a three-run double from Frias and a three-run homer by Kemp that broke the game open and extended the lead to 12-4.

The Pirates’ offense showed life late in the ninth inning, rallying with two outs, but the comeback fell short as they left the bases loaded, down five.

A two-run single by Marco Ali, followed by an RBI single from Aiden Robbins, cut the deficit to 12-7. With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth, the Pirates threatened a comeback and had the heart of their order due up. However, they came up short after a pitching change.

Calabretti and Cumiskey each had two hits, while Marco Ali drove in three runs for Seton Hall.

The Pirates will get a couple more cracks at this Iona team, with the second game of the three-game series set for tomorrow at 1 p.m. Catch all the action on WSOU.

Anthony Collins can be reached at anthony.collins@student.shu.edu. 

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