Seton Hall Salvages Series Against Southern Illinois

Published: Monday, March 2, 2026

by Blair Yusko

CARBONDALE, I.L. - The Seton Hall Pirates (4-4) salvaged their weekend series against the Southern Illinois Salukis (3-7) on the road, coming away with a win in the final game of the series.

After blowing a pair of early leads in Friday and Saturday’s contests, the Pirates took an early lead again on Sunday, but this time they did not look back. The result was a 4-2 win to snap their three-game losing streak.

It all got started with a leadoff double in the first inning off the bat of Gabe Cavazzoni, who was then driven in with an Aiden Dill RBI single to give the Pirates an early 1-0 lead.

Despite hitting Southern Illinois’ leadoff hitter to start the bottom half of the first inning, senior John Downing was able to work a scoreless first frame.

In the top half of the second, Seton Hall’s offense came alive again thanks to a Ryan Frontera home run over the left field wall. This round tripper was the first of Frontera’s career.

Downing followed this up with a clean second inning, which included two strikeouts. The Pirates were not able to get any runs across in the third, but that was fine as the senior pitcher from New Hyde Park, N.Y., was able to work a scoreless third, sending two more batters down on strikes.

Following a scoreless third inning for both teams, the Hall were able to put up a crooked number in the fourth. After Joey Wilga reached on a hit by pitch, Frankie Scrivanic reached on a fielder's choice.

That was followed up by a Ryan Frontera walk, which put runners on first and second with one out in the inning. An error by Southern Illinois off the bat of Ty Acker scored Scrivanic, and then a Jake Lopez groundout scored Frontera for the second run of the inning.

Heading into the bottom half of the fourth, Seton Hall carried a 4-0 lead when Downing found himself in some trouble. Two walks in the inning followed by a bases-clearing two-out double off the bat of Julio Guerrero cut the Pirates’ lead in half.

Downing was able to get out of trouble after that, ending his day with a strikeout, rounding out his tally to five strikeouts on the afternoon.

After four innings of play, Seton Hall remained on top 4-2, and thanks to their bullpen, it stayed that way for the final five frames.

Derek Benzinger, Stephen Curry, and John Higgins were able to hold it down for the Hall. The trio allowed just two hits while striking out a combined six batters across five innings, helping Seton Hall to a much-needed 4-2 win.

The Pirates will now continue this road trip when they head to Louisville, Kentucky for a matchup against Bellarmine on Tuesday, and then a three-game weekend series against Louisville starting on Friday.

Blair Yusko can be reached at blair.yusko@student.shu.edu.

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