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Seton Hall Baseball Game # 1 of BigEast Tournament

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BATS SHOW, BUT SHU FALLS AS BULLPEN FALTERS LATE
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MASON, OHIO – Five Pirates collected two hits, but the Seton Hall baseball team dropped the opening round of the 2019 BIG EAST Championship on Thursday as Creighton scored six times in the final two innings, including three in the bottom of the ninth.

Seton Hall had an 8-4 lead with one out in the top of the eighth inning when a 58-minute lightning delay halted the game. Once the game resumed, the Pirates' momentum was lost.

Offensively, the Pirates erupted for nine runs on 13 hits. Five Pirates had multiple hits, Jerry Huntzinger (Staten Island, N.Y.), Christian Del Castillo (Miami, Fla.), Sebastiano Santorelli(Tuckahoe, N.Y.), Connor Hood (Shrewsbury, Pa.) and Steve Grober (Hillsborough, N.J.). Grober also had a triple and a team-high three RBIs.

Seton Hall starter Ricky DeVito (Staten Island, N.Y.) had a no decision for the Pirates. He allowed three earned runs over six innings with seven strikeouts and five walks. Three Seton Hall relievers combined to allow six runs over the final 2.1 innings.




What Happened:
Trailing 2-1 in the top of the second, the Pirates erupted for three runs on four hits. With runners on first and second, Grober tripled down the left field line to clear the bases. Senior Chris Villa (Staten Island, N.Y.) followed with a sacrifice fly to put The Hall up, 4-2. The Bluejays again bounced back in the bottom of the inning, scoring two runs with two outs to tie the game at four.

In the fourth inning, Hood reached on a bunt single, and stole second base. Grober followed by driving in his third run of the game with a single to center field to put The Hall back on top, 5-4. The Pirates added more insurance in the fifth inning when Matt Toke (Three Bridges, N.J.) launched an opposite field two-run home run to give them a 7-4 advantage. Del Castillo sent a double to the wall in right field to drive in Villa in the sixth inning and extend Seton Hall's lead to 8-4.




Creighton struck for three runs off the Pirates' bullpen in the bottom of the eighth on home runs by David Vilches and Parker Upton to cut The Hall's lead to 8-7.

The Pirates got an important insurance run in the top of the ninth when Del Castillo reached third on a double and an error. A wild pitch enabled him to score Seton Hall's ninth run.

In the bottom of the ninth, reliever Hunter Waldis (Far Hills, N.J.) inherited runners on first and second with one out. Waldis got the second out on a pop up, but a wild pitch put the tying runs in scoring position. Creighton's Jared Wegner singled up the middle to score both runners and tie the game at nine. After Wegner stole second base, he scored the winning run on an error by Toke at first base on a grounder by Will Hanafan.

Inside the Numbers:
  • Seton Hall out-hit Creighton, 13-to-11. Both teams committed one error.
  • Grober went 2-for-4 with a triple and a team-high three RBIs.
  • Del Castillo reached base three times, going 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, a walk and an RBI.
  • Huntzinger reached base three-times, going 2-for-3 with two doubles, a walk, a run scored and a sacrifice bunt.
  • Santorelli went 2-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
  • Hood went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base.
  • Toke had a two-run home run.
  • DeVito allowed three earned runs over six innings with seven strikeouts and five walks in a no decision.
  • Waldis took the loss for Seton Hall. He allowed one unearned run in 0.1 inning.
  • Seton Hall left six men on base, while the Bluejays left nine.
News & Notes:
  • Seton Hall falls to 25-27 on the season, while Creighton improves to 36-11.
  • Seton Hall falls to 6-18 all-time against the Bluejays.
  • With the loss, Seton Hall drops to 37-43 all-time in BIG EAST Championship play.
  • Seton Hall falls to 11-15 in first round games of the BIG EAST Championship, and has now lost five straight games to open the tournament.
  • The game was delayed fifty-eight minutes due to lightning in the area with the Pirates leading 8-4 with one out in the top of the eighth inning.
  • Seton Hall started the same lineup for its 10th straight game today. The Pirates are 5-5 during those games.
  • With a single today, Shedler-McAvoy has now hit safely in 21 of the last 22 games.
  • Seton Hall falls to 24-8 when scoring at least five runs in a game.
  • Today was the 25th time this season that Seton Hall struck out at least 10 batters.
  • Today was the 21st time this season that the Pirates have recorded at least 10 hits.
  • With 10 strikeouts today, Seton Hall now has 477 for the season, which is the second-most in program history. Only the 1987 Pirates with 497 strikeouts had more. Seton Hall has recorded at least 400 strikeouts nine times in its history, including the last four seasons.
  • Toke's home run is his fourth of the season, which is a new season-high.
  • Toke's ninth inning error was his first of the season, and this first since his freshman year. He entered the tournament with the defensive chances (379) of any BIG EAST player without an error.
  • Today was the third time this season that Seton Hall has lost despite holding a lead of at least four runs at any time during the game.
Next Up:
Seton Hall will return to action on Friday, May 24 when it continues play at the 2019 BIG EAST Championship at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio. The fourth-seeded Pirates will take on second-seeded Xavier in an elimination game at 2:30 pm. The losing team will be eliminated from the tournament. The game will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network.

https://shupirates.com/news/2019/5/23/bats-show-but-shu-falls-as-bullpen-falters-late.aspx
 
I believe they should reduce the roster by several players. You don’t need all of these players that you are waiting on. They need more defined roles. This pitching staff is quite disappointing across the board. No great starting pitcher and no lights out closer is a recipe for trouble.

The new field can only be positive. I believe talk of not having home games this season is more of an excuse than anything else..They are caught in a bad cycle right now as a program.. it can get better.

Let’s see how they play the rest of the weekend.

How many players are on the roster? More than other BE teams?
 
Not surprised as saw this coming with lah-di-dah approach in the also-pathetic St. John's series. We were in! So we drop three and get the no. seed.
Good job.
 
Northeast baseball has waned last 20 years besides st johns and occasional Rutgers or shu, and a team like stony brook is like a Loyola Chicago situation...any teams that go to a regional get wrecked in two days
You are so right. It seems like a lifetime ago that Shep SR and Freddie Hill were winning BE titles and going to the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis. It’s tough to win in the Northeast, but I hope we both get better in the near future.
 
There are 35 players on the roster which seems like a high number. Not sure if they are all active or if there's a taxi squad of sorts. Just six seniors and nine juniors with seven sophomores and 13 freshmen, so it's a fairly young team. As you would expect, most of the main contributors are the upperclassmen so you're hoping the depth fills in over the next couple of years.
 
The sad fact is that because of all the travel experience and exposure the best kids now routinely get, if you are draftable All-State player from New Jersey, you are now almost guaranteed to wind up at a place like Coastal Carolina instead of Rutgers or Seton Hall.

That was never the case in Hill or Shep’s time, and I’m not sure if that toothpaste can be put back in the tube.
 
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The sad fact is that because of all the travel experience and exposure the best kids now routinely get, if you are draftable All-State player from New Jersey, you are now almost guaranteed to wind up at a place like Coastal Carolina instead of Rutgers or Seton Hall.

That was never the case in Hill or Shep’s time, and I’m not sure if that toothpaste can be put back in the tube.

You’re right . If you read the bio’s of the recruits that are coming to SH now we’re getting kids who are All-Conference or All-County and occasionally, some with All-State group recognition not like it used to be . When you add in the disadvantages of playing in the Northeast and it’s weather in March and April , it’s difficult to land the draftable HS players.
 
So you have to be smart with recruiting . If the goal is to be an NCAA team every few years by winning the BigEast Tournament then you recruit that way. If you want to raise the bar and want to attain at large bids then recruiting has to be improved.

For the most part SHU usually has at least one go to guy in the starting rotation and that’s a good start. You need more than that to succeed.

After the tournament concludes we can look at ways to improve. Baseball is not the popular ice cream anymore. Sad that there is little buzz or excitement from the vast majority of our very best Seton Hall Basketball and Sports fans. How many people actually watched the BigEast game against Creighton??? Lyons and Rob need to take that in to some consideration moving forward. The goal is excellence whether it generates revenue or not.
 
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Agree with much said here about NE baseball. But most of the teams we play are in the same boat. See us losing 70% of our games to big-time southern schools early in the season; but we should win 60% of BE games and 75% of mid week games against the Monmouths and St. Peter's. And not lose the last four games the way we did.
 
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The sad fact is that because of all the travel experience and exposure the best kids now routinely get, if you are draftable All-State player from New Jersey, you are now almost guaranteed to wind up at a place like Coastal Carolina instead of Rutgers or Seton Hall.

That was never the case in Hill or Shep’s time, and I’m not sure if that toothpaste can be put back in the tube.

I have a friend whose son is a top player in South Jersey. Not sure what schools he considered but he is going to James Madison.
 
Northeast baseball is dead. And I know this is grounds for excommunication, but why are we investing in a revamp of
the baseball field.

A smarter strategic move would be to phase out baseball and replace it with lacrosse , a sport where Notheast teams like Cuse and PC have had some success.
Both dropped baseball years ago. That’s where we also should invest.

I know it won’t happen but I would love to hear strong arguments
for keeping the sport. I know our history very well and the players who have gone to the bigs , but those days are over and will never
be back. The best northeast high school players now go south to college where they have a better shot at the majors. And no southern kid who throws heat is ever coming to South Orange.
 
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