Baseball Sweeps Doubleheader from Pittsburgh
3/26/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
- Game One Box Score
- Game Two Box Score
PITTSBURGH, PA (March 25, 2001) - Sophomore right-hander Chris Reilly (Bound Brook, NJ) and freshman left-hander Jeff Barrow (North East, MD) picked up victories on the mound as Seton Hall swept a BIG EAST doubleheader from the University of Pittsburgh at Trees Field by the scores of 7-2 and 7-6.
Seton Hall, which has won six of its last seven games, improves to 9-10 overall and 5-2 in BIG EAST play. Pittsburgh is 9-9 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
In the opener, Reilly gave up just four hits and no runs in six innings as he improved his record to 2-0. Reilly has yet to allow a run in 14.1 innings this season. He has also struck out 13.
Seton Hall gave Reilly an early cushion, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning. Senior rightfielder Joe Cuervo (Warren, NJ) led off the game with a triple to right-center. Two batters later, sophomore leftfielder Casey Grimm (Morristown, NJ) plated Cuervo with a single to right. After a single by senior first baseman Brian Leighton (Brewster, NY) moved Grimm to third, designated hitter Kevin Leighton lofted a sacrifice fly to right, driving in the Pirates' second run.
In the top of the second, junior second baseman Josh Schuck (Edison, NJ) doubled and later scored on Cuervo's groundout for a 3-0 lead.
Senior catcher Adam Arslanian (Fair Lawn, NJ) drove in a pair of runs with a groundout in the fifth and a single in the seventh. Junior shortstop Chris Carter (Fair Haven, NJ) drove in a pair of runs with a bases-loaded single in the seventh to give Seton Hall a 7-0 lead.
Pittsburgh averted the shutout in the opener by scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Tony Railing and Brant Colamarino had RBI singles for the Panthers.
In the second game, the Pirates trailed 1-0, but climbed ahead with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning. Junior centerfielder Mike Bascom (Ocean Township, NJ) drove in Carter and Cuervo with a double down the leftfield line.
Seton Hall continued to add to its lead in the top of the fifth. Kevin Leighton plated his brother Brian with a single while Schuck drove in Arslanian with a sacrifice fly.
The Pirates took advantage of several Panther miscues in scoring three runs in the top of the sixth. Cuervo and Bascom came home on errors while Brian Leighton scored on a wild pitch as Seton Hall push its lead to 7-1.
Pittsburgh closed the gap to 7-3 with two runs in the bottom of the sixth as Darrin Lenhart had an RBI double and Rolando Bello drove in a run with a groundout.
Seton Hall seemingly had the game in control heading into the ninth inning, but Pittsburgh rallied with three runs in the final frame. Consecutive singles by Chris Papst, Bryan Spamer and Tony Railing loaded the bases to open the inning. Brant Colamarino pushed one run across with a bases-loaded walk. Brad Rea's sacrifice fly cut the lead to 7-5. A two-out single by Lenhart pulled the Panthers within one run, but Pirate left-hander Isaac Pavlik (Rutherford, NJ) managed to strike out Bello with runners on first and second to end the game.
In his first career start, Barrow pitched three-hit ball over six innings as he kept the Panthers off balance. He gave up just one hit and one run through the first five innings.
Cuervo, Bascom, Brian Leighton and Arslanian had four hits each in the two games. Bascom, Arslanian, Carter and Kevin Leighton drove in two runs each.
Seton Hall returns to action on Tuesday, March 27 when it travels to Teaneck, New Jersey for a make-up game with Fairleigh Dickinson. The game was originally scheduled for March 6 but was postponed due to snow.
