Pirates Defeat Virginia Tech 5-2 to Claim BIG EAST Baseball Championship
5/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 19, 2001
BRIDGEWATER, NJ - Junior shortstop Chris Carter (Fair Haven, NJ) went 3-for-4 while sophomore right-hander Chris Reilly (Bound Brook, NJ) battled through six innings to lift Seton Hall past Virginia Tech 5-2 in the championship game of the BIG EAST Baseball Tournament at Commerce Bank Park.
With the victory, Seton Hall (32-21-1) earns an automatic bid to the 2001 NCAA Baseball Tournament. The BIG EAST Championship is the second for the Pirates in 15 trips to the conference tournament and the first since 1987. Virginia Tech, which defeated top-seeded Notre Dame twice en route to the final, ends its season at 29-28-1.
Reilly (6-1) struggled early, walking the first two Virginia Tech batters - Chris Hutchison and Brad Bauder - to open the bottom of the first inning. After a John West sacrifice moved the runners into scoring position, Addison Bowman hit a fly ball to leftfield, but it was too shallow to score Hutchison from third. But the Virginia Tech leadoff hitter came home on a two-out wild pitch to give the Hokies the early 1-0 lead. Reilly struck out Jed English to avoid further damage.
Seton Hall had runners on base in each of the first three innings including bases loaded with two out in the third, but Virginia Tech starter Chip Runyon (3-5) worked his way out of trouble. The Pirates finally capitalized in the top of the fourth. Senior designated hitter Kevin Leighton (Brewster, NY), who was thrown out at the plate in the top of the second, singled to lead off the fourth. Two batters later, sophomore third baseman Joe Scott (Old Tappan, NJ) tripled to the right-centerfield gap, scoring Leighton to tie the game at 1-1. Carter then gave the Pirates the lead when he plated Scott with a single up the middle. After advancing to second on a wild pitch, Carter scored the eventual winning run on a single to right by senior rightfielder Joe Cuervo (Warren, NJ).
Seton Hall threatened to break the game open in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with one out. But Runyon got Josh Schuck to ground into an inning-ending double play to keep Virginia Tech within 3-1.
The Pirates gave Reilly two additional runs to work with in the top of the sixth. Scott singled up the middle to open the inning and went to second on Carter's sacrifice bunt. After Cuervo reached on an error, junior centerfielder Mike Bascom (Ocean Township, NJ) singled to center, driving in Scott. Sophomore leftfielder Casey Grimm (Morristown, NJ) drew a walk to load the bases for the third time. Runyon got a strikeout for the second out and had senior Adam Arslanian (Fair Lawn, NJ) in an 0-2 hole, but the Pirate catcher battled back and drew a walk that forced in Cuervo to put Seton Hall ahead 5-1.
Virginia Tech got the leadoff man on in four of the first five innings. The Hokies threatened again in the bottom of the sixth when Jed English led off with a single and went to third on a base hit by Christian Simmers. Reilly, who stranded six runners in base through the first five innings, looked like he was going to work his way out of trouble as he struck out the next two batters. But English came home on a two-out wild pitch to cut the Seton Hall lead to 5-2.
Senior right-hander Mike Wren (Montvale, NJ) took over for Reilly to start the seventh. After walking Hutchison to open the inning, he struck out the next three batters to retire the side and then pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Seton Hall then turned to junior left-hander Isaac Pavlik (Rutherford, NJ) to close out the series. The Pirate closer struck out the first two batters before Brad Bauder kept the inning alive with a double. He then struck out John West to give Seton Hall its first BIG EAST Championship in 14 years.
Pavlik, who was also celebrating his 21st birthday, earned his second save of the tournament and seventh of the season. He also established a BIG EAST Championship record with his fourth career save in tournament play. Pavlik was voted the Most Outstanding Player of the championship.
Seton Hall pounded out 15 hits and had runners on base in every inning. Grimm, who had seven hits in the tournament, went 3-for-4. Cuervo, Scott and Kevin Leighton all added two hits each. Christian Simmers had three of Virginia Tech's eight hits. The three Pirate pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts.
Seton Hall will open play in the 2001 NCAA Championship on Thursday, May 24. Pairings for the 64-team field will be announced on Monday, April 21 at 3 p.m.
