Baseball Sweeps Double-Header With Cincinnati

Robbie Hine

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J.— The Seton Hall baseball team swept a double-header with Cincinnati on Sunday at Owen T. Carroll field. The Pirates won the first game 5-2, and shut-out the Bearcats in the second, 4-0. The wins improve Seton Hall’s record to 10-19 and 4-8 in the BIG EAST, while Cincinnati falls to 18-11 and 4-4 in the BIG EAST. Both Seton Hall and Cincinnati tallied five hits in the first game, but Seton Hall out-hit Cincinnati 7-3 in the second. The Bearcats left 11 runners on base in the second game while the Pirates left just six. The two wins give Seton Hall a two-one edge in the series, as Cincinnati won, 5-1 on Friday.

Seton Hall was led by junior Robbie Hine (Brick, N.J.). Hine was 2-for-3 in the first game with two RBI, one run scored and a triple. In the second game, Hine hit his first career home-run as a Pirate, blasted a double, drove in two RBI and scored one run. John Walsh (Jersey City, N.J.) and Dan Lopez (Weehawken, N.J.) each scored a run in both of the games. Freshman pitcher Corey Young (Shrewsbury, N.J.) picked up the win in the first game and Dan McDonald (Rockaway, N.J.) earned the win in the shut-out victory.

In the first game, the Pirates exploded with five runs in the fourth inning to clench the victory. After Walsh led the inning off with a single to center field, Brandon Cohen (River Edge, N.J.) put runners at first and second after being hit by a pitch. With Hine at the plate and no outs, Walsh stole third. The next play, Hine blasted a triple to right center to score Walsh and Cohen. Freshman Greg Miller (Shamong, N.J.) followed Hine’s triple with a base-on-balls, and stole second. With one out after a pop-up, junior Mike Morano (Basking Ridge, N.J.) drove in Hine on a sacrifice fly to right field. Seton Hall continued the offensive barrage with two outs when Lopez smoked a single to center field to drive in Miller. Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) doubled to right field to drive in Lopez and make the score 5-0.

Cincinnati scored one run in the fifth. Nick Maragas led off the inning with a double to left center and Adam Yeager drew a walk to put runners at first and second. After a strikeout, LaFringe Hayes drove Maragas across the plate on a RBI single to make the score, 5-1. Young pitched himself out of the inning, striking out the next two batters and stranded two runners on base.

The Bearcats added one more run in the sixth, but that would be all the offense Cincinnati could muster for the remainder of the game. Logan Parker led the inning off with a triple to center field, and scored on a Jon DeLuca sacrifice fly. The Pirates defense ended the inning in a double play.

Young pitched all seven innings for the Pirates to earn the win. Cincinnati’s Kyle Rapp was credited with the loss, where he pitched 3.2 innings and gave up four runs.

Seton Hall carried the momentum of the first game of the double-header into the second. The Pirates scored two runs in the first and never relinquished the lead.

Lopez continued his hot hitting streak of 13 games, blasting a single to lead off Seton Hall’s offense in the bottom of the first. He moved to second on a throwing error and advanced to second on a Walsh infield single. Lopez scored on a throwing error by the pitcher and Walsh moved to second. McDonald blasted his ninth double of the year a play later to bring Walsh across the plate and give Seton Hall a 2-0 lead.

In the third inning, the Pirates scored two more runs. With one out, Walsh drew a walk. McDonald reached on a fielder’s choice to put Walsh out at second for the second out of the inning. However, a two-out Hine home-run knocked in two runs to give Seton Hall a 4-0 lead that would never be compromised.

Cincinnati’s best chance to score came in the seventh inning, when with two outs, the Bearcats’ loaded the bases with the tying run at the plate. However, Tim Dexter (South River, N.J.) came into the game to replace McDonald, and got the batter swinging for the final out of the inning to preserve the shut-out.

McDonald earned the win in the second game for his first victory of the season, where he pitched 6.2 innings and struck out seven. The Seton Hall pitching staff of McDonald, Dexter, and Keith Cantwell (Tinton Falls, N.J.) struck out a total of 11 Cincinnati batters. The Bearcats’ Nick Buscemi was credited with the loss.

The Pirates will travel to Fordham on Tuesday, Apr. 11, at 4:00 p.m. at Jack Coffey Field.

GAME 1

R H E
Cincinnati 000 011 0 - 2 5 0
Seton Hall 000 500 X - 5 5 1

WP – Young, C. (2-1)
LP – Kyle Rapp (1-4)
Save – None

GAME 2
R H E
Cincinnati 000 000 000 - 0 3 4
Seton Hall 202 000 00x - 4 7 1

WP – McDonald (1-6)
LP – Buscemi (1-1)
Save – None

Scoreboard

Related News

Related Videos

Seton Hall University Athletics

Sponsors Slider