Baseball Falls to South Florida, 4-2

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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J.-- The Seton Hall baseball team fell to South Florida, 4-2 on Friday evening at Owen T. Carroll field. The Pirates fall to 21-23 overall and 6-13 in BIG EAST play while South Florida improves to 29-21 overall and a 11-11 mark in league play. Seton Hall's Mark Pappas (Ocean Township, N.J.) led the Pirates with three hits while Mike Morano (Basking Ridge, N.J.) drove in the first Pirate run of the game on a double.

Both teams tallied seven hits. South Florida left nine runners on base while Seton Hall left five.

South Florida took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Bulls loaded the bases with two outs and Walter Diaz scored on an infield RBI single by Ty Taborelli.

The Bulls added one run in the top of the third and fourth. In the third, Addison Maruszak singled through the right side and stole second. He moved to third on a ground-out and crossed the plate on a two-out RBI single by Joey Angelberger for the 2-0 lead. Braulio Pardo led off the top of the fourth inning with a double down the right line. He moved to third on a ground-out and scored on a passed ball for the third run of the game. 

The Pirates put runners at first and second with one out after Mike Young (Shrewsbury, N.J.) and Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) hit back-to-back singles. Young and Smedberg advanced a base on a Morano ground-out. However, the Bulls defense came through and the Pirates left runners in scoring position.

South Florida took a 4-0 lead in the eighth. With one out, Ty Taborelli singled to shortstop and moved to second on a Brandin Daniel base-on-balls. A two-out Pardo RBI double to right center field drove in Taborelli.

Seton Hall put runs on the board in the bottom half of the eighth. Smedberg led off the inning with a base-on-balls and Morono blasted a double to deep right center field to move Smedberg around the bases and cut USF's lead to 4-1. Morano moved to third on a Dan McDonald (Rockaway, N.J.) ground-out. Pappas drove in Morano on a two-out single to center field and cut the lead to 4-2. However, South Florida's pitcher struck out the next batter swinging to end the Pirates' rally.

South Florida's Danny Otero (8-6) pitched a complete game for the Bulls in the win. Seton Hall's Corey Young (Shrewsbury, N.J.) (2-6) was credited with the loss.

The two teams will face off in game two of the three game series on Saturday, May 12 at Owen T. Carroll field. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.