Baseball Falls to Pittsburgh, 5-4 in Extra Innings

BOX SCORE (html)

PITTSBURGH, Pa.-- The Seton Hall baseball team fell to Pittsburgh, 5-4 in extra innings at Trees field on Thursday evening. The Pirates fall to 24-25 overall and 7-15 in BIG EAST play while Pittsburgh improves to 27-23 overall and 15-9 in BIG EAST play. Sophomore Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) led the Pirates with three hits.

Pittsburgh out-hit the Pirates 14-9. The Pirates committed four errors compared to Pittsburgh's three. 

The Pirates put runs on the scoreboard in the third by the effort of junior Dan Lopez (Weehawken, N.J.), who blasted a homerun.

Pittsburgh tied up the game in the bottom of the third inning. The Panthers Dan Lopez reached base on a fielding error and advanced to third on errors while Sean Conley was at bat. Conley drove Lopez in on a single down the left field line to tie the game at three.

Seton Hall again took the lead in the fifth. With one out, Lopez was hit by a pitch and stole second. Mike YOung (Shrewsbury, N.J.) moved Lopez to third on a deep fly out to center field. With two outs, Mark Pappas (Ocean Township, N.J.) drove in Lopez on a single up the middle for the 2-1 lead.

The Pirates added two insurance runs in the top the eighth inning with two outs to take a 4-1 lead. Greg Miller (Shamong, N.J.) reached base on an error by the pitcher and moved to second on a passed ball. Smedberg drove in Miller on a single to right field for the Pirates third run of the game. Mike Morano (Basking Ridge, N.J.) smoked a double down the right field line to drive in Smedberg for the 4-1 lead.

Pittsburgh rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, Peter Parise and Morgan Kietly each drew a walk. Seth Button blasted a three-run homerun to center field to tie the game at four and force extra innings.

The Panthers again rallied with two outs for the winning run of the game in the bottom of the 11th. Parise led off the inning with a single through the right side. However, after two strikeouts, and Parise moving to second on an error, Dan Williams singled to center field to drive in the winning run.

Pittsburgh's Kyle Landis (4-4) was credited with the win in relief while Seton Hall's Luis Fernandez (1-3) received the loss.

The two team will face off in game two of the three game series on Friday at 3:00 p.m. at Trees Field.