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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. The Seton Hall baseball team fell in the rubber-match of the BIG EAST Conference series against Connecticut, 10-3, Sunday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field. Despite the loss, the Pirates remain two games over .500 overall at 14-12, and one game over in the conference at 5-4.
A pair of three-run innings jump started Connecticut (14-14, 4-5) to a, 6-0, lead. In the top of the first inning, Matt Burnett got things started with an RBI single to center field and George Springer followed with a two-run home run over the left field wall. It was Springer’s sixth of the season, and gave the Huskies a, 3-0, lead.
The score remained the same until the top of the fifth when Dale Brannon sandwiched a sacrifice-fly between run-scoring doubles by Pierre LePage and Springer.
Trailing, 6-0, entering the home half of the sixth inning, Pirates sophomore A.J. Rusbarsky (Freehold, N.J.) led off with a walk. Two batters later, senior Chris Affinito (East Brunswick, N.J.) belted his team-leading fourth home run of the season over the left-center field wall, to cut the deficit, 6-2.
After Brannon’s two-run single gave Connecticut an, 8-2, lead in the top of the eighth, the Pirates threatened in the bottom half.
Junior Bobby Abreu (Piscataway, N.J.), Rusbarsky, and senior Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) led off with three-straight singles including a run scoring single by Smedberg. However, it would end there as Connecticut reliever Dusty Odenbach struck out Affinito and induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to junior Chris Spagnuolo (Tabernacle, N.J.).
On the heels of the play, Connecticut picked up an RBI triple from Mike Nemeth and a ground-rule RBI double by Doug Elliot in the visiting half of the ninth for the, 10-3, advantage.
Rusbarsky finished 2-for-4 with a walk and run scored, while Smedberg went 2-for-4 with an RBI to lead the Pirates.
Joe DiRocco (East Hanover, N.J.) (3-2) took the loss allowing five earned runs on eight hits in five innings of work. Greg Nappo (2-2) earned the victory tossing seven innings and surrendering only two runs on four hits.
The Pirates return to action on Thursday when they travel to Villanova for a three-game conference series. Due to the Easter weekend, the two teams will play a doubleheader on Thursday and complete the series on Saturday.
