Six Unanswered Runs Sinks Baseball Against Notre Dame, 7-4
4/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall baseball team carried a 4-1 lead into the sixth inning, however allowed six unanswered runs, including three in the ninth, to fall to Notre Dame, 7-4, in the final game of the three-game series Sunday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field.
After Notre Dame (15-19, 5-7) took an early, 1-0, lead in the first inning, Seton Hall (13-20, 3-9) jumped out to a. 3-1, lead in the bottom of the third. Chris Fontenelli (Toms River, N.J.) was hit by a pitch while next batter Michael Rogers (Portland, Ore.) successfully moved Fontenelli to third on a hit-and-run. Both runners came around to score on a triple by Chris Spagnuolo (Tabernacle, N.J.) for a, 2-1, advantage. After Frank Esposito (Staten Island, N.Y.) drew a walk, Spagnuolo scored the third run when Sean Gusrang (Burlington, N.J.) grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
The Pirates added to the lead when Rogers scored on an Esposito ground out in the fifth. Rogers led off the inning with a single, stole second base, and moved to third on a groundball out to the right side off the bat of Spagnuolo.
Trailing, 4-1, in the top of the sixth, the Fighting Irish tied the score when Brayden Ashdown hit an RBI single and Billy Boockford followed with a two-run single. Later in the inning, Boockford would be thrown out at the plate trying to score the go-ahead run.
With Boockford on third base, Giuseppe Papaccio (Nutley, N.J.) fielded a groundball off the bat of Adam Norton and made a low throw to Esposito at home plate who placed a quick tag on Boockford for the second out of the inning. Pirates' starter Jon Prosinski (Skillman, N.J.) struck out Ryan Connolly for the final out.
Still tied in the top of the ninth, Connolly began to complete the comeback for the Irish when he hit a two-out single. A pass ball off Esposito's glove advanced Connolly to second base and led to an intentional walk to DeSico. With two on and two out, David Mills dropped an RBI single into center field. Centerfielder, Rogers came up throwing to home, but the ball bounced away from Esposito allowing DeSico to move to third base and Mills to second. Casey Martin drove both in with a single for the, 7-4, lead.
Ed Ras (Millstone, N.J.) (1-4) was hit with the loss surrendering two earned runs on two hits in a third of an inning. Will Hudgins (3-1) picked up the win throwing 1.1 perfect innings. Prosinski finished with a no-decision despite a five strikeout outing yielding four runs in seven innings.
Rogers led the Pirate offense ending the day 3-for-5 with two runs scored.
The Pirates will take to the road for the next two weeks beginning with a match-up against NYIT Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
