Baseball Loses 2011 Home Opener To Manhattan, 6-3
3/16/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall baseball team cut a four-run deficit to, 5-3, in the bottom of the eighth inning, but Manhattan came back to score a run in the ninth to defeat the Pirates, 6-3, Wednesday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field.
Trailing, 5-1, entering the bottom of the eighth inning, Ryan Sullivan (Stony Point, N.Y.) led off with a bunt single and moved to second base when Zack Granite (Staten Island, N.Y.) drew a walk. Each runner advanced one base on a successful sacrifice bunt off the bat of Mike Genovese (Livingston, N.J.) before Will Walsh (New Milford, N.J.) drove them home with a two-run single through the right side of the infield. The Jaspers then summoned Jacob Marchus from the bullpen, who induced two hard-hit ground outs by Sean Gusrang (Burlington, N.J.) and Giuseppe Papaccio (Nutley, N.J.) to end the threat.
After Chad Salem drove in Mark Onorati from second base on a ground rule double to left field in the top of the ninth, John Soldinger shut the door with a perfect bottom of the ninth for his first save of the year.
Manhattan took an early lead with an RBI double by Yoandry Galan in the top of the second inning, but Granite tied the score with an RBI single through the left side of a drawn-in infield scoring Sullivan from third base in the bottom of the third.
The score remained tied until the fifth when the Jaspers loaded the bases with one-out leading to Austin Sheffield plating the go-ahead run when he was hit-by-a-pitch. Ramon Ortega gave his team a, 3-1, advantage with an RBI single to right field one batter later.
Salem added insurance with a run-scoring single in the visiting half of the seventh, and Mike McCann scored the fifth run for Manhattan from third base when Sheffield grounded into a 5-4-3 double play.
Granite finished the game with a single, a walk, a run scored, and an RBI, while Sullivan went 2-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored. Walsh finished with two RBI.
Jon Prosinski (Skillman, N.J.) (0-2) suffered the loss tossing 4.1 innings allowing three runs on six hits striking out two. Jared Hirschberg (1-0) picked up the win with three scoreless innings in relief surrendering one hit and striking out three.
The Pirates return to the field on Friday when they open the 2011 Rawlings Strike Out Cancer Tournament with a game against Fordham. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
