Baseball Tops Villanova 10-5 to Cap BIG EAST Opener
3/27/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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By: Kevin Fountain
The Pirates defeated the Villanova Wildcats 10-5 with the help of a seven run third inning to take their first BIG EAST series win and improve their record to 10-10.
The Pirate lead was blasted open in the third inning with the help of a grand-slam over the right field fence by junior Will Walsh (New Milford, N.J.). The third inning scoring rally began when Mike Genovese (Livingston, N.J.) successfully executed a safety squeeze to bring home Frank Esposito (Staten Island, N.Y.).
With the help of a passed ball, an RBI single to center by Dale Anderson (Alberta, Canada), a walk, and a Wildcat error, the Pirates were able to send Walsh to the plate to break open the Pirates offense and jump out to a 7-3 lead.
Although the Wildcats scored three runs in the first inning to jump to an early 3-0 lead, the Pirate pitching staff was able to shut down the Wildcat offense until the ninth inning when they allowed two more runs to cross the plate.
The Pirate pitching was led by sophomore Jon Prosinski (Skillman, N.J.) who came in with two outs in the first inning to throw 6.1 innings of shutout ball. Prosinski was backed up by freshman Brian Gilbert (Toms River, N.J.) and closer Ryan Harvey (Manalapan, N.J.) to secure the victory for the Pirates and take the series 2-1. Prosinski (1-2) was awarded the win and Jerry Battipaglia (2-1) went on to receive the loss. Seniors Sean Gusrang (Burlington, N.J.) and A.J. Rusbarsky (Freehold, N.J.) added to the Pirate lead in the sixth as Gusrang crushed an RBI triple to right field and Rusbarsky lined an RBI double down the left field line to extend the lead to 9-3. Later in the seventh, freshman Zack Granite (Staten Island, N.Y.) tacked on another run with an RBI single into right field to give the Pirates their tenth run of the game. The Pirates continue in action on Tuesday afternoon when they host Rider with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 PM.
