Prosinski Pitches Baseball To Victory Over USF, 6-0

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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Jon Prosinski (Skillman, N.J.) pitched 7.2 scoreless innings and the Seton Hall baseball team reversed its misfortunes from yesterday afternoon's seven inning to defeat USF, 6-0, and salvage the series Sunday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field.

Prosinski earned his third win of the year to even his 2011 record by yielding only four hits and one walk while striking out six Bulls batters.  He was aided by the Pirates offense today that picked up six runs on 10 hits including three insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Yesterday, the Pirates bullpen was unable to hold a two run lead in the top of the seventh, but the Pirates made sure today's seventh inning would help their chances of defeating a conference rival.

Already ahead, 3-0, Frank Esposito (Staten Island, N.Y.) led off with a walk, moved to second base on a successful sacrifice bunt by Mike Betz (Mine-Hill, N.J.) and third base on a base hit by Zack Granite (Staten Island, N.Y.) - which chased Bulls' left-handed starter Matt Reed for righty Zack Pietrzyk.

With runners on first and third and one out, A.J. Rusbarsky (Freehold, N.J.) dropped a bunt down the third base line.  Bulls' catcher Andrew Long quickly fielded it, but dropped the ball as he went to tag a charging Esposito.  The senior from Staten Island scored on the play, while the freshmen from Staten Island, Granite, used his speed to move to third base.  Following batter Dale Anderson (Alberta, Canada) also dropped a bunt down the third base line, however this time neither Longley, nor third baseman Jonathan Koscso could make a play on either runner allowing Granite to score and Anderson to reach first base.  Sean Gusrang (Burlington, N.J.) completed the scoring with an RBI single through the right side of the infield for the, 6-0, advantage.

It didn't take long for the Pirates to give Prosinski a lead to work with, as they plated two runs in the bottom of the second.

With one out and Giuseppe Papaccio (Nutley, N.J.) standing on first base, Ryan Sullivan (Stony Point, N.Y.) was hit-by-a-pitch putting runners on first and second.  After Reed induced a popped up off the bat of Ryan Parker (Glen Allen, Va.) for the second out, Esposito pulled a pitch into left field to score Papaccio and Betz followed with a RBI single to right field scoring Sullivan.

Clinging to the, 2-0, lead in the visiting half of the fifth inning, USF looked to cut the deficit in half with Chad Taylor on third base and two outs.  With Koscso at the plate, Prosinski's curve ball hit off home plate and catcher Esposito bouncing 20 feet in the air.  With Esposito searching for the ball, Taylor raced for home plate, but so was Prosinski who caught the ball and slapped a tag on Taylor in one motion for the final out of the frame.

The Pirates' offense then added a third run when Sullivan drove in Gusrang with a two-out RBI double down the right field line in the bottom of the sixth.

Gusrang finished the game 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Granite and Betz each picked up two hits.  Sullivan ended the afternoon reaching base safely three times with a double, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch.

After Prosinski, Rick Mangione (Orange, Conn.) and Benny Mejia (Paterson, N.J.) closed the door on the Bulls pitching a final 1.1 perfect innings.

Reed (2-3) suffered the loss allowing five runs on six hits in 6.1 innings of work.

The Pirates return to the field on Tuesday for a non-conference home game against NYIT.  First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.