Baseball Defeats Fordham, 9-2

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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall baseball team scored six runs on four hits while sending 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning to break open a, 2-2, tie en route to defeating Fordham, 9-2, Tuesday evening at Owen T. Carroll Field.

Giuseppe Papaccio (Nutley, N.J.) and Dale Anderson (Alberta, Canada) started the inning with back-to-back singles.  A throwing error by Rams' third baseman Brian Kownacki off the bat of Mike Genovese (Livingston, N.J.) allowed both runners to score and the sophomore from Livingston to advance to third.  Scott Kalamar (Bethlehem, Pa.) plated Genovese for the, 5-2, lead.

With one out and no runners on base, Dillon Hamlin (Colts Neck, N.J.) and Will Walsh (New Milford, N.J.) singled while Zack Granite (Staten Island, N.Y.) walked to load the bases.  A.J. Rusbarsky (Freehold, N.J.) drew a walk, Sean Gusrang (Burlington, N.J.) was hit-by-a-pitch, and Papaccio hit a sacrifice fly to left field for the, 8-2, advantage.

Rusbarsky drove in his third run of the game with a groundout to the left side of the infield in the bottom of the eighth for the Pirates ninth run.

Early in the game, both teams traded sacrifice flies beginning with Gusrang who scored Granite from third in the bottom of the first inning.  Steve McSherry tied the game in the top of the second with an RBI fly out of his own to left field.

Fordham took the lead in the top of the third inning which began when Kownacki was hit-by-a-pitch and came around to score on back-to-back singles by Ryan Lee and Chris Walker.

Seton Hall tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Walsh reached base on a one-out bunt-single up the third base line, stole second base, and scored on a two-out base hit by Rusbarsky.

The Rams looked to break the tie in the top of the sixth.  With Ryan Maghini on third and Ryan Phelan on first and one out, the Hall summoned Greg Terhune (Washington, N.J.) in relief of Frank Morris (Levittown, Pa.).  The sophomore left-hander struck out lefty Nick Martinez before he and Hamlin teamed up for the final out.  A wild pitch got past Hamlin, but the freshman catcher raced to the ball and tossed it to Terhune covering home plate who slapped a tag on Maghini to end the inning.  Seton Hall used the turn of momentum to break the game open in their half of the sixth.

Terhune (4-4) evened his 2011 record with the victory after tossing 1.1 scoreless innings of relief striking out two.  John Flanagan (1-1) suffered the loss yielding three runs on six hits in three innings of relief.  Morris received a no decision allowing only two runs while striking out four in 5.1 innings or work.

Walsh led all hitters finishing the day 4-for-4 with two stolen bases and three runs scored.  Genovese went 2-for-3 with a walk, a run scored, and an RBI, in addition to finishing the game on the mound throwing a scoreless ninth inning striking out one.

The Pirates return to action Thursday when they begin a three-game series against Georgetown.  First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.