Baseball Walks-Off With Another 1-0 Win Against Louisville

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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - For the second straight day, the Seton Hall Pirates baseball team and the Louisville Cardinals entered the ninth inning locked in a scoreless tie, yet on Friday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field, there would be no extra innings as Frank Esposito (Staten Island, N.Y.) delivered with a two-out walk-off single to give the Pirates their second 1-0 victory in as many days.

The win improves the Pirates overall record to 23-21 with a 9-11 BIG EAST mark, as well as assures them their first conference series victory since the opening weekend at Villanova.

With two-outs in the ninth Dale Anderson (Alberta, Canada) hit a double in the left-center field gap.  After Scott Kalamar (Bethlehem, Pa.) got ahead of pitcher Justin Amlung with a two balls and no strikes count, the Cardinals (25-22, 11-9) decided to intentionally walk the sophomore before summoning hard-throwing closer Tony Zych from the bullpen.

A wild pitch by Zych allowed Anderson and Kalamar to advance ninety-feet before Esposito ripped a line drive single down the right field line to score Anderson for the game-winning run.

Jon Prosinski (Skillman, N.J.) and Amlung were both masterful on the mound just as their counterparts Joe DiRocco (East Hanover, N.J.) and Derek Self were last night.

Prosinski (4-4) completed the game on the mound surrendering only two hits and two walks while striking out five.  No base runner for Louisville made it to third base against the right-handed sophomore, and in addition, they only had two runners on in an inning once.

In the top of the third inning, Cade Stallings hit a one-out single and Adam Engel drew a two-out walk, but Cody Ege grounded out to the right side of the infield to end the inning.  The Cardinals also looked like they would start a rally in the top of the sixth when Engel hit the only other single allowed by Prosinski, but it was quickly erased when Ege grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

On the other side, Amlung (8-1) lasted 8.2 innings allowing one run on four hits while walking four and striking out three.  He allowed his first hit in the bottom of the second to Giuseppe Papaccio (Nutley, N.J.) and did not allow another until a Mike Genovese (Livingston, N.J.) single in the bottom of the seventh.  A.J. Rusbarsky (Freehold, N.J.) and Anderson collected the final two allowed by the right-hander.

Although the Pirates offense could not come through for DiRocco last night to give him a win, Esposito's RBI single gave Amlung his first loss of the 2011 season, leaving DiRocco the only unbeaten pitcher remaining in the BIG EAST Conference.  In addition, Prosinski's win makes him the first Seton Hall pitcher to win two games in his career against the Cardinals.

The Pirates and Cardinals will complete the three-game set tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 11:00 a.m.