Baseball Completes Sweep Of Louisville With 9-4 Win
5/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - After combining to score two runs in the first 27 innings of the series, the Seton Hall Pirates baseball team and the Louisville Cardinals plated 13 runs Saturday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field with the Pirates finishing ahead, 9-4.
The win completes the first BIG EAST series sweep for the Pirates since 2009 when they won three-straight against Georgetown on April 24-26.
Already ahead, 4-3, in the sixth inning, Seton Hall (24-21, 10-11) broke the game open by sending 10 batters to plate, collecting five runs - four with two outs - on five hits.
Scott Kalamar (Bethlehem, Pa.) led off the inning with a single and scored the frame's first run on a double by Frank Esposito (Staten Island, N.Y.). Mike Betz (Mine-Hill, N.J.) was hit-by-a-pitch to put runners on first and second, which remained the same after Zack Granite (Staten Island, N.Y.) grounded into a fielder's choice.
With two outs, Louisville pitcher Cole Sturgeon threw a wild pitch allowing Betz to move to third and Granite to second. With a base open, the Cardinals intentionally walked Mike Genovese (Livingston, N.J.) to load the bases. Sean Gusrang (Burlington, N.J.) followed with an RBI walk to give the Pirates a, 6-3, lead.
Next batter Giuseppe Papaccio (Nutley, N.J.) hit a ground ball to Ryan Wright at shortstop, but as the fielder attempted a foot race to second base, Gusrang beat him to the bag allowing Granite to score from third. Dale Anderson (Alberta, Canada) then brought Genovese and Gusrang around to score with a two-run single, giving the Hall a, 9-3, advantage.
Louisville would tack on a run in the top of the eighth with an RBI double by Alex Chittenden.
Wearing their white hats with a pink "SH" logo and pink wrist bands in honor of Mother's Day, the Pirates jumped out to an early, 2-0, lead with a two-run triple by Papaccio in the bottom of the first inning. However, the Cardinals, also dressed for Mother's Day with "Louisville" written across their black jerseys in pink and a pink "L" on their black hats, clawed back in the top of the second.
Cade Stallings reached base with a one-out triple and scored the first run allowed by the Pirates in 37.1 innings on a triple by Ty Young. Drew Haynes plated Young with a ground out to the left side of the infield.
Betz broke the, 2-2, tie with a two-run single to left field in the bottom of the fourth. Wright cut the deficit to, 4-3, with his ninth home run of the season over the left-center field wall in the visiting half of the sixth inning.
Brian Gilbert (Toms River, N.J.) (1-2) earned his first collegiate win after allowing three runs on four hits in six innings of work. Matt Koch (4-5) suffered the loss surrendering two runs on three hits in 2.2 innings of relief.
Papaccio led the Pirates' offensive attack with two hits and three RBI, while Betz drove in two runs and scored another. In addition, Esposito picked up two hits and drew a walk and Kalamar finished with two hits and two runs scored.
The Pirates will take the next six days off due to finals, but will return to action on Saturday, May 14 when they open a three-game series at Cincinnati with a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.
