Seton Hall University
East Tennessee State
Walk-Off Sends Baseball to Defeat
2/23/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
JOHNSON CITY, TENN. - Chris Riopedre hit a two-out, walk-off home run off Mike Genovese (Livingston, N.J.) to break an 8-8 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning and send the Seton Hall baseball team to a heartbreaking 9-8 defeat on Saturday.
Seton Hall (0-4) led 8-5 entering the eighth inning when East Tennessee State struck for three runs to tie the game, setting up the Buccaneers ninth inning theatrics.
Senior Ryan Sullivan (Stony Point, N.Y.) got the Pirates on the board first with a solo home run to lead off the top of the third inning. The blast is his first of the 2013 season and fourth of his career. A sacrifice fly by Kyle Grimm (Bergenfield, N.J.) later in the inning plated the Pirates second run.
In the top of the fourth inning, Seton Hall continued its offensive onslaught. Jon Beaubien (Livingston, N.J.) walked with one out and sophomore Tyler Boyd (Succasunna, N.J.) drove him in with a double to right center field. Genovese followed with a single up the middle to score Boyd and extend the Pirates lead to 4-0.
Handed a 4-0 lead, Seton Hall starter Anthony Elia (Flanders, N.J.) ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth. ETSU scored five times on five hits to take a 5-4 lead.
But the Pirates' offense wasn't done and exploded for four runs with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. With Genovese on second and Zack Granite (Staten Island, N.Y.) on first, the Pirates reeled off four straight hits, with RBIs going to Grimm, Scott Kalamar (Bethlehem, Pa.), Sal Annunziata (Bronx, N.Y.) and Giuseppe Papaccio (Nutley, N.J.). When the smoke cleared, the Pirates held an 8-5 advantage.
Junior Brian Gilbert (Toms River, N.J.) had been rolling since entering the game in relief to start the fifth inning, but ran into trouble in the eighth. After an error allowed ETSU's leadoff batter to reach first, Andrew Green launched a two-run home run, his second of the series, to cut the Pirates' lead to 8-7. Then with two outs, Alex Reynolds singled home the tying run.
East Tennessee State batters have now hit five home runs in the first two games of the series. Seton Hall pitchers allowed only 13 home runs in all 58 games last season.
Tyler Boyd reached base four times for Seton Hall with an RBI double and three walks. Grimm reached three times and was 2-for-3 with a team-best two RBIs.
The Pirates will return to action tomorrow afternoon for the third and final game of their series with East Tennessee State. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 pm.
