Baseball Holds 2015 First Pitch Dinner
1/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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MAPLEWOOD, N.J. - On Thursday, January 29, the Seton Hall baseball team in conjunction with the Pirate Blue Athletic Fund hosted its second annual First Pitch Dinner at Maplewood Country Club.
The event was a celebration of Seton Hall baseball past and present as several former Pirates spanning multiple decades attended the season-opening gala. Among those in attendance were several members of the 1974 and 1975 College World Series teams as well as recent graduates and current minor leaguers such as Scott Kalamar, Conor Krauss and Jose Lopez.
"This annual event is a nice way to gather the Seton Hall baseball community in one room to celebrate our tradition and provide an official start to the new season," said head coach Rob Sheppard. "It's also an opportunity for us to thank our supporters and introduce our newcomers to all of the people that make our program so special."
Sheppard took the time to introduce his 2014 team and asked his six of his seven seniors, Tyler Boyd (Succasunna, N.J.), Dan Ditusa (St. Charles, Ill.), Anthony Elia (Flanders, N.J.), Alex Falconi (Freeport, N.Y.), Kyle Grimm (Bergenfield, N.J.) and D.J. Ruhlman (Belle Mead, N.J.), to stand individually and be recognized. Seton Hall's seventh senior, Sal Annunziata (Bronx, N.Y.), was under-the-weather and did not attend. Sheppard also took the time to acknowledge a number of alum in the room, staff members and his parents, ABCA Hall of Fame Coach Mike Sheppard and Phyllis Sheppard.
Seton Hall paid tribute to Craig Biggio, who will become the program's first-ever inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this July.
Finally, Jim Hunter took to the podium to close the event as a special guest speaker. An accomplished sportscaster for more than three decades, he has been the radio play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Orioles since 1997. Most notably to local ties, Hunter is a native of New Jersey and a graduate of Seton Hall University.
Seton Hall will begin the 2015 campaign on Friday, February 13 for the first of three games at nationally-ranked University of North Carolina. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET. @SHUBaseball via twitter will provide close coverage throughout the games on the road.
