Seton Hall University
Fairleigh Dickinson
Baseball Walks to 9-2 Rout of FDU
3/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BOX SCORE (.html) | BOX SCORE (.pdf)
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- The Seton Hall baseball team walked 11 times in route to a 9-2 rout of Fairleigh Dickinson for its third straight win on Friday.
The victory gets the Pirates to .500 for the first time this season at 10-10. Since starting the 2015 campaign just 1-8, The Hall has won nine of its last 11 contests.
The Pirates recorded only six hits, but were aided by 11 walks to score nine runs, fueled by a five-run third inning.
The Knights grabbed a 1-0 lead with a run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the third, but the lead didn't last long. Joe Poduslenko (Glen Mills, Pa.) reached base on a throwing error by FDU's third baseman to lead off the bottom of the inning. Zack Weigel (Oak Park, Ill.) walked and Derek Jenkins (Annandale, N.J.) reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Kyle Grimm (Bergenfield, N.J.) followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at one. D.J. Ruhlman (Belle Mead, N.J.) and Sal Annunziata (Bronx, N.Y.) followed with back-to-back walks, the second of which forced in the go-ahead run. Alex Falconi (Freeport, N.J.) hit a sacrifice fly to plate Seton Hall's third run. Tyler Boyd (Succasunna, N.J.) capped the big inning with a two-RBI single to center field to extend The Hall's lead to 5-1.
Meanwhile, Seton Hall starter Zach Prendergast (Horsham, Pa.) was cruising. The sophomore earned his third victory of the season with six innings of two-run baseball, while striking out six and walking just one.
In the sixth inning, Chris Chiaradio (Teaneck, N.J.) walked to lead off and advanced all the way to third on a failed pickoff attempt that sailed wide of first base. Poduslenko and Ryan Ramiz (Freehold, N.J.) drew back-to-back walks to load the bases again for the Pirates. Jenkins followed with a two-RBI single to right field to give Seton Hall an 8-2 lead. The speedy center fielder went from first-to-third on a single by Grimm, and scored The Hall's ninth run on a wild pitch.
Boyd, Grimm and Jenkins all finished with two hits for The Hall.
After Prendergast left, Seton Hall's bullpen retired the last nine FDU batters in order. Senior Dan Ditusa (St. Charles, Ill.) pitched two perfect innings and struck out two, while Luke Cahill (Tinton Falls, N.J.) pitched a perfect ninth.
Seton Hall will return to action tomorrow, but the series with Fairleigh Dickinson shifts to the Naimoli Baseball Complex in Teaneck. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
| LINE SCORE | ||||||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Fairleigh Dickinson (6-7) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| SETON HALL (10-10) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | X | 9 | 6 | 0 |
Win - Zach Prendergast (3-2) Loss - Joe Borelli (0-3) Save - None
