Pirates Head to Xavier This Weekend

April 13 - 15, 2017
Cincinnati, Ohio - Prasco Park / Hayden Field

SETON HALL (15-14, 1-2) at XAVIER (18-15, 1-2)

Date

Seton Hall
Probable Starter

Xavier
Probable Starter

Live
Video

Live
Audio

Live
Stats

Twitter

Thursday,
April 13
8:00 p.m.

CHRIS
MORRIS
(0-1, 4.05 ERA)
RHP

Zac Lowther
(2-2, 3.60 ERA)
LHP

None

LIVE
STATS

@SHUBaseball

Friday,
April 14
3:00 p.m.

ZACH
PRENDERGAST
(4-2, 3.75 ERA)
RHP

Garrett Schilling
(2-3, 3.60 ERA)
RHP

None

LIVE
STATS

@SHUBaseball

Saturday,
April 15
Noon

TBD

Greg Jacknewitz
(1-2, 3.72 ERA)
LHP

None

LIVE
STATS

@SHUBaseball

PREVIEW:
Seton Hall will return to action this weekend when it travels to Xavier for a three-game series. The first game of the series will be played at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio and will be televised on Fox Sports 1. The second and third games will be at Hayden Field on Xavier's campus in Cincinnati. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

The Pirates opened BIG EAST Conference play last weekend and dropped two of three games at Owen T. Carroll Field to Butler. On Friday, The Hall lost, 6-2. Seton Hall bounced back on Saturday with a 7-1 victory. Cullen Dana allowed only one run over six innings for the win. Mikael-Ali Mogues and Mike Alescio combined for four hits and five RBIs. On Sunday, the Pirates' offense fell quiet again in a 4-1 loss. Al Molina reached base three times, and the Pirates' bullpen allowed only one run over five innings. Ryan Testani tossed three scoreless innings.

SERIES INFORMATION:
This will be the fourth all-time series between Seton Hall and Xavier. The Pirates own a 6-4 all-time series lead with sweeps of the first two, three-game series in 2014 and 2015. Last season, it was Xavier which swept the Pirates at Owen T. Carroll Field. The teams met only one other time, on a neutral field, when Xavier eliminated Seton Hall from the 2014 BIG EAST Championship with a 5-3 victory in Brooklyn.

Xavier enters this weekend with a record of 18-15 overall and 1-2 in the BIG EAST Conference. They're coming off a mid-week loss to Wright State on Tuesday. The Musketeers tied St. John's for the top spot in the preseason BIG EAST poll, but were surprised last weekend by Villanova to begin conference play. The Wildcats beat Xavier in two of three games. Seton Hall and Xavier's lone common opponent so far has been Troy University. The Pirates lost to Troy, 6-3, at a neutral site. The Musketeers opened the season with Troy and split a four-game series.

THINGS TO KNOW:
PIRATES DROP SERIES TO BUTLER
Seton Hall dropped two of three games to Butler to begin BIG EAST Conference play last weekend. The Pirates fell on Friday, 6-2, and on Sunday, 4-1. The Hall defeated the Bulldogs, 7-1, on Saturday. Mikael-Ali Mogues and Mike Alescio provided the offensive punch in the victory.

DANA SHINES
Sophomore Cullen Dana earned the victory in Seton Hall's 7-1 win over Butler on Saturday. Dana allowed only one run over six innings and struck out four batters to improve to 2-3 on the season.

THURSDAY'S GAME ON FS1
Thursday's game at Xavier in Mason, Ohio will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1. The game will also be available on the Fox Sports Go app. Bob Brainerd and Nick Belmonte will provide the action live from Prasco Park. First pitch is scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

NATION'S BEST
Senior Ryan Testani is amongst the nation's best relief pitchers. The right-hander has allowed only one run over 28.2 innings pitched, which is a 0.31 earned run average, which ranks third-best in the country. He has made a team-best 15 appearances.

IMPROVED DEFENSE
After getting off to a difficult start of the season defensively, the Pirates have improved dramatically as of late. Seton Hall has committed more than one error only once in its last 11 games. It has had no errors in five of its last seven games.

NEON LEON
Junior Matt Leon continues to impress out of the bullpen. The right-hander has struck out 11 batters over his last three appearances and has his earned run average down to 1.56.

2100 WINS
Seton Hall's 9-2 victory over Wagner on Wednesday was the 2,100st win in program history. The Pirates are 2,100-1,322-24 all-time.

SENDING THEM DOWN
Seton Hall pitchers have seen their strikeout numbers increase significantly as of late. The Pirates have struck out at least nine batters in eight of their last nine games. The Hall struck out a season-high 12 batters at No. 2 Florida in game two of a doubleheader on March 11.

FREE PIRATE SPORTS NETWORK
For the first time, all baseball broadcasts, both video and audio, will be free of charge on the Pirates Sports Network at SHUpirates.com. All home games will have a free live video stream, while select away contests will have a free live audio stream.

TWITTER
For news, lineups, game action and results, be sure to follow Seton Hall baseball all season long via twitter - @SHUbaseball.