Sunday, March 4
Kissimmee, Fla.
10:00 AM
Seton Hall University
4-5
11
vs
3
Youngstown State
1-8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Youngstown State
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
0
0
3
4
2
Seton Hall
0
0
3
1
2
2
3
0
X
11
10
2
Molina, DeVito Lead Pirates Past Penguins, 11-3
3/4/2018 3:14:00 PM | Baseball
KISSIMMEE, FLA. – Senior Al Molina (Freehold, N.J.) had three hits and three RBIs, and starting pitcher Ricky DeVito (Staten Island, N.Y.) tossed six strong innings as the Seton Hall baseball team defeated Youngstown State, 11-3, on Sunday in the Kissimmee Irish Classic finale.
Molina reached base four times, going 3-for-4 with two doubles. His double over the center fielder in the seventh inning came with the bases loaded and drove in all three runs.
DeVito turned in his second straight quality start. The sophomore right-hander pitched six innings and allowed only three unearned runs with six strikeouts and two walks to earn the victory.
Sophomore Matt Toke (Three Bridges, N.J.) launched his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to right-center field in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Turning Point:
With the game scoreless, the Pirates broke through offensively in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Rob Dadona (Staten Island, N.Y.) singled to left field. Molina followed with a double down the left field line, and Mike Alescio (Fair Haven, N.J.) walked to load the bases. Toke then hit a ball hard to short, but Youngstown shortstop Cody Dennis committed an error and two runs came in to score. The next batter, Sebastiano Santorelli (Tuckahoe, N.Y.) grounded to first for an out, but on the play Alescio scored to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
The Pirates' lead increased to 6-0, before a three-run sixth inning for the Penguins cut The Hall's lead in half. Youngstown State didn't score again, but Seton Hall added insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh.
Inside the Numbers:
Seton Hall will return to action on Tuesday, March 6 for a mid-week contest against Central Michigan, also in Kissimmee, Fla. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
Molina reached base four times, going 3-for-4 with two doubles. His double over the center fielder in the seventh inning came with the bases loaded and drove in all three runs.
DeVito turned in his second straight quality start. The sophomore right-hander pitched six innings and allowed only three unearned runs with six strikeouts and two walks to earn the victory.
Sophomore Matt Toke (Three Bridges, N.J.) launched his second home run of the season, a two-run shot to right-center field in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Turning Point:
With the game scoreless, the Pirates broke through offensively in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Rob Dadona (Staten Island, N.Y.) singled to left field. Molina followed with a double down the left field line, and Mike Alescio (Fair Haven, N.J.) walked to load the bases. Toke then hit a ball hard to short, but Youngstown shortstop Cody Dennis committed an error and two runs came in to score. The next batter, Sebastiano Santorelli (Tuckahoe, N.Y.) grounded to first for an out, but on the play Alescio scored to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead.
The Pirates' lead increased to 6-0, before a three-run sixth inning for the Penguins cut The Hall's lead in half. Youngstown State didn't score again, but Seton Hall added insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh.
Inside the Numbers:
- Molina reached base four times, going 3-for-4 with a walk, a run scored, two doubles and three RBIs.
- Seton Hall starting pitcher Ricky DeVito allowed only three unearned runs over six innings with six strikeouts and two walks. He improved to 1-0 on the season with the victory.
- Dadona went 3-for-5 with a run scored.
- Toke drove in three RBIs and connected on his team-leading second home run of the season.
- Santorelli and Casey Dana (Montgomery, N.Y.) hit back-to-back triples in the fifth inning.
- Billy Layne, Jr. (Cliffwood Beach, N.J.), Ryan McLinskey (Pearl River, N.Y.) and Hunter Waldis (Far Hills, N.J.) all pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Both McLinskey and Waldis had two strikeouts apiece.
- Seton Hall had 10 hits, while Youngstown State had only four. Both teams committed two errors.
- Seton Hall left seven men on base, while Youngstown State left 10.
- Youngstown State's Zach Lopatka took the loss. He allowed two earned runs in 3.2 innings pitched.
- The victory improves the Pirates to 4-5 on the young season, while Youngstown State falls to 1-8.
- This was the first-ever meeting between Seton Hall and Youngstown State.
- The Pirates finished play at the Kissimmee Irish Classic with a 2-1 record.
- Seton Hall had a team batting average of .317 this weekend at the Kissimmee Irish Classic, and were led by Toke who batted .600.
- Today was the fourth time this season that the Pirates have reached double-figures in hits.
- Seton Hall improves to 3-0 this season on days that DeVito starts.
- With three hits today, Dadona passed the 50-hit milestone for his career.
- Alescio drew two walks today and has now reached base in eight of Seton Hall's nine games this season.
- Toke has recorded a hit in 18 of his last 20 games, stretching back to the end of last season.
- Seton Hall has now drawn at least eight walks in three straight games after drawing no more than four in the season's first six games.
- The Pirates have struck out exactly 11 batters, a season-high, in five games so far this season.
- The Hall is now 2-0 this season when wearing camouflage caps.
Seton Hall will return to action on Tuesday, March 6 for a mid-week contest against Central Michigan, also in Kissimmee, Fla. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
| WINNING PITCHER | LOSING PITCHER | ||
 |
RICKY DEVITO (1-0) 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 K |
 |
ZACH LOPATKA (0-1) 3.2 IP, 2 ER, 4 BB |
| LINE SCORE | ||||||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Youngstown St. (1-8) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| SETON HALL (4-5) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | X | 11 | 10 | 2 |
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: DeVito, Ricky (1-0)
L: LOPATKA, Zach (0-1)
Batting:
RBI: DICKERSON, Drew 1 ; CARUSO, Nick 1
Base Running:
RUNS: LaBRASCA, Nick 1 ; LOPATKA, Zach 1 ; MASSEY, Nick 1
HBP: LaBRASCA, Nick 1 ; LOPATKA, Zach 1 ; MASSEY, Nick 1
Batting:
2B: Molina, Al 2
3B: Santorelli, Sebastiano 1 ; Dana, Casey 1
HR: Toke, Matt 1
RBI: Molina, Al 3 ; Alescio, Mike 1 ; Toke, Matt 3 ; Santorelli, Sebastiano 1 ; Dana, Casey 1 ; Ramiz, Ryan 1
SF: Ramiz, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dadona, Rob 1 ; Molina, Al 1 ; Alescio, Mike 2 ; Toke, Matt 1 ; Santorelli, Sebastiano 1 ; Dana, Casey 1 ; Dabrio, Nick 1 ; Ramiz, Ryan 1 ; Villa, Chris 2
PO: Dadona, Rob 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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