Grober, Patten Shine, But Pirates are Edged, 6-5

Saturday, April 6

Plymouth Meeting, Pa. / Ballpark at Plymouth

11:30 AM

Seton Hall University

11-14, 0-1

Villanova

7-20, 1-0

Seton Hall

Villanova

4/6/2019 2:37:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score HOME INFO BOX SCORE

PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA. – Freshman Steve Grober (Hillsborough, N.J.) went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, and Cole Patten (Manasquan, N.J.) tossed three scoreless innings, but the Seton Hall baseball team fell to Villanova, 6-5, in game one of a doubleheader on Saturday.

Patten entered the game in relief to begin the seventh inning, and allowed only one hit over three scoreless innings of relief with five strikeouts and only one walk.

What Happened:
Seton Hall got on the scoreboard first in the top of the first inning thanks to some heady base-running. With two outs and Jerry Huntzinger (Staten Island, N.Y.) on third base, Toke got caught stealing, but intentionally allowed time for Huntzinger to score before being tagged resulting in The Hall's first run. In the bottom of the inning, Villanova got the run back off Pirate starter Ricky DeVito (Staten Island, N.Y.), to tie the game at one.

The Pirates' offense went right back to work in the top of the second inning. Tyler Shedler-McAvoy (Allendale, N.J.) led off with a triple to left-center field gap, then Grober followed with an RBI single through the left side. With one out, Connor Hood (Shrewsbury, Pa.) delivered an RBI single to score Grober and extend The Hall's lead to 3-1.

In the bottom of the second inning, three DeVito walks and four hits led to four Villanova runs to give them a 5-3 lead. The Wildcats added a sixth run on a sacrifice fly off Pirate reliever Blake Espinal (Bronx, N.Y.) in the bottom of the fourth inning.

In the eighth inning, the Pirates rallied for two runs with two outs. With runners on first and second, Grober singled to left field, but the ball squirted past the left fielder all the way to the wall, allowing both runners to score. Grober made it to third base, but was stranded 90 feet away from tying the game.

Inside the Numbers:

Villanova out-hit Seton Hall, 9-to-8. The Pirates committed no errors, while the Wildcats had one.
Grober went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
Toke reached base three times, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.
Patten allowed only one hit over 3.0 scoreless innings of relief. He struck out five and walked one.
Espinal allowed only one run over 3.0 innings of relief. He struck out three and walked one.
DeVito allowed five runs in only two innings with one strikeout and four walks.
Seton Hall left five men on base, while the Wildcats left nine.
Villanova's Gordon Graceffo got the win. He allowed three runs over 6.0 innings pitched.

News & Notes:

The Pirates fall to 11-14 overall and 0-1 in the BIG EAST, while Villanova improves to 7-20 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
Seton Hall falls to 87-44 all-time against the Wildcats and had its nine-game win streak in the series snapped.
Shedler-McAvoy has now reached base in 15 consecutive games, which is the longest active streak on the Pirates.
With two innings today, DeVito passed 100.0 innings pitched for his career.