Pirates Finish Regular Season at St. John's

May 16 - 18, 2019
QUEENS, NEW YORK – Jack Kaiser Stadium

SETON HALL (25-23, 9-6) at ST. JOHN'S (27-21, 6-9)

Date

Seton Hall
Probable Starter

St. John's
Probable Starter

Live
Video

Live
Audio

Live
Stats

Twitter

Thursday,
May 16
7:00 pm

RICKY
DEVITO
(2-4, 3.96 ERA)
RHP

Joe LaSorsa
(4-5, 2.02 ERA)
LHP

LIVE
STATS

@SHUBaseball

Friday,
May 17
2:00 pm

BRENNAN
O'NEILL
(3-0, 3.75 ERA)
RHP

Jeff Belge
(4-5, 4.37 ERA)
LHP

LIVE
STATS

@SHUBaseball

Saturday,
May 18
1:00 pm

DAVID
FESTA
(3-3, 3.86 ERA)
RHP

Nick Mondak
(1-2, 2.84 ERA)
LHP

LIVE
STATS

@SHUBaseball

PREVIEW:
Seton Hall returns to action this week for its final series of the regular season. The Pirates will again play a three-game set at Jack Kaiser Stadium in Queens, but this time will be the road team as they face host St. John's, Thursday through Saturday. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the game will be televised on FS1.

The Pirates are coming off a three-game sweep of Georgetown in Queens last weekend thanks in large part to strong starting pitching. On Friday, Ricky DeVito allowed only two runs over six innings, and Sebastiano Santorelli had a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning to give The Hall a 6-5 victory. On Saturday, Seton Hall swept a doubleheader, outscoring the Hoyas 13-3 for the twinbill. In game one, junior Noah Thompson tossed six scoreless innings, and Tyler Burnham pitched the final three for the save in Seton Hall's 7-1 win. In game two, David Festa gave up only one run over seven innings in the Pirates' 6-2 victory.

For their efforts last weekend, Thompson was named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week, while Tyler Shedler-McAvoy was added to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll.

SERIES INFORMATION:
Seton Hall and St. John's will resume their very long rivalry this weekend. St. John's owns a 71-60 all-time series lead. Last year, the teams met five times, three in the regular season at Owen T. Carroll Field, and twice in the BIG EAST Championship. The Red Storm won two of the three regular season games at Owen T. Carroll Field. The teams met on Championship Sunday in the BIG EAT Tournament with Seton Hall needing to sweep a doubleheader to win the title. The Hall won 19-2 in game one, but was shut out by MVP Jeff Belge, 7-0, in game two. Ricky DeVito had a 1.17 ERA in two starts against the Red Storm last season.

St. John's enters the weekend with a 6-9 BIG EAST Conference record, needing victories to clinch a BIG EAST Championship berth. Most recently, the Red Storm dropped two of three games in Omaha against Creighton. Four teams enter the final weekend separated by just 1.5 games, all vying for the final berth... St. John's (6-9), Butler (5-9), Georgetown (5-10) and Villanova (4-10).

THINGS TO KNOW:
THOMPSON PITCHER OF THE WEEK
For the second time this season, Noah Thompson was named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week. The right-hander scattered four hits over six scoreless innings with six strikeouts and two walks in Seton Hall's 7-1 victory over Georgetown in game one of a doubleheader on Saturday.

SHEDLER-MCAVOY HONOR ROLL
For the third consecutive week, Tyler Shedler-McAvoy was honored by the BIG EAST. Named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll, the junior batted .417 last week and hit safely in all three games. In game one of Saturday's doubleheader, he had two doubles and two RBIs.

CLINCHED
For the ninth consecutive season, Seton Hall has clinched a berth in the BIG EAST Championship. The Pirates can finish no lower than fourth place in the final BIG EAST standings and have guaranteed at least a .500 record in conference play. The Hall can still earn as high as the No. 2 seed, but a No. 3 seed is most likely.

PIRATES SWEEP HOYAS
For the first time in over a year, the Pirates swept a BIG EAST opponent in a three-game series. The Hall had a thrilling walk-off victory over Georgetown on Friday, 6-5, in 10 innings. On Saturday, Seton Hall swept a doubleheader, defeating Georgetown 7-1 in game one and 6-2 in game two. The Pirates have now won four of five BIG EAST series this season.

WALKING OFF
For the first time this season, Seton Hall won a game when trailing after seven innings. The Pirates rallied from a 5-4 deficit with a run in the eighth inning against Georgetown on Friday. In the bottom of the 10th, senior Sebastiano Santorelli drilled an RBI single with two outs to drive in the game-winning run in Seton Hall's 6-5 thriller.

LEAGUE LEADER
Junior Tyler Shedler-McAvoy currently leads the BIG EAST with 20 stolen bases for the season. Additionally, the Player of the Year candidate ranks sixth in the conference with a .321 batting average, fifth in RBIs, sixth in hits, seventh in doubles and eighth in runs scored.

NATIONAL TV
All three games this weekend will be shown nationally. Thursday's contest will be featured on FS1 with familiar faces John Fanta and Dave Popkin on the call. Friday's game will be on the BIG EAST Digital Network and Saturday's contest is a CBS Sports Network broadcast.

STRIKEOUTS APLENTY
Seton Hall's 454 strikeouts currently lead the BIG EAST Conference with seven pitchers with at least 30 strikeouts already. Last season, the Pirates had 471 strikeouts, their most since 1985. That year, The Hall struck out a team-record 497. With at least five games remaining in the season, the Pirates would need to average only 7.4 strikeouts per game to set the record. Currently, SHU is averaging 9.5 strikeouts per game.

A LEGEND PASSES AWAY
On April 6, former Seton Hall student-athlete, coach and administrator Mike Sheppard, Sr. passed away at the age of 82. The skipper was the head coach of the Pirate baseball program for 31 years compiling 998 victories and guiding The Hall to four College World Series appearances. He was a member of several Halls of Fame and leaves a significant legacy on all who were fortunate enough to have known him.