Hall Falls in Heartbreaker as St. John's Rallies

Friday, May 17

Queens, N.Y. / Jack Kaiser Stadium

2:00 PM

Seton Hall University

25-25, 9-8

St. John's

29-21, 8-9

Seton Hall

St. John's

Christian Del Castillo

5/17/2019 7:04:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score HOME INFO BOX SCORE

QUEENS, N.Y. – Junior Christian Del Castillo (Miami, Fla.) doubled and tripled, and freshman Steve Grober (Hillsborough, N.J.) belted a two-run home run, but St. John's rallied with four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the Seton Hall baseball team, 7-6, on Friday.

Leading 6-3 going into the ninth inning, St. John's scored four times off Pirate relievers Sean Miller (Newton, N.J.) and Corey Sawyer (Kearny, N.J.). All four runs were unearned, and two came with two outs.

Del Castillo reached base three times, going 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, a walk, a run scored and two RBIs. Grober was 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk and two RBIs. Both Tyler Shedler-McAvoy (Allendale, N.J.) and Connor Hood (Shrewsbury, Pa.) also had a pair of hits.

On the mound early, it was a youth movement as three freshmen limited St. John's to three runs over 7.2 innings pitched. Brennan O'Neill (Morristown, N.J.) started and scattered just three hits over four scoreless innings.

What Happened:
It was a pitchers' duel between O'Neill and St. John's starter Jeff Belge, the second in two games between the Pirates and Red Storm. Both pitchers were tossing shutouts through four innings.

In the fifth inning, Chris Villa (Staten Island, N.Y.) one-hopped the wall in left-center field with one out. After a strikeout, Shedler-McAvoy drilled a single up the middle to score Villa with the game's first run. Del Castillo followed with a triple high off the wall in left-center field to put The Hall up, 2-0. The lead grew to 3-0 on an errant throw by St. John's third baseman on a grounder by Casey Dana (Montgomery, N.Y.).

In the bottom of the fifth, St. John's got a run back off reliever Cole Patten (Manasquan, N.J.). Nick Payero (Monroe, N.J.) came in with the bases loaded and was able to limit the Red Storm to just one run.

Grober crushed a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the eighth to extend The Hall's lead to 5-1. The Red Storm however, got the runs right back in the bottom of the inning off Payero.

In the ninth inning, an RBI double by Del Castillo gave The Hall a 6-3 advantage, heading to the bottom of the ninth inning.

Inside the Numbers:

St. John's out-hit Seton Hall, 11-to-8. St. John's had two errors, while Seton Hall committed one.
Del Castillo reached base three times, going 2-for-4 with a triple, a double, a walk, a run scored and two RBIs.
Grober was 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk and two RBIs.
Shedler-McAvoy went 2-for-5 with two runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base.
Hood went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
O'Neill scattered three hits over four scoreless innings in a no decision.
Seton Hall left nine men on base, while the Red Storm left 12.
Sawyer took the loss for Seton Hall. He allowed a run on two hits.

News & Notes:

The Pirates fall to 25-25 overall and 9-8 in the BIG EAST, while St. John's improves to 29-21 overall and 8-9 in conference play.
Seton Hall drops to 60-73 all-time against the Red Storm.
Today's start was the 100^th in Shedler-McAvoy's career.
Seton Hall started the same lineup for its eighth straight game today. The Pirates are 5-3 over their last eight games. They are also 5-3 this season at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
Today was Shedler-McAvoy's team-leading 17^th multi-hit game of the season. Additionally, he has now hit safely in 19 of the last 20 games.
It's the first time this season that Seton Hall lost when leading after seven innings. They are now 23-1 when leading after seven innings in 2019.

Next Up:
Seton Hall will return to action tomorrow when it concludes its three-game series at St. John's. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.