Seton Hall bats come alive late in 10-2 win over Illinois

Saturday, February 15

Winston-Salem, N.C.

10 a.m.

Seton Hall University

1-1

Illinois

1-1

Seton Hall

Illinois

Seton Hall bats come alive late in 10-2 win over Illinois

2/15/2020 3:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Clyde racks up four RBI in the Pirates’ first win of the 2020 season

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Senior Connor Hood (Shrewsbury, Pa.) hit a go-ahead, three-run double in the top of the eighth inning and sophomore Alex Clyde (Old Tappan, N.J.) went 2-for-5 with four RBI in Seton Hall's 10-2 win over Illinois on Saturday at Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Senior Casey Dana (Montgomery, N.Y.) drove in two runs and senior Tyler Shedler-McAvoy (Allendale, N.J.) posted three hits and an RBI single for the Pirates (1-1). Sophomore Cole Patten (Manasquan, N.J.) earned the win for the Hall after tossing 3.0 scoreless innings and striking out three. In his first start of the season, senior Noah Thompson (Frisco, Texas) struck out three and allowed two earned runs in 6.0 innings of work.

Illinois, an at-large NCAA regional team last season, dropped to 1-1 on the season.

What Happened:
Illinois put up runs in the first and second innings to take an early 2-0 lead but Thompson settled in and blanked the Illini in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

In the top of the sixth, Shedler-McAvoy led off the frame with a base hit up the middle. He later moved all the way to third base on a bad pick off attempt by the pitcher. That set the stage for Dana who, with one out, sent a 2-2 pitch to right field that was deep enough to score Shedler-McAvoy from third, cutting the Hall's deficit to one, 2-1.

Patten came on in relief in the bottom of the sixth and he retired six of the first eight batters he faced, including the first two batters of the seventh inning by strikeout.

The floodgates opened for the Pirates in the eighth, kickstarted by walks from junior Jeremy Huntzinger (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Shedler-McAvoy. A bunt single from senior Matt Toke (Three Bridges, N.J.) loaded the bases but the next two Pirates could not get a run across. Then Hood stepped to the dish and delivered, crushing a 1-2 pitch to the right center field gap that cleared the bases and put the Hall ahead, 4-2.

Clyde was the next batter and he ripped the second pitch he saw over the left field fence, extending the Pirates' lead to 6-2.

The Hall wasn't done there as Shedler-McAvoy registered an RBI single, Dana picked up an RBI on a fielder's choice and Clyde scored two on a single through the right side that made it 10-2 Seton Hall in the top of the ninth. Junior Sean Miller (Newton, N.J.) came one for the home half of the inning and retired the Illini in order to close out the victory.

News & Notes:

Shedler-McAvoy registered his 35th career multi-hit game and the eighth three-hit game of his career.
Clyde's home run in the eighth was the first of his career and he set a new career high with four RBI. He now has five multi-hit performances and five multi-RBI games as a Pirate.
Hood matched his career best with three RBI.
Freshman Devin Hack (Somerville, N.J.) recorded his first collegiate hit in the top of the second before leading off the top of the ninth with a base hit, marking his first career multi-hit game.
Dana now has 15 multi-RBI games in his career.
The win for Patten was the second in his time at the Hall.
Seton Hall didn't commit an error while capitalizing on Illinois' lone error of the game that allowed Shedler-McAvoy to move from first to third in the top of the sixth inning.
The win marked the first time Seton Hall scored at least 10 runs against a Power Five opponent since its 10-7 at Oklahoma State on March 16, 2018.

Up Next:
The Pirates will wake up early again tomorrow to take on Milwaukee at 10 a.m. There is no live stream but live stats can be found on the baseball schedule page on SHUPirates.com and live updates can be found on Twitter by following @SHUBaseball.