Sheehan pushes Seton Hall past Kent State, 7-4

Sunday, March 14

Kent, OH

1 p.m.

Seton Hall University

3-7

Kent State

6-5

Seton Hall

Kent State

3/14/2021 5:20:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Festa earns the win after tossing 3.1 innings of scoreless and hitless relief.

KENT, Ohio – Senior Collin Sheehan (Doylestown, Pa.) hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning to lift the Seton Hall baseball team to a 7-4 win over Kent State on Sunday.

Junior David Festa (Verona, N.J.) earned the win for the Pirates after tossing 3.1 innings of scoreless and hitless relief with three strikeouts. Sophomore Chris Shine (South Plainfield, N.J.) didn't allow an earned run and struck out four in 2.2 innings of relief of starter Ryan McLinskey (Pearl River, N.Y.).

After the Golden Flashes – a perennial power in the Mid-American Conference – tied up the score at 4-4, senior Casey Dana (Montgomery, N.Y.) led off the seventh inning with a walk. He then moved to third following a double off the bat of sophomore Staus Pokrovsky (Pittsgrove, N.J.). Sheehan then stepped to the dish and golfed a pitch low and in off the right field foul pole that gave the Pirates the lead, 7-4. It marked his first career home run as a Pirate.

Feshman Zack Sylvester (Montville, N.Y.) got the day started right with a solo home run – the first of his career – in the top of the first that gave Seton Hall an early 1-0 lead.

A sacrifice fly off the bat of senior Jerry Huntzinger (Staten Island, N.Y.) that plated Sheehan made it 2-0 Pirates in the top of the second. With two on and two out, Sylvester delivered again, this time with an RBI single that sent home senior Mike Esposito (Chester, N.J.) and extended the Seton Hall lead to 3-0.

With the Pirates leading 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Kent State pushed two runs across that cut their deficit to 4-2. Two more runs in the home half of the sixth knotted up the score at 4-4 before Sheehan's home run and Festa's work on the mound shut the door on the Golden Flashes.

The Pirates will be on the road once again next weekend as they travel to George Washington for a three-game series beginning on Friday, March 19.