Scotto, Toke Stay Hot In Loss To Crieghton At BIG EAST Championship

Thursday, May 27

Mason, Ohio

2:30 p.m.

Seton Hall University

23-24

Creighton

24-13

Seton Hall

Creighton

Photo: Shawn McLaws

Scotto, Toke Stay Hot In Loss To Crieghton At BIG EAST Championship

5/27/2021 7:32:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Pirates will play the loser of Connecticut and Xavier tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

MASON, Ohio – Despite standout performances by graduate student Matt Toke (Three Bridges, N.J.) who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and was a home run short of the cycle and junior Justin Scotto (Tinton Falls, N.J.) who went 4-for-5 with three runs scored, the Seton Hall baseball team fell in the opening round of the 2021 BIG EAST Championship Presented by Jeep to Creighton, 8-7, on Thursday afternoon at Prasco Park.

Junior Joe Cinnella (Mahwah, N.J.) threw four innings of relief, three of which were scoreless frames, and senior Ryan McLinskey (Pearl River, N.Y.) gave up one earned run and struck out four batters in four innings. Junior Alex Clyde (Old Tappan, N.J.) went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a sacrifice bunt and senior Jerry Huntzinger (Staten Island, N.Y.) also registered three base hits at the top of the lineup.

Seton Hall (23-24) will now face the loser of Connecticut and Xavier tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. in an elimination game.

In the top of the first, sophomore Jonathan Luders (Lynnfield, Mass.) stood on second base after reaching on an error and moving to second on a balk with two outs. The next batter was Toke who stepped to the plate and punched a 1-0 pitch to the gap in left center field that went all the way to the wall. The ball kicked out into center field and Luders came around from second to score. Toke ended up on third base, giving him his third career triple and the first since his freshman year in 2017.

McLinskey ended the bottom of the inning with his first strikeout of the day. In the top of the second, Scotto dropped a one-out base hit into right field for the first runner of the inning and redshirt freshman Will Gale (Scotch Plains, N.J.) followed with a base hit of his own. That set the stage for Huntzinger who laced a two-out single back into center field. Scotto scored from second and it extended the Seton Hall lead to 2-0.

Following a clean bottom of the third, McLinskey found some trouble in the bottom of the fourth where he had the bases loaded with two outs and a 3-0 count on the hitter. After tossing his first strike of the at-bat, Huntzinger made a snap throw to first base that picked the runner off for the final out of the inning.

Creighton struck in the bottom of the fifth with four runs to take a 4-2 lead. Cinnella came on in relief of McLinskey in that frame and he minimized the damage before tossing a near perfect sixth were he allowed a leadoff hit but retired the next three in order.

That's when The Hall started to chip away at the lead. Huntzinger led off the top of the seventh with a base hit and he moved to second on a balk. With two outs, Toke dropped a bloop single into center field for his second hit of the game that cut the deficit to one, 4-3.

After another scoreless frame from Cinnella in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Pirates were in business again in the top of the eighth. Scotto led off the frame with his third base hit of the day and he advanced to second after Clyde executed a sacrifice bunt. Huntzinger was intentionally walked to put runners at first and second with two outs. That brought Luders to the dish who chopped a single through the left side, scoring Scotto from second and tying the game up at 4-4.

The Pirates added to their lead in the top of the ninth. Toke kick started the inning with a double before being lifted for sophomore Devin Hack (Somerville, N.J.) as a pinch runner. That brought graduate student Connor Hood (Shrewsbury, Pa.) to the plate and he delivered the go ahead run as Hack scored on a single through the left side. Seton Hall went station-to-station after that as an RBI single by Scotto pushed Hood across and Clyde plated Scotto with an RBI single down the left field line, making it 7-4 Seton Hall.

It wouldn't be enough though as Creighton took advantage of some costly walks to score four runs in the ninth inning and win it, 8-7.