O'Neill, Bats Lead Pirates Past No. 11 Florida, 6-4

Sunday, March 13

Gainesville, Fla.

12 p.m.

Seton Hall University

1-12

Florida

13-4

Seton Hall

Florida Gators

O'Neill, Bats Lead Pirates Past No. 11 Florida, 6-4

3/14/2022 12:38:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By Mark Mincolelli

Gainesville, Fla. — The Pirates rode stellar pitching performances by senior right-hander Brennan O'Neill (Morristown, N.J.), sophomore bullpen option Zane Probst (Mill Hall, PA.), and senior reliever Joe Cinnella (Mahwah, N.J.), to a 6-4 victory Sunday over No. 11 ranked Florida. The win marked Seton Hall's first against a nationally ranked opponent since May of 2018, when the Pirates defeated No. 17 St. John's.

O'Neill tossed 5+ innings in which he struck out nine Gators, walking just one. He yielded only four hits en-route to his first win of 2022: one that could prove to be tide-turning for the Pirates.

Probst and Cinnella entered the game in relief of O'Neill, combining for a pair of punch outs and three hits through four total innings. Probst worked a pair of shutout frames, including a crucial stop in the fifth, where he stranded an inherited runner. Cinnella earned a save, the first of his Pirate career. The left-hander worked in-and-out of trouble in the ninth giving up an earned run, but he halted the damage there. Cinnella closed the game out, stranding one Gator.

Offensively, Will Gale (Scotch Plains, N.J.) led the way going 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs batted in, while junior Staus Pokrovsky (Pittsgrove, N.J.) registered a pair of hits of his own complimented by a clutch RBI. Freshman third baseman Patrick D'Amico (Lynnfield, Mass.) scored twice in the meeting.

How It Happened

The Pirates took advantage early on offense with small-ball tactics and plate discipline. A Collin Sheehan (Doylestown, PA.) sacrifice bunt cashed in Seton Hall's first run, and Gale's first hit on the day tacked on another in the third inning. Sheehan later walked-in a run, stretching the Pirate lead to 3-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Gators left fielder Wyatt Langford deposited a home run, his fifth of the season, but O'Neill would limit the damage at that, retiring each of his next three batters. As O'Neill continued to compile zeros beyond the solo long-ball, the Seton Hall offense capitalized on its own opportunities: specifically, those with runners in scoring position.

Pokrovsky slashed an RBI-single through the left side plating D'Amico in the sixth, but when the Gators responded in the bottom half with two runs of their own, the Pirates found their lead trimmed, up just 4-3.

Like they had all game, the bats went to work, and Seton Hall responded yet again: this time plating two more runs (one of which was unearned). Gale singled into right field, and Pokrovsky generated an error that scored D'Amico again: a battery that seemingly kept on delivering. Gale, the 2021 All-BIG EAST second team selection, tacked on his 51st and 52nd hits as a Pirate Sunday afternoon, driving his career batting average up to an impressive .306.

With a commanding three-run lead in hand, Cinnella closed things out in a nail-biter, bending a bit in the ninth, but never folding. He fanned one Gator in his two innings of closing. The Pirates got their first win of the season in dramatic fashion, knocking off a top-11 team in the country.