Seton Hall University
Mercer
Mercer Tops Pirates In Pitcher's Duel, 1-0
4/1/2022 7:30:00 PM | Baseball
South Orange, N.J. — Despite a strong start by graduate student Hunter Waldis (Naples, Fla.) where he allowed only two hits and struck out five in seven innings of work, Mercer came out on top of the pitcher's duel as the Bears edged the Seton Hall baseball team, 1-0, on Friday at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium at Owen T. Carroll Field.
Junior Christopher Shine (South Plainfield, N.J.) came on in relief of Waldis and retired all six batters he faced, including two by way of the K. Waldis and Shine held Mercer, which entered the game hitting .309 as a team, to only two hits on the day.
How It Happened
Waldis retired six of the first seven batters he faced and the Pirates picked up a base hit off the bat of senior Steve Grober (Hillsborough, N.J.) in the bottom of the second but they couldn't capitalize. The Bears loaded the bases with no one out in the top of fourth and were able to plate on a run on a sacrifice fly. Waldis, though, was able to battle back and pick up back-to-back strikeouts to prevent further damage.
Both teams were retired in order in the fifth and sixth innings before the Bears threaten to extend their lead in the top of the seventh. Mercer had two runners in scoring position with two outs but Waldis induced a ground ball up the middle that Grober fielded and tossed to first base for the third out.
Shine then entered the game and threw two clean innings to keep the Mercer bats at bay. Freshman Pat D'Amico (Lynnfield, Mass.) led off the bottom of the ninth with a base hit down the right field line and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by junior Staus Pokrovsky (Pittsgrove, N.J.). A wild pitch moved D'Amico to third base with one out but back-to-back strikeouts ended the Seton Hall threat.
Up Next
The Pirates and Mercer will wrap up the series tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Both games will be streamed on the Pirate Sports Network via FloSports.
