Strong Bullpen Performance Not Enough In 4-3 Loss To Xavier

Saturday, April 9

South Orange, N.J.

1 p.m.

Seton Hall University

7-22, 1-1

Xavier

16-16, 1-1

Xavier

Seton Hall

Strong Bullpen Performance Not Enough In 4-3 Loss To Xavier

4/9/2022 5:31:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

South Orange, N.J. - Despite a strong bullpen effort and multi-hit games from redshirt sophomore Will Gale (Scotch Plains, N.J.) and senior Alex Clyde (Old Tappan, N.J.), Xavier was able to even up the three-game series at one game a piece as the Musketeers topped the Seton Hall baseball team, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium at Owen T. Carroll Field.

Sophomore Michael Ciminiello (Saint James, N.Y.) tossed 4.1 innings of scoreless and hitless relief with three strikeouts and senior Nick Payero (Monroe, N.J.) struck out four and allowed one unearned run in three innings out of the bullpen.

How It Happened

For the second time in as many games, Seton Hall got on the scoreboard first. Gale led off with a single to left field and later moved to third following back-to-back walks. An RBI groundout off the bat of senior Steve Grober (Hillsborough, N.J.) gave the Pirates an early 1-0 lead.

Xavier's next time at bat they drove in three runs, giving itself a 3-1 lead, but the Hokies countered in the home half of the second. The Pirates got the lead off runner on again, this time thanks to a base hit by Clyde, and senior David Haberman (Morristown, N.J.) drove him home on an RBI double to the outfield wall. With The Hall now trailing 3-2, junior Jonathan Luders (Lynnfield, Mass.) moved Haberman over to third base on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt. With one out, Gale drove a 3-2 pitch back up the middle that allowed Haberman to score easily from third and knot the score up at 3-3.

Ciminiello, who enter the game in second inning, did his job and kept the Musketeer bats quiet. Him and Payero retired nine straight Xavier batters until the top of the eighth where the Musketeers took advantage of a Seton Hall error that would have been the first out of the inning. The runner would later come around to score the go-ahead, eventually leading to a 4-3 Xavier victory.

Up Next

The rubber game of the three-game series between Seton Hall and Xavier will go down at 12 p.m. tomorrow at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium.