Pokrovsky's Walkoff Home Run Catapults Pirates Past Villanova, 5-4

Saturday, May 14

South Orange, N.J.

12 p.m.

Seton Hall University

16-33, 5-11

Villanova

18-26-1, 8-9

Villanova

Seton Hall

Pokrovsky's Walkoff Home Run Catapults Pirates Past Villanova, 5-4

5/14/2022 4:06:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score WATCH THE WALKOFF HOME RUN ON YOUTUBE

South Orange, N.J. - Heading into the ninth inning trailing 4-1 and down to its final strike on multiple occasions, the Seton Hall baseball team kept fighting and fighting, and on the eighth pitch of his at-bat junior Staus Pokrovsky (Pittsgrove, N.J.) launched a walkoff, three-run home run to catapult the Pirates past Villanova, 5-4, in a thriller at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium Saturday.

The thrilling end completed a four-run ninth inning for the Pirates, who had their backs against the wall as Villanova had a three-run lead with two outs in the inning.

The game was supposed to be the first of a doubleheader, but impending rain forced a postponement of game two, which will now be made up on Sunday at 11 a.m.

How It Happened:
Seton Hall trailed going into the bottom of the ninth, 4-1, despite allowing just three Villanova hits. Seven walks and five hit batters gave the Wildcats enough ammunition to take the lead.

Junior Jonathan Luders (Lynnfield, Mass.) led off the ninth inning by beating out an infield single to the shortstop hole, and then he stole second base. Villanova then retired the next two batters, leaving the Pirates down to their final out. Freshman Jedier Hernandez (Trenton, N.J.) then repeated the Luders move by chopping a groundball to the shortstop hole and beating it out for an infield single and setting up first and third. Hernandez was pinch-run for by freshman Jack Wentworth (Wakefield, R.I.).

Freshman Michael Callan Moss (Brooklyn, N.Y.) then came to the plate and on a 2-2 pitch chopped a ground ball up the third base line. Pitcher David Rivera fielded it cleanly, but his throw pulled the first baseman off the bag for an error. Luders scored to make it 4-2 and put runners on first and second.

That brought Pokrovsky to the plate and he took a strike and two balls before fouling off three straight pitches. He took the 2-2 pitch for a ball, and on the next pitch he got a fastball and drilled it to deep left-center for his walkoff home run and sending the Pirates into a frenzy at home plate.

Pirates Celebrate the Staus Pokrovsky Walkoff Home Run at Home Plate

Numbers & Notes

Seton Hall out-hit the Wildcats, 8-3.
Pirates pitching struck out 10 batters to Villanova's eight, though The Hall was much wilder with its seven walks and five hit batters.
The difference in the game may have been the ability to hit with runners in scoring position. The Pirates were 3-for-9 in that situation; the Wildcats were just 1-for-10.
Villanova left 10 runners on base to Seton Hall's four.
Pokrovsky and Hernandez were the lone Pirates to have multi-hit days. They were both 2-for-4.
Pokrovsky also scored Seton Hall's first run of the day on an infield single by junior Devin Hack (Somerville, N.J.).
Senior Alex Nicolosi (Stony Point, N.Y.) was credited with the win after two solid innings of shutout relief. He gave up no hits, walked one and struck out three.
Sophomore Michael Ciminiello (Saint James, N.Y.) also gave the Pirates 2-1/3 shutout innings of relief. He came into the game with the bases loaded in the second inning and coaxed a flyout to centerfield to prevent Villanova from breaking the game open.
This was Seton Hall's third walkoff win of the season and the first coming on a home run. The first two walkoffs were against Monmouth on March 29 and against Saint Peter's on April 19.
The Pirates lead the all-time series, 93-45, and have won 15 of the last 17 games in the series.