Seton Hall University
1-0
North Carolina
0-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seton Hall | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 12 | 3 |
| North Carolina | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 0 |
Pirates Knock Off No. 12 North Carolina In Season Opener, 10-8
2/17/2023 9:37:00 PM | Baseball
Chapel Hill, N.C. - Graduate student Nick Payero (Monroe, N.J.) struck out five batters in four innings of relief and sophomore Pat D'Amico (Lynnfield, Mass.) went 2-for-4 with a three-run home run and an RBI single as the Seton Hall baseball team opened the 2023 season with a 10-8 victory at No. 12 North Carolina on Friday evening.
Payero earned his ninth career win out of the bullpen and the Pirates' offense that shined as they tallied 12 hits, including two home runs from D'Amico and junior Zack Sylvester (Montville, N.J.). The win marked Seton Hall's first win over Tar Heels since 2011 and its 12th win over UNC in the all-time series.
How It Happened
Redshirt junior Will Gale (Scotch Plains, N.J.) set the tone early as he drew a lead-off walk following a 10-pitch at-bat. He then proceeded to steal second base and third before being driven in by D'Amico, giving Seton Hall a 1-0 lead. UNC threatened in the second and third innings but starter Brennan O'Neill (Morristown, N.J.) induced double plays in both frames that kept the Tar Heels off the scoreboard.
With a runner on first and two down in the top of the fourth, the Pirates added to their lead on Slyvester's third career home run, giving Seton Hall a 3-0 advantage. The Tar Heels came back with two runs in the home half but D'Amico countered with a three-run blast in the top of fifth, his second career home run, that pushed the Pirates' lead to four, 6-2.
After North Carolina trimmed its deficit to two, 6-4, following a two-run home half of the fifth, sophomore Jedier Hernandez (Trenton, N.J.) roped a two-out ground rule double and moved to third on an infield single by redshirt junior Mark McNelly (Limerick, Pa.). Redshirt junior Jonathan Luders (Lynnfield, Mass.) sent Hernandez home on a base knock that added an insurance run at the time, 7-4. The Tar Heels would go on to take the lead thanks to a four-run bottom of the sixth but Payero kept UNC off the scoreboard in the seventh and the Pirates entered the top of eighth trailing 8-7.
Seton Hall rattled off three consecutive base hits to start the inning and Luders tied the game up at 8-8 with a sacrifice fly that scored Sylvester from third base. Gale drove in the go-ahead run on an RBI single and redshirt junior Devin Hack (Somerville, N.J.) lifted another sac fly that pushed McNelly across, making it 10-8 in favor of the Pirates. Payero would go on to strike out the side in the North Carolina half of the eighth and he later closed the door with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.
News & Notes
- Seton Hall finished the game with six two-out RBI and hit .545 (6-for-11) with runners in scoring position.
- Defensively, the Pirates committed three errors but turned three double plays.
- The six, seven and eight hitters for Seton Hall — Sylvester, Hernandez and McNelly — went 6-for-15 and crossed the plate five times.
- Gale went 2-for-4 with two stolen bases and an RBI.
- Hernandez tallied his 10th career multi-hit game and had a standout evening behind the plate defensively, making multiple stops on balls in the dirt and throwing out a runner on the base paths.
- Payero allowed only two batters to reach in four innings of work and threw 56 pitches and 36 strikes.
- Head coach Rob Sheppard now has 489 career victories.
- The win gave the Pirates its first road or neutral site victory in a season opener since 2017 when Seton Hall defeated Michigan, 5-4, also on Feb. 17 in Port St. Lucie, Fla.
Up Next
Game two of the series between the Pirates the Tar Heels will take place at 2 p.m. tomorrow and it will be streamed on ACC Network Extra via WatchESPN. Sophomore Daniel Frontera (Red Bank, N.J.) will start for Seton Hall.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Payero, Nick (1-0)
L: Eaise (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Hernandez, Jedier 1
HR: D'Amico, Pat 1 ; Sylvester, Zack 1
RBI: Gale, Will 1 ; Hack, Devin 1 ; D'Amico, Pat 4 ; Sylvester, Zack 2 ; Luders, Jonathan 2
SF: Hack, Devin 1 ; Luders, Jonathan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gale, Will 1 ; Hack, Devin 1 ; D'Amico, Pat 1 ; Pokrovsky, Staus 1 ; Sylvester, Zack 2 ; Hernandez, Jedier 2 ; McNelly, Mark 1 ; Luders, Jonathan 1
SB: Gale, Will 2 ; Viera, Max 1
HBP: Pokrovsky, Staus 1
PO: Gale, Will 1
Batting:
2B: Horvath 1
3B: Horvath 1
HR: Horvath 1
RBI: Horvath 3 ; Cook 2 ; Hawke 1
SF: Hawke 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Honeycutt 1 ; Horvath 2 ; Grintz 2 ; Stokely 1 ; Frick 1 ; Wilkerson 1
SB: Honeycutt 1
CS: Honeycutt 1
HBP: Grintz 1
