Pirates Close Out Sugar Land Classic With 9-3 Win Over New Mexico State

Sunday, February 26

Sugar Land, Texas

11 a.m.

Seton Hall University

3-3

New Mexico State

0-6

Seton Hall

New Mexico State

Pirates Close Out Sugar Land Classic With 9-3 Win Over New Mexico State

2/26/2023 4:55:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Sugar Land, Texas - The Seton Hall baseball team saw another stellar performance from a reliever as sophomore Cole Hansen (Skillman, N.J.) tossed 5.1 scoreless innings out of the bullpen with four strikeouts to help lead the Pirates to a 9-3 win over New Mexico State on Sunday afternoon at Constellation Field.

Junior Max Viera (Greenwood Lake, N.Y.) hit the go-ahead home run in the top of the fourth for the Pirates (3-3) as part of 2-for-4 outing at the plate. Sophomore Pat D'Amico (Lynnfield, Mass.) went 2-for-5 with a home run and three runs scored and freshman Ryan Reich (Sellinsgrove, Pa.) struck out two batters in a perfect ninth inning.

Overall, the Seton Hall bullpen faced 27 batters and allowed only four of them to reach while the offense racked up double-digit hits for the third time this season.

How It Happened

For the second consecutive game the Pirates scored first as junior Devin Hack (Somerville, N.J.) scored on a New Mexico State throwing error with two outs that kept the inning alive and a double by junior Zack Sylvester (Montville, N.J.) to the left center field gap drove in a run that made it 2-0. After working out of trouble in the bottom of the first, freshman John Downing (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) surrendered two runs in the second before Hansen came on in relief to record a strikeout that ended the threat and kept it a 2-2 ball game.

After Hansen worked a scoreless third, Viera led off the top of the fourth with a solo home run, his first as a Pirate, that put The Hall back in front, 3-2. The Pirates weren't finished with the long ball in the top of the fifth as D'Amico launched his second home run of the year to left field, extending their lead to 4-2. With two on and two out in the top of the seventh, junior Staus Pokrovsky (Pittsgrove, N.J.) tacked on some key insurance runs thanks to a two-run single up the middle that made it 6-2.

The Aggies trimmed their deficit to three, 6-3, after plating a run in the bottom of the eighth but a three-run top of ninth on an RBI single by Sylvester and a two-run base knock from junior Oscar Murray (Brentwood, Calif.) made it 9-3 Seton Hall, icing the victory.

News & Notes

The win was the 491st career win for head coach Rob Sheppard.
Through six games, the Pirates have three games where they have tallied double-digit hits as a team, something that took 12 games last season.
The Pirates have scored seven or more runs in three games this season, a benchmark that took until the 21st game last season for The Hall to reach.
Seton Hall has scored first in four of its six this season and it's happened in all three of its victories.
Seton Hall committed a season-high four errors.
Hansen set a new career high with four strikeouts and he has fanned six batters in 8.1 innings of work this season.
Viera has now slugged eight career home runs, including the seven he hit in two seasons at Northeastern.
D'Amico's solo home run was his second of the season and the third of his career.
Reich made his second career appearance as a true freshman.

Up Next

Seton Hall will next travel west to California where it will face California Baptist for four games starting Friday, March 3, before taking on UC Santa Barbara for three games starting Thursday, March 9.