Payero, Pirates Blank Creighton In Series Opener, 7-0

Friday, May 12

South Orange, N.J.

6 p.m.

Seton Hall University

26-22, 8-8

Creighton

23-20, 9-7

Creighton

Seton Hall

Nick Payero throws a pitch against NJIT in 2022

Payero, Pirates Blank Creighton In Series Opener, 7-0

5/12/2023 10:13:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

South Orange, N.J. - Graduate student Nick Payero (Monroe, N.J.) twirled a gem, tossing 7.1 scoreless innings with no walks and seven strikeouts, and the Seton Hall offense tallied 12 hits and pushed across seven runs as the Pirates took the series opener against Creighton in convincing fashion, 7-0, at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium on Friday night.

The win put the Pirates back at .500 in the BIG EAST with a record of 8-8 and it drops the Bluejays to 9-7 in the league

Payero improved to 4-2 on the season. Junior Devin hack (Somerville, N.J.) went 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored, classmate Zack Sylvester (Montville, N.J.) went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Redshirt junior Staus Pokrovsky hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season.

THE GAME:

Sophomore Jedier Hernandez (Trenton, N.J.) opened the scoring the bottom of the second with two outs when he laced a double down the left field line and Hack scored all the way from first base. Sylvester followed and tacked on another two-out hit that plated Hernandez, giving the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

Payero sat down the next six Bluejays that stepped to the plate and his offense continued to help him out. With one out, Pokrovsky lifted a towering fly ball to center field that went over the fence for his eighth home run of the season. Later, Sylvester drove in another run on a sacrifice fly that made it 4-0 Seton Hall.

Payero retired the side in order again in the fifth, making it nine batters sat down in a row, and blanked Creighton again in the sixth. Seton Hall meanwhile took advantage of Creighton miscues as it scratched a run across on a wild pitch in the fifth and another wild pitch in the sixth. The latter wild toss was followed by a balk that plated another run, extending the Pirates' advantage to 7-0.

With one on and one out in the top of the eighth, Payero's night was finished as he left to an ovation. Freshman Michael Gillen (Rochelle Park, N.J.) came and induced a double play ball that junior Max Viera (Greenwood Lake, N.Y.) took himself at second base before tossing to first for the final out. Junior Michael Ciminiello (Saint James, N.Y.) finished off Creighton in the ninth.

NEWS & NOTES

Seton Hall pitching surrendered only one walk.
The Pirates now have four shutouts this season.
Spots six through nine in the Seton Hall batting order went 9-for-15 with three RBI and five runs scored.
Hernandez posted his 13th multiple-hit game this season.
Sylvester now has 13 multi-hit games this season.
Gale posted his 14th multi-hit performance of the year.
Hack has four three-hit games this season and 17 total multi-hit performances.
Hack is up to hitting .469 (30-for-64) in BIG EAST play.
Murray, who also had an outfield assist on Firday night, extended his hitting streak to nine games.
Pokrovsky's eight home runs this season are tied for the second most for a Pirate since 2009 with Casey Dana.
Payero's 7.1 innings pitched is the longest outing of his career.
Gillen drops his minuscule ERA to 0.39 and has still allowed only one earned run this season.