Viera Drives In Three As Pirates Defeat Villanova, 6-3

Plymouth Meeting, Pa. - Junior Max Viera (Greenwood Lake, N.Y.) went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI and the pitching staff combined to allow just two earned runs as Seton Hall clinched its fifth BIG EAST series of the season with a 6-3 win over Villanova on Friday afternoon.

Graduate student Alex Nicolosi (Stony Point, N.Y.) faced the minimum six batters with two strikeouts in two innings of work out of the bullpen to earn the win. Freshman Ryan Reich (Sellinsgrove, Pa.) fanned two in a perfect ninth inning as he registered his second save.

The Pirates picked up their 30th win of the season, their first 30-win campaign since 2018. The Hall also clinched the No. 3 seed at next week's BIG EAST Championship in Mason, Ohio.

THE GAME:

The Wildcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning but after sophomore Daniel Frontera (Red Bank, N.J.) worked a scoreless second his offense helped the cause. With two on and one out, Viera drove in both runners on a double before moving to third on a throwing error. Redshirt junior Staus Pokrovsky (Pittsgrove, N.J.) made it 3-1 Pirates on a sacrifice fly that brought home Viera.

Frontera retired the side in order in the home half of the third and The Hall tacked on three more runs in the top of the fourth. With redshirt junior Will Gale (Scotch Plains, N.J.) at first base with two outs, senior Oscar Murray (Brentwood, Calif.) roped a double to the right center field gap that allowed Gale to score all the way from first. After redshirt junior Jonathan Luders (Lynnfield, Mass.) drew a walk that gave the Pirates runners at first and second, graduate student Alex Clyde (Old Tappan, N.J.) delivered with another two-out hit on a single up the middle that plated Murray and gave The Hall a 5-1 lead. The next batter was Viera and his second double of the ballgame scored Luders, making it 6-1 Pirates.

Villanova tallied runs in the fifth and sixth innings that cut its lead in half, 6-3, but the Seton Hall bullpen retired the next nine Wildcats in order that sealed the Pirates' 30th win of the season.

NEWS & NOTES

Seton Hall has won five straight games and 11 of its last 15.
30 wins for the Pirates are their most victories since winning 30 games in 2018.
30 wins is tied for the most victories in a season since the Pirates won 38 games in 2016.
Five straight wins in BIG EAST play is the most since Seton Hall won six straight against conference foes in 2021.
Seton Hall pitching has allowed only two earned runs over the last 19 innings.
Nicolosi hasn't allowed a run and has surrendered only one hit in four of his last five appearances out of the bullpen.
Reich dropped his conference ERA to 0.64 to go along with 15 strikeouts.
Junior Max Viera (Greenwood Lake, N.Y.) went 2-for-4 with a run scored, giving him 19 multi-hit games on the season.
Viera now has 10 multi-RBI games this season and 20 multi-hit games, tied for the most on the team with Clyde.
Murray went 2-for-4, his 14th multi-hit games this season, with two runs scored and a RBI.
Sophomore Pat D'Amico (Lynnfield, Mass.) went 2-for-4 in his return to the lineup.