Hansen's 9 Ks Not Enough At Butler

Sunday, April 28

Indianapolis, Ind.

1 p.m.

Seton Hall University

21-23, 4-8

Butler

17-26, 3-9

Seton Hall

Butler

Cole Hansen throws a pitch in a game against UMass

4/28/2024 4:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Indianapolis, Ind. — Despite a career-high nine strikeouts in a six-inning start from Cole Hansen (Skillman, N.J.) Seton Hall could not complete a three-game sweep of Butler on Sunday as the Bulldogs topped the Pirates, 3-2.

Seton Hall (21-23, 4-8 BIG EAST), who outhit Butler 10-5 and left 12 runners on base, returns to South Orange with a series victory. After a productive day from the top three batters in the order yesterday, the bottom half of the Pirates' lineup had a strong afternoon with Danny Melnick (Hamilton, N.J.) going 2-for-3, Jonathan Luders (Lynnfield, Mass.) going 2-for-3 with an RBI and Pat D'Amico (Lynnfield, Mass.) going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a double and a home run.

How It Happened

It was a pitcher's duel through the first four innings and Hansen started off his outing by retiring the first 10 batters he faced. Of those 10 outs, four went down by strikeout. The Pirates offense put two runners on in the second and two more in the fourth but couldn't get a run across. Butler took advantage of The Hall's missed opportunities and went ahead on an RBI double in the bottom half of the fourth that gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

The Pirates countered immediately in the top of the fifth inning where the first batter was D'Amico and he tied the score up at 1-1 with one swing on a solo home run. Hansen worked another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fifth but Butler pulled ahead on a solo home run in the sixth and made it a 3-1 lead with another round tripper that led off the bottom of the seventh.

Nate Espelin (Belmont, Mass.) prevented further damage in the seventh by retiring the side and recording two strikeouts. He worked another scoreless frame in the eighth that kept it a two-run game. D'Amico reached to lead-off an inning again in the top of the ninth where he smacked a double to left center field. Luders was the next batter and he sent D'Amico home on a run-scoring single down the left field line that trimmed Seton Hall's deficit to one, 3-2. Despite getting two runners into scoring position with one out, the next two Pirates were sat down in order.

Up Next

The Pirates return to Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium this week starting with a midweek contest against Hofstra on Wednesday at 4 p.m.