The baseball team came just short of a ninth-inning comeback in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to Manhattan in the first SHU Strike Out Cancer tournament of the year. A two-out triple in the bottom of the ninth inning from freshman Scott Kalamar gave the Pirates renewed hope. Junior A.J. Rusbarsky followed with a walk on four pitches before what looked to be a bloop single to center for the game-tying run was caught by Jaspers center fielder Kevin Nieto. The loss drops the Hall to 5-8. It also ended the team's three game winning streak.Manhattan meanwhile improved to 8-4 on the season. In the second inning, sophomore Will Walsh drew a bases loaded walk to give the Piratesa 1-0 lead. The team tacked on another run in the third when sophomore Mike Betz drove in a run with a double. Those would be the last Pirate runs of the day as Manhattan would retake the lead in the top of the fifth with three runs, leaving a 3-2 lead for the Jaspers that would not change. Betz finished the game with a walk and run scored to go along with his RBI double. Junior Sean Gusrang collected two of Seton Hall's eight hits. Ryan Harvey (0-2) took the loss after surrendering three hits and a run in .2 innings of relief work. The loss came on the heels of a comeback victory against the Seawolves of Stony Brook Tuesday evening at Owen T. Carroll Field. The Hall put the first two runners in the bottom of the 11th inning on base. Chris Spagnuolo and Chris Fontenelli were walked and hit-by-pitch respectively. After a successful bunt advancing both runners, from freshman Kalamar, Walsh was intentionally walked. Junior A.J. Rusbarsky then brought home the winning run with a sacrifice fly to right field. The exciting finish came one inning removed from tying the game after needing two runs in the bottom of the 10. With the Seawolves up 4-2 and one-out, a two-run double from junior Frank Esposito plated both Walsh and Rusbarsky, paving the way for the 11th inning fireworks. Six Pirates collected hits in the game, including Esposito and Rusbarsky.They both also picked up two RBIs each.Seton Hall was out-hit by Stony Brook 8-6 and committed two errors to one, but managed to notch the victory. Freshman Mike Genovese picked up his first victory after throwing two scoreless innings in relief. The Pirates will return this weekend at Owen T. Carroll Field in the second Strikeout Cancer Weekend of the season. They play host Iona, Central Connecticut State and Stony Brook. Seton Hall opens the weekend with Iona on Friday. First pitch is set for noon. Zachary Cziryak can be reached at zachary.cziryak@student.shu.edu.
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