The Seton Hall baseball team will continue its 13-game road trip when they travel to Johnson City, Tenn. for a three-game series against East Tennessee State this weekend.
The Pirates dropped their first two games of the season by a combined score of 18-2 to No. 1 North Carolina.
Senior right-hander Jon Prosinski pitched seven strong innings, giving up three hits and only one run in the season opener. His outing earned him a spot on the Big East Weekly Honor Roll.
The single run Prosinski allowed would be the difference in the game as the Pirates fell to the Tar Heels 1-0.
"I can't say that I was disappointed with the way I pitched," Prosinski said. "I just try to go out there and give my team the best shot to win and I look forward to carrying that same approach into the rest of the games this season."
The Pirates had an opportunity to take the lead in the ninth inning with one out and two runners in scoring position, but were unable to convert.
"This weekend was a good barometer for us to really focus on things we need to work on," head coach Rob Sheppard said. "Some of the stuff we're going to focus on this week in practice is situational hitting and being more of a threat offensively as a team.
The second game of the series was not as low scoring as North Carolina trounced the Pirates by a score of 17-2.
"We need to play more fundamental baseball," Sheppard said. "We didn't take advantage of opportunities at the plate or drive runners in, and on the mound we did not compete in the strike zone."
Despite the loss, senior outfielder Scott Kalamar reached base four times on three walks and his second home run of his career.
Kalamar also recorded a stolen base and scored the only two runs for Seton Hall.
After losing their season opener, the East Tennessee State Bucs won their next two games to take the series against Penn State.
The Bucs offensive attack was led by junior outfielder Clinton Freeman, when he went 8-10 with a double, triple, three home runs, five RBI and three walks over the weekend.
These statistics earned Freeman the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honors.
East Tennessee State is coming off a recent victory over Wofford by a score of 12-10 on Tuesday.
Freeman kept a hot bat blasting another home run and adding two RBIs and two runs in the victory.
The Pirates hold the all-time advantage over the Bucs 3-0, but the teams have not played each other since 1985.
The teams will begin the series with the Bucs on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Mike Romano can be reached at michael.romano1@student.shu.edu.
