The Seton Hall Pirates were able to get their first Big East win of the year with a 7-1 win over the Butler Bulldogs Saturday afternoon.
Cullen Dana picked up his second win of the year after pitching six innings of one-run ball while striking out four. Dana's lone run given up came on a home run in the third inning but the sophomore left-hander improved as the game went on.
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Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption]
"I wasn't really getting ahead early on and things weren't going my way," Dana said. "I wanted to simplify things and get some strikes and swings to make the defense work a little bit which worked out for me."
After only managing to get across two runs in the first game of the series, the Hall rebounded with seven today in the win.
Mikael-Ali Mogues got the Pirate offense started early, with a RBI in the home half of the first. Mogues would also seal the victory with two more RBIs in the bottom of the eighth. The senior first baseman was able to extend his hitting streak to seven consecutive games in the process.
"I've been able to keep my confidence and trusting what I need to do in order for me to be successful," Mogues said. "Confidence is definitely important but also being able to stick to what I do best and, for me, that's being able to drive the ball to all fields."
After having the game tied up at one in the top of the third, the Pirates came back to make the score 4-1. Following back to back singles by Matt Fortin and Mogues, Mike Alescio energized the Pirate offense with a two-run triple. Alescio was promptly driven in by the next batter, Matt Toke, who hit a sacrifice fly to left field. Toke also added another RBI on a single in the fifth to bring his total to 10 runs batted in on the year.
The Seton Hall bullpen was able to shut the door as a combination of Billy Layne, Zach Schellenger and Ricky DeVito shut out the Bulldogs over the final three frames while only giving up one hit in the process.
The Pirates will look to win the series Sunday with first pitch scheduled for noon at Owen T. Carroll Field. Junior Shane McCarthy will toe the rubber for the Pirates in the rubber match.
Nick Santoriello can be reached at nicholas.santoriello@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @NickSantoriello.
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