On April 26, the Seton Hall Pirates picked up another win, this time an 11-0 shellacking of Saint Peter’s. The win was the Pirates’ sixth straight, after sweeps of Rutgers and Georgetown last week. The Pirates cruised to the win behind their stellar pitching staff, setting them up well for their upcoming series this weekend against Big East leader St. John’s.
The Pirates broke the game open early, scoring six runs in the second inning. Although the runs were all unearned due to walks and errors, right fielder Jackson Martin hit a two-run homer, his first of the season. He was surprised to see a homer come off his bat.
“The first pitch was a backdoor breaking ball for a strike,” Martin said. “I was thinking about bunting the next pitch but I decided to swing away and I got a pitch I could do something with.”
[caption id="attachment_18955" align="aligncenter" width="838"]
Billy Layne, Jr. was one of six pitchers who took the mound. Photo via SHU Athletics.[/caption]
Martin finished the game 1-2 with two runs and two RBIs. Centerfielder Ryan Ramiz and first baseman Matt Toke also had big days at the plate for the Pirates. Ramiz went 2-4 with a run scored and three RBIS. Toke, the hard-hitting freshman, finished his day going 3-5 with a run scored and one RBI.
Junior Chris Morris started on the mound for the Pirates, but he went just two innings. Because of SHU’s big series against St. John’s this weekend, coach Rob Sheppard wanted to keep his pitchers fresh and give multiple arms a chance to throw.
“We only had one game this week so we wanted to break up the innings more and give some guys some opportunities and they did a good job,” Sheppard said.
After, Morris followed Billy Layne, Jr. and Andrew Politi, who also pitched two innings each, mowing down the St. Peter’s lineup. Matt Ponsiglione, Matt Leon and Ryan Testani finished out the game for the Pirates, throwing an inning each. As a whole, the team only allowed one walk and three hits. Sheppard was pleased with his staff’s performance.
“We were very efficient and threw strikes,” Sheppard said. “We only faced four more batters than the minimum so guys were really efficient and did a good job.”
The Pirates will look to carry their momentum into their crucial series against Big East rival St. John’s.
“We just need to stay consistent and carry over what we have been doing the last week and a half,” Sheppard said.
The Pirates will travel to Queens, N.Y. for the first game of the series this Friday at 3 p.m.
Andrew Lombardo can be reached at andrew.lombardo@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @Iombardo_andrew.
Comments
