The Seton Hall baseball team dropped its second straight game of the series to the Florida Atlantic Owls on Saturday, 11-3. The game in Boca Raton, Fla. was ended in the eighth inning, because of rain.
Despite taking the early lead, Seton Hall put itself in a hole against the Owls, as the Pirates gave up a run in the second and a crippling nine runs in the third.
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Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption]
The third inning was truly a blip for Seton Hall, as the Pirates bullpen from then on was able to muster together five innings, in which they only gave up one run and two hits. Freshman Ryan McLinskey led the platoon of Pirate relief pitchers, with 3.1 innings of work and five strikeouts. Despite their efforts, though, the damage had been done.
Starting pitcher Andrew Politi struggled to contain the Owls in his outing, giving up seven runs and seven hits. He faced 17 hitters in his 2.1 innings on the mound, striking out five of them.
Florida Atlantic was able to break through in their nine-run third inning by bringing 15 hitters to the plate, as the Owls sent not only Politi to the dugout, but Matt Ponsiglione as well. Ponsiglione relieved Politi in a difficult situation, but could not prevent more damage, as he was charged with three of the nine runs that Florida Atlantic scored in the inning.
The Pirates early lead came as a result of the team’s two most productive players at the plate, as the team’s number one and two in batting average, Rob Dadona and Sebastiano Santorelli, both drove in a run.
Santorelli, currently batting .372, gave Seton Hall the 1-0 lead with an RBI-single in the first inning. Then Dadona, who is leading the team with a .382 batting average, gave the Pirates the 2-0 lead with an RBI-single of his own.
The Pirates tacked on another run in the eighth inning from Ryan Lutz, with Ryan Ramiz able to score on a fielder’s choice.
The finale to the Pirates series against Florida Atlantic, and with it their seven-game trip in Florida, will take place on Sunday, March 11 at 11 a.m.
Robert Fallo can be reached at robert.fallo@student.shu.edu.
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