Errors and weak pitching led to the Seton Hall baseball team’s fifth straight loss to open the season, as the squad fell, 2-1, to Dayton on Saturday afternoon.
In the previous four games, the Pirates were unable to get a win, but they did not suffer any major errors. Against Dayton, however, Seton Hall racked up two errors which lead to an unearned run in the second inning.
The Pirates used five pitchers in nine innings, limiting the Flyers to three hits. While the pitchers were able to limit the number of hits, they walked seven players. The Pirates’ weak pitching efforts were made more obvious by Dayton’s pitcher, Hunter Wolfe, throwing a complete game in which he only allowed four hits.
In two innings, Cole Patten allowed one unearned run and struck out four batters in his first career start for the Pirates. Patten was able to keep the damage to a minimum in the second inning by striking out two batters to end the inning only down by one.
After the second inning, Patten was replaced on the mound by David Festa, who tossed three scoreless innings.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Pirates were able to even the score. Jerry Huntzinger singled up the middle and stole second base, allowing him to score on Alex Clyde’s single. Huntzinger’s run gave Clyde his third RBI of the season. Huntzinger was the only Pirate who was able to get multiple hits in the game, going 2-for-3.
Starting at the bottom of the fifth, Tyler Burnham threw two hitless innings before Mark Diaz took over on the mound. Diaz allowed one run in one-third of an inning and was replaced with Corey Sawyer to close out the game.
The Pirates out hit the Flyers four to three but their errors got the best of them as the Flyers had none.
The Pirates will return to action on March , when they begin a three-game series at Virginia.
Brittany Tomore can be reached at brittany.tomore@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @BrittTomore.
