From March 12 to 16, the Seton Hall baseball team was in Port Charlotte, Fla. competing in the Snowbird Classic. Out of the five games that the team played, it won two of them. Heading out of the break, the team sits at a 3-12 record.
The Pirates played Bucknell in their first game, winning by a convincing margin of 12-1. Brennan O’Neill started on the mound and pitched four scoreless innings, having seven strikeouts and only giving up two hits. Christian Del Castillo went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and came a single short of hitting for the cycle.
Matt Toke also went 3-for-4 and had two RBIs, including his second home run of the year. Connor Hood joined in on the fun and tacked on a 2-for-3, two RBI performance.
The Pirates’ next game was against Kansas, which resulted in a 7-4 defeat. Starting pitcher Nick Payero had a rough day on the mound, going only an inning and two-thirds, walking four batters, getting no strikeouts, and allowing two earned runs. The game was tied 4-4 going into the bottom of the eighth, but Kansas scored three runs in the inning to secure the win. Sebastiano Santorelli had the best day at the plate for the Pirates, going 3-for-4 and scoring two runs.
Seton Hall’s then took a 7-4 loss to Saint Joseph’s. Ricky DeVito started on the mound for the Pirates, going a strong five innings, giving up only one run, and striking out nine batters. From there, the bullpen gave up six runs to put the game out of reach for the Pirates. Toke and Jerry Huntzinger collected three hits each, while Hood, Steve Grober, and Casey Dana had two hits each.
Seton Hall finished off its time in Florida with two consecutive games against Harvard. The Pirates won the first game, 7-4, as Noah Thompson pitched five effective innings, allowing three runs, striking out eight batters, and collecting the win. Dana shined for Seton Hall at the plate and went 2-for-3 with a home run and scored three runs. Toke also had a solid 2-for-3 day and drove in a run.
The Pirates’ second game versus Harvard resulted in a 6-2 defeat. Seton Hall’s starting pitcher David Festa pitched a rough three and two-thirds innings, giving up nine hits, allowing five runs, and having six strikeouts. The Pirates did not have their best game at the plate, as they could only muster three hits as a team. Furthermore, no Pirate collected an RBI, as their runs came off a wild pitch and an error.
Seton Hall will return to the area when it plays at Wagner on March 19. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.
Joseph Ippolito can be reached at joseph.ippolito@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @joeippy.
