]The Seton Hall baseball team lost all three games of their series with Davidson this weekend.
Davidson opened the scoring in the series opener with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning. The Pirates’ recent success carried into this game, specifically with their second inning surge, as Casey Dana was walked in at his first at-bat and Collin Sheehan followed with a double that brought him home. A two-run single from Jerry Huntzinger and an RBI single from Devin Hack later in the inning gave Seton Hall a 4-2 lead. The lead was extended in the third inning as freshman Zack Sylvester’s single to left center gave Dana his second run of the game to put the Pirates up 5-2.
The Wildcats cut the lead back to two, as a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning closed the gap to 5-3. Seton Hall needed just three more outs to extend their winning streak, but the Pirates ceded their lead to Davidson in the bottom of the ninth. A single to left field gave narrowed the Pirate lead to 5-4 and two consecutive walks with the bases loaded tacked on two more runs for Davidson, giving them a 6-5 win. Dana continued to impress as he was 4-4 offensively Friday evening, and pitcher Brennan O’Neill struck out four in three innings of work.
The second matchup between Seton Hall and Davidson featured a predominantly defensive showing. Pitcher Chris Shine held Davidson scoreless through five innings, continuing his dominance as he has not allowed a run in 2021. A third inning ground-out from Dana gave him his tenth RBI of the season with Huntzinger scoring on the play to put the Pirates up 1-0. Shine’s departure in the sixth inning allowed Davidson to tie the game 1-1 from a wild pitch. In the ninth inning, the Wildcats hit a walk-off double to left center, leaving the Pirates stunned and taking game two, 2-1.
In game three, Davidson took control early with a solo home run in the first inning and an RBI single in the third inning to bring the score to 2-0. The Pirates tied the game in the top of the sixth inning with an RBI groundout from Matt Toke that scored Huntzinger and a Tyler Shedler-McAvoy flyout that scored Hack. The game stayed tied until a seventh inning single put the Wildcats ahead once again. Davidson kept the lead until the end and closed the series with a 3-2 victory.
The Pirates' three losses saw the team's record drop to 5-11 on the season. Seton Hall returns to action in the Bronx on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m., taking on Fordham.
Thomas Donnelly can be reached at thomas.donnelly@student.shu.edu.
