The Pirates traveled down the shore to face the Monmouth Hawks in a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader to grab two victories led by phenomenal pitching.
Junior Sydney Babik started in the circle in the first matchup, and Seton Hall won, 10-1. Freshman Kyra Kreuscher tossed the second, and the Hall won, 3-0.
After walking the first batter of the game, Babik found her groove and retired eight of the next 10 batters she faced. Her only hiccup came in the third inning when Monmouth’s Mackenzie Bloss knocked in a run. By that time, Babik had received quite a bit of run support, and Seton Hall led 7-1.
Babik pitched two more scoreless innings, and the Pirates held on to win 10-1. The Arizona native finished the contest with five innings pitched, five hits given up, one earned run, five strikeouts and two walks.
Offense wasn’t hard to come by in the first game for the Pirates as seven different players recorded a hit and eight came around to score. Catcher Erin Howard did her part racking up three RBIs on two hits and a run scored.
Sophomore Olivia Gilbert also had a nice day at the plate with two hits, one of which resulted in an RBI, and scoring twice. Plate discipline was on full display in the first match as Seton Hall only recorded one strikeout in the matchup.
Kreuscher got the nod for the late afternoon game and reached the bar Babik had set. The freshman brought her ERA below 2.00 by pitching seven scoreless innings. She had more strikeouts than hits given up, five strikeouts to four hits and only walked one batter.
Seton Hall provided enough offense to capture the victory, and, after seven innings, the Hall won its second game of the afternoon, 3-0.
Gilbert’s good day at the plate continued in the second game. She cracked a solo homerun in the sixth inning to give Seton Hall a 3-0 lead. Gilbert had two hits in three at-bats, tallying an RBI and a run. Andrea Perez and Kelsey Carr logged the previous two runs in the fourth and fifth inning, respectively. A team effort in the seventh inning helped Kreuscher and company secured the five-hit shutout.
Seton Hall garnered 16 hits across both games and didn’t commit an error in either. 10 total strikeouts from both pitchers also helped get the job done.
The squad will be back in action on Friday, taking on St. John’s at home at 2 p.m. to begin Big East play.
Louis Pasculli can be reached at louis.pasculli@student.shu.edu.
