In their highly anticipated home opener at Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium this season, the Seton Hall men’s baseball team delivered a commanding performance, defeating the Wagner Seahawks, 14-6, and improved their record to 3-4 on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
To start the season, the Pirates went 1-2 in the MLB Desert Invitational in Phoenix, Arizona, which included an impressive 15-3 win over Austin Peay. They also went 1-2 in their following series against the College of Charleston in South Carolina. In the first two games of the series, the Pirates suffered two consecutive losses to the Cougars, where they were unable to score more than two runs in either game (1-4 and 1-8, respectively). However, the Pirates bounced back in the series finale, securing an 8-5 win, as the Pirates recorded 15 hits while holding the Cougars to just six.
Their opponents, the Wagner Seahawks, came into the game with a 3-3 record this season, after opening with a 1-2 series loss against Indiana State, and 2-1 in their following series against Merrimack. Playing two more games than Seton Hall, the Seahawks had a record of 26-30 last season and were fourth in the Northeast Conference with a 21-12 mark in conference play.
The Pirates finished with a record of 24-30 last season and were seventh in the Big East standings. They hoped to improve on that record this season, starting with a win against Wagner in their home opener.
Graduate left-handed pitcher Patrick Benn took the mound for the Pirates, opening the game with a quick inning by retiring Wagner’s first three batters with a flyout, groundout, and foul out.
In the bottom of the first, sophomore outfielder and leadoff batter A.J. Soldra hit the first pitch thrown by Wagner’s right-handed pitcher A.J. Hiestand to center field. Graduate infielder Marco Ali followed with his own hit to center field as the Pirates had players on first and second early in the inning. After sophomore outfielder Aiden Robbins advanced the runners to second and third, a sacrifice flyout resulted in a run as Seton Hall led 1-0 going into the second inning.
After consecutive flyouts to right field ended Wagner’s at-bat, Seton Hall extended their lead with two runs in the second inning. The first came when junior infielder Nick Ferri stole home after a triple from sophomore catcher Kevin Milewski. A sacrifice flyout to center field from graduate infielder Andrew Bianco resulted in an RBI as Nick Ferri scored and the Pirates led 3-0 to wrap up the inning.
Wagner finally scored in the third inning, capitalizing on four consecutive walks to trim Seton Hall’s lead to 3-1. A deep hit to center field by sophomore infielder Joseph Mennellla was nearly a grand slam for Wagner but was caught just short of the warning track. Seton Hall regained their three-run lead in the bottom of the third as a triple to center by senior catcher Jimmy Brennan, another New Jersey native, scored a runner to put the Pirates ahead 4-1.
After three consecutive groundouts for the Seahawks at the top of the fourth, the Pirates would score six runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 10-1 lead. With one out, Milewski hit a line-drive solo home run making it 5-1, prompting a pitching change for Wagner. Following the change, a series of errors for the Seahawks would extend the Pirates lead to five as Seton Hall scored to make it 6-1.
Another runner then scored for the Pirates after Wagner picked off one of Seton Hall’s runners attempting to steal second base. The Pirates offensive onslaught continued as Robbins hit a single to center field to score Ali from second, extending the lead to 8-1. With a runner on, Brennan then delivered a massive home run to left field, which ricocheted off the parking garage and made the game 10-1.
The impressive six-run fourth inning for the Pirates virtually secured the win for them, as they would then add four more runs in the next two innings while holding Wagner to just one through the first seven innings.
Although Wagner mounted a late comeback where they scored five runs in the last three innings, including a four-run seventh inning, it was not enough for them to take the lead as the Pirates won, 14-6.
With four hits, including his first home run of the season, Milewski led the Pirates with three runs and one RBI in four at-bats. Brennan also hit his first home run of the season, while recording a game-high four RBIs and scoring twice. Robbins, who was named Big East Player of the Week after his strong performance in Arizona, followed with two hits, two runs, and three RBIs in four at-bats as the Pirates dominated in this game offensively.
With three different Seton Hall pitchers each recording three strikeouts of their own, the Pirates struck out 12 Seahawks, as Benn earned the win in his season debut as a starter.
The Pirates’ record currently stands at 4–7, as they head to Philadelphia for a two-game series against Saint Joseph’s starting Friday, March 7 at 1 p.m.
Zachary Mawby is the head editor for The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at zachary.mawby@student.shu.edu.
