Behind two one run victories the Seton Hall baseball team took both games of a doubleheader against No. 20 South Florida to improve their winning streak to 11 games. Both wins ensure a series victory and puts the Pirates one game out of first place in the Big East.
"Anytime you play conference games at home, especially when you have the opportunity to change in the standings is good," head coach Rob Sheppard said. "I think we've been playing our best baseball lately. There is a lot of confidence right now and guys are doing their job."
Game two saw the Hall hold on to 4-0 first inning lead to win 5-4 while game one was a pitcher's duel as the Hall pulled out the 3-2 victory.
"When you win some close games against good teams it boosts your confidence," Sheppard said. "Guys were playing confident all along and this was a good win."
Senior Giuseppe Papaccio knocked in the first run of game two with a sacrifice fly to left scoring junior Zack Granite and two batters later sophomore Sal Annunziata hit a hard grounder to a diving shortstop that knocked off the glove, scoring two more.
Four runs was enough for senior Greg Terhune who only allowed three Bulls to reach base through the first five innings. Terhune ran into trouble in the sixth aloowing two unearned runs after an error at third base with two outs allowed the inning to continue.
The senior finished the day going 7.2 innings, allowing eight hits, three runs, one earned while striking out four with 107 pitches. For the second time on the day junior Brian Gilbert finished the game on the mound earning his third save of the season after picking up the win in game one.
"It makes it easier when you get quality starts and guys do a really nice job out of the bullpen," Sheppard said. "We had two really good starts and (Gilbert) gave us great effort out of the pen in both games and Jose did a nice job.
The decision to bring Gilbert back in for the second time was easy according to Sheppard because "Gilbert wanted in."
The first game of the day was a battle between both team's aces. Senior Jon Prosinski for Seton Hall and freshman Jimmy Herget for South Florida.
The scoreboard was full of zeros through five innings with both teams recording two hits each. South Florida broke the scoreless tie with the help of a leadoff triple to right centerfield to start the sixth off the bat of sophomore Kyle Teaf.
Back to back doubles from sophomore Sal Annunziata and sophomore Tyler Boyd tied it at one and two sacrifices later Boyd crossed the plate to give the Pirates the lead.
South Florida came right back to tie it at 2-2 in the top of the eighth to knock Prosinski out of the game and bringing in Gilbert. The Pirates quickly responded in their half of the inning scoring leadoff batter Zack Weigel on a RBI single by Papaccio.
Gilbert faced only four batters in the ninth to earn the victory.
The Hall goes for the sweep of the Bulls tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Owen T. Carroll Field.
"It would be big to get a sweep against the (No. 20 team)," Genovese said. "We don't get as much respect so we'd finally get some respect if we sweep them."
