It was a beautiful sunny day at Owen T. Carroll field in South Orange as the Seton Hall Pirates faced off against LIU-Brooklyn in the final game of their three-game series Sunday, and lost, 2-1.
Both pitchers were on early, as Seton Hall did not put a hit on the board until the last batter in the order, Connor Hood, laced a single up the middle into center. Seton Hall had no other hits and no runs with four strikeouts through three innings.
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Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption]
It was Shane McCarthy on the mound for Seton Hall, who had four strikeouts and no runs given up through five innings.
“What was working for me today was my command on my pitches, I wasn’t getting into deep counts, and I had my teammates there to make the plays behind me,” McCarthy said.
The first time the Pirates were able to make some noise on offense was in the fifth when Mike Alescio reached first on a single, which he followed with a stolen base to second. Sebastiano Santorelli was then walked and a double steal put the Pirates with runners on second and third, one out. Alescio was thrown out at the plate with a fielder’s choice and a controversial call.
The Pirates loaded the bases after Joe Poduslenko was hit by a pitch, but a fly out by Rob Dadona in the next at bat left them stranded.
Seton Hall’s biggest opportunity was in the bottom of the sixth, where Matt Fortin hit a towering home run to left field, which was taken back for not touching first base.
The first run of the game came off Andrew Politi in the only at-bat he faced when Joe Mercadante of LIU hit a single into center field, taking a 1-0 lead. The next run came off of a stolen base after Seton Hall attempted to throw out a stealing Mercadante, which gave Dom Paiotti a chance to take home.
Both of the runs scored were credited to McCarthy, however, neither of them were earned. McCarthy ended going 6 1/3, giving up six hits and dealing seven strikeouts.
After a double play ended the Pirates possible run in the eighth, Seton Hall entered the bottom of the ninth down 2-0 and the heart of the order up. Fortin and Mikael-Ali Mogues both reached on singles, then a fielder’s choice on a sacrifice bunt kept runners on first and second. Alescio knocked in the Pirates' only run of the game on a single into right field, however, a double play off the bat of Matt Toke ended the game with a 2-1 loss.
Seton Hall’s next game will be Wednesday at Wagner, before starting Big East play against Butler at home over the weekend.
Keith Egan can be reached at keith.egan@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @Keith_egan10.
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