Seton Hall baseball pulled off a five-run comeback against Creighton to defeat them, 8-6, on Saturday, April 12, at Mike Sheppard Sr. Stadium.
After an 11-4 loss to Rutgers in Piscataway on April 8, the Pirates looked to overcome their four-game losing streak against the Blue Jays.
The Blue Jays didn’t let an unsuccessful first inning deter them, as they struck back with a vengeance in the second. After an error from Seton Hall sophomore shortstop Casey Cumiskey, a would-be sacrifice bunt turned into an error from SHU starter Ryan Reich, as Creighton scored the first run of the game.
Sacrifice fly outs from Blue Jays senior first baseman Will Maclean and graduate third baseman Matt Scherrman extended their lead to 3-0 in the second. Despite leading, Creighton had yet to record a hit until junior center fielder Tate Gillen hit a two-run, opposite-field home run, making it a 5-0 lead.
Despite loading the bases in the bottom half of the third, the Pirates still couldn’t manage to score. With the help of an error from Creighton graduate second baseman Kyle Hess, a groundout from Cumiskey scored Seton Hall’s first run in the fourth inning, prompting Creighton’s head coach, Ed Servais, to take out graduate starting pitcher Dominic Cancellieri.
After scoring five runs in the second inning, Creighton’s offense was stagnant in the second half of the game, just in time for a Pirate comeback. With singles from sophomore center fielder AJ Soldra and senior designated hitter Jimmy Brennan, sophomore catcher Kevin Milewski hit a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to three, with the Blue Jays still leading, 5-2, in the fifth inning.
The Pirates managed to put runners on base in the next three at-bats, starting a vicious two-out rally in the fifth. This culminated in a two-run single from Soldra to give the Pirates a 7-5 lead, giving Seton Hall their momentum back and their first lead of the game.
Reich continued to pitch for the Pirates until he was taken out after six innings, making way for junior left-handed pitcher John Downing to take over in the seventh, with neither team scoring.
With one out and the bases loaded in the eighth inning, Creighton scored on a fielder's choice from MacLean, cutting the game to 7-6. Yet, that was all they could muster, as Downing forced a groundout to end the inning, as the Jays failed to score with the bases loaded.
The Pirates responded back, not by hitting the ball, but by earning three walks as they scored another run to make it 8-6.
With Downing looking to close it out in the ninth inning and prevent a late rally for Creighton, the game ended via booth review with two runners on base for the Blue Jays. After review, the umpires declared that Creighton’s Hess leaned into the 3-2 pitch he was hit by and was called out to end the game and give the Pirates their 13th win of the season.
With the win, Reich earned his first win of the year, as he pitched six innings, while striking out six Creighton batters. Downing also earned the three-inning save, as he walked four batters, gave up three hits, and struck out five.
Soldra led the Pirates on offense, as he went two-for-four with a base on balls, and gave the Pirates the lead in the fifth inning with his two-run single.
The Pirates currently stand 14-22 overall after a loss and a win, respectively, in the final two games of the three-game series against Creighton. Seton Hall will head to Connecticut to face UConn on Thursday, April 17.
John Misiewicz writes for The Setonian’s Sports section. He can be reached at john.misiewicz@student.shu.edu.
