Trailing 5-2 heading into the top of the ninth, the Georgetown Hoyas (21-17, 0-5) were able to make things interesting but Seton Hall (20-16, 4-4) ultimately held on for a 5-4 victory at rainy Owen T. Carroll field on Saturday afternoon.
Cullen Dana got the start for the Pirates and he worked an easy one-two-three inning to start things off. Seton Hall wasted no time in jumping on Georgetown starter Jack Cushing, as it got its first two men on and shortstop Al Molina laced a double over the centerfielder’s head to give the Hall an early 2-0 lead.
[caption id="attachment_18869" align="aligncenter" width="1440"]
Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption]
Georgetown was able to strike back for two runs of its own in the top of the second to tie the game at two. The Hoyas continued to threaten in the third, fourth and fifth innings, but Dana was able to work out of jams thanks to some clutch strikeouts to keep things knotted at two. The fifth was the last inning for Dana, who struck out seven but also walked four on 84 pitches.
The Pirates were able to take back control in the bottom of the fifth when Ryan Ramiz drove home Joe Poduslenko, who led off the inning by reaching on an error, with a RBI double to give the Pirates the lead for good. Later in the inning, Matt Toke added a RBI double of his own and Mike Alescio drove him home with a RBI single to give Seton Hall a 5-2 lead at the end of five.
Andrew Politi came on in relief of Dana and turned in three shutdown innings, only allowing one hit while striking out five. Seton Hall threatened to add some insurance runs in the later innings, but nothing ever materialized for the Pirates.
Ryan Testani entered in the ninth and immediately got himself into some trouble by walking the leadoff man. Georgetown followed up the leadoff walk with back-to-back singles, giving them the bases loaded with nobody out and the go-ahead run at the plate.
Testani fought back to notch a strikeout for the first out of the inning and induced a ground ball that led to a fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning. However, the fielder’s choice led to a run for Georgetown and an infield single made it 5-4 with two outs and runners on first and third.
The senior submariner was able to settle down and draw a groundball to second baseman Jonathan Caputo for the final out, giving the Pirates the win.
Seton Hall will go for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon.
Tyler Calvaruso can be reached at tyler.calvaruso@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @tyler_calvaruso.
Comments
