With first place in the Big East on the line the Seton Hall Pirates baseball team was defeated by the St. John’s Red Storm 5-1 at Jack Kaiser Stadium in Queen, N.Y. in the first game of a three-game series. The loss brought the Pirates’ nine game win streak to a halt. Previous to today’s outing The Hall were winners of 15 of their last 17 after starting the season 1-8. Seton Hall now sits at 16-11 and 3-1 in conference play. Seton Hall plated the first run of the afternoon in the top half of the first when leadoff hitter Zach Weigel launched a triple off the right field fence. Weigel scored on an E7 on the same play. The Pirates offense would struggle for the rest of the afternoon as St. John’s starter Cody Stashak cruised through six innings allowing only four hits along with Weigel’s run to open the game. Zach Prendergast was on the hill for the blue and white and did not see the same success as his counterpart. The Red Storm answered in the bottom half of the inning. Robbie Knightes knotted the game up at 1-1 scoring Alex Caruso on a fielder’s choice ground out. After St. John’s Jarred Mederos led off the bottom of the second with a double, Troy Dixon hit an RBI single to center to give the Red Strom a 2-1 lead. Alex Caruso extended the lead for St. John’s at 3-1 scoring Knightes on a one-out bouncer to second in the third. Two innings later Tyler Sanchez blasted a solo home run to left giving St. John’s a 4-1 lead and ending Prendergast’s day. The sophomore right hander went four innings allowing three earned runs on six hits with no strike outs. The Pirates had multiple opportunities to get back into the contest. The first chance coming in the fifth when Joe Poduslenko was at third base with one out. The opportunity was squandered as Poduslenko, who went 3-4 on the day, was left stranded at third. The blue and white came within striking distance once again in the top half of the sixth. Sal Annunziata stepped up to the plate with two on and two out after Kyle Grimm walked and D.J. Ruhlman was plunked by Stashak. The senior struck out swinging, ending the threat for the Pirates. Senior Anthony Elia made a relief appearance for Seton Hall. The south paw threw four innings allowing one run in the seventh. Elia also struck out four batters and walked one. The Seton Hall Pirates will play game two of their three-game set with the St. John’s Red Storm tomorrow. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. Matthew Zeigafuse can be reached at matthew.zeigafuse@student.shu.edu or on twitter @mattzeigafuse
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