With explosive offensive play early in the game and timely hitting late, Seton Hall baseball took down Lehigh, 10-5, after the Pirates (14-22, 2-10 BIG EAST) managed to hold off a late rally from the Mountain Hawks (14-29, 7-16).
It all began with a run by SHU in the first inning when junior infielder Ryan Frontera hit an RBI single, bringing in fellow junior infielder Gabe Cavazzoni to score. After Lehigh had runners on base during their at-bat in the first inning, SHU’s pitching staff prevented any runs from crossing home plate.
In the second inning, the Pirates took control of the game. With junior infielder Nick Tomasetto hitting a triple and being driven in by graduate outfielder Joe Marini, the Pirates' pitching staff managed to load the bases. This set up Cavazzoni, who hit a grand slam to centerfield to make the score 6-0.
Lehigh struggled through the middle innings due to solid relief pitching, which included a clean inning in the third, as well as a great pitching inning in the fourth with back-to-back strikeouts. In the fifth inning, SHU added one more run off a sacrifice fly by Tomasetto, making the score 7-0.
The Pirates continued to build their lead in the sixth inning, adding three runs to make the score 10-2. In addition, Frontera, junior infielder Frankie Scrivanic and BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll earner Magnus Krieger were able to record RBIs in the sixth inning with singles.
With a final rally from Lehigh in the eighth inning, where the Mountain Hawks scored three more runs to close the gap, SHU managed to shut down Lehigh in the ninth inning to end the game.
Cavazzoni dominated the offensive side of the game, recording multiple hits along with a grand slam. Additionally, Frontera was able to get two RBIs for the Pirates, one each in the first and sixth innings. Along with Frontera, Tomasetto provided key support in the second inning with a triple and a sacrifice fly.
The Pirates head to Indianapolis on May 1, to face Butler in a BIG EAST showdown.
Colin Comerford is a writer for The Setonian’s Sports Section. He can be reached at colin.comerford@student.shu.edu.
