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SOUTH BEND, IND.  — The Seton Hall baseball team fell to Notre Dame, 10-4, in game one of the three-game series Friday afternoon at Frank Eck Stadium. The game marked the first in BIG EAST Conference for both teams.

Notre Dame (13-5, 1-0) took an early lead in the bottom of third inning with a two-out, two-run double by Jeremy Barnes, however it did not last long.

With two-outs and no one on base in the top of the fourth inning, the Pirates (8-7, 0-1) rallied for three runs to take a, 3-2, lead.  Senior Chris Affinito (East Brunswick, N.J.) reached first base when he was hit-by-a-pitch and junior Chris Spagnuolo (Tabernacle, N.J.) followed with a single down the left field line moving Affinito to third base.

With runners on first and third base, sophomore Frank Esposito (Staten Island, N.Y.) pulled a one ball two strike pitch through the left side for an RBI, and junior Michael Rogers (Portland Ore.) ripped a two-run triple to left-center field giving the Pirates a, 3-2, lead.

Trailing by one in the bottom of the fourth inning, Notre Dame would bounce back to take a, 6-3, lead highlighted by run-scoring base hits by Golden Tate and David Mills.  They would add three more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI double by A.J. Pollack and a run-scoring triple by Evan Sharpley.

Pirates junior starter Sean Black (Mt. Laurel, N.J.) (2-2) took the loss yielding eight earned runs, on 12 hits in six innings of work, while Cole Johnson (2-0) picks up the victory allowing four runs on five hits in seven innings.

Offensively for the Hall, senior Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.), Affinito, Spagnuolo, Esposito, and Rogers each had one hit.  Rogers drove in two runs, Esposito drove in one, as did Smedberg with an RBI single in the top of the seventh inning.

The Pirates and Irish will return to the field Saturday afternoon.  First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.