BOX SCORE (.html)
BOX SCORE (.pdf)
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Junior outfielder Scott Kalamar (Bethlehem, Pa.) drove in senior Michael Betz (Mine-Hill, N.J.) with a sacrifice fly to center field in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Seton Hall University baseball team to a 4-3 win over Saint Joseph's University on Tuesday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field in South Orange, N.J.
The game was a back and forth affair all afternoon before the Pirates broke a 3-3 tie and came away with the one-run win in the last of the ninth. Saint Joseph's reliever Steven Schuler found trouble immediately in the ninth, as Betz reached with an infield single to lead off the inning.
Junior Chase Gray (Toms River, N.J.) singled through the left side to advance the game-winning score in the form of Betz to second base and then balked out of the stretch to give the Pirates runners at second and third with no outs.
Saint Joseph's (21-26) elected to give junior Mike Genovese (Livingston, N.J.) an intentional pass to load the bases, but Kalamar did not give the Hawks a chance to take advantage of that move, sending a fly ball to centerfield to score Betz and end the game.
Seton Hall (29-20) saw seven pitchers record at least one out on Tuesday afternoon, but it was Genovese that came away with the win after moving to the mound from shortstop to pitch a perfect ninth inning. The win was Genovese's first of the year, and he also struck out two batters in the frame.
The Pirates took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning before Saint Joseph's answered with runs in the third and fourth to take a 2-1 lead. Junior Ryan Sullivan (Stony Point, N.Y.) hit a one-out triple down the right-field line in the second, and came home on a Kyle Grimm (Bergenfield, N.J.) RBI-single into centerfield.
Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, sophomore catcher Dillon Hamlin (Colts Neck, N.J.) led off the inning with a double to left field, and moved up to third on a well placed bunt single from Betz. Once again a balk directly factored into a run for Seton Hall, this time with Brett Koliani committing the offense to bring Hamlin across the plate.
With Seton Hall trailing once again in the seventh, it was Hamlin and Betz that came through a second time to tie the game. Hamlin smacked his second double of the game, this time to left-center field and Betz followed that up with a double of his own to tie the game at 3-3 before the Hall went on to win it in the ninth.
Betz finished the game going 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Hamlin was 2-for-4 scoring a pair of runs. Sullivan (3-for-4) and Grimm (2-for-4) also recorded multi-hit games for the Pirates.
Seton Hall returns to action for its final home BIG EAST series of the year as it hosts Pittsburgh on Friday-Saturday, May 11-12, at Owen T. Carroll Field in South Orange, N.J. First pitch on Friday night is scheduled for 6 p.m.
