Here is your Big East Recap for April 26th.
Seton Hall 6 Georgetown 5
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall baseball team earned their first sweep of the 2009 season by defeating Georgetown, 6-5, Sunday afternoon at Owen T. Carroll Field. With the win, the Pirates won their fourth straight game and improved both their conference and overall record to .500.
Prior to first pitch, Seton Hall baseball and Seton Hall athletics honored the 1974 and 1975 Pirates for their College World Series appearances by welcoming players who posed with their head coach Mike Sheppard, Sr. at the pitcher’s mound.
Following the presentation, the Pirates (19-19, 9-9) did not waste any time taking the early lead. Similar to yesterday, the Pirates jumped on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Sophomore Ed Brown (Edison, N.J.) led off with a double, moved to third base when junior Chris Spagnuolo (Tabernacle, N.J.) grounded out to second, and scored when senior Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) flew out to center field. Sophomore Frank Esposito (Staten Island, N.Y.) gave the Pirates a, 2-0, advantage with an RBI double in the bottom of the second inning.
Seton Hall Recap
Georgetown Recap
Notre Dame 13 Louisville 12
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Sophomore Golden Tate capped off a truly golden rally with his first career home run to help Notre Dame rally from a five-run, seventh inning deficit en route to a 13-12 victory over Louisville in the BIG EAST series rubber game Sunday afternoon. The Irish improve to 25-16 overall and 10-8 in the conference, while the Cardinals drop to 29-13 and 12-6. In the past two weekends, Notre Dame has upended the top two teams in the conference standings entering the weekend.
Tate (Hendersonville, Tenn.) could not have picked a better time to hit his first career home run. The sophomore, who by his admission has hit only two runs in batting practice all year, lined a 2-2 fast ball from Louisville closer Tony Zych over the left field wall to give the Irish a 13-12 lead.
Notre Dame Recap
Louisville Recap
Pittsburgh 12 Rutgers 8
PITTSBURGH – Today’s rubber match between the University of Pittsburgh and Rutgers University followed the same game plan as yesterday’s doubleheader – let the offense settle the game. The Panthers produced 12 runs on 15 hits with eight players recording at least one hit on the day.
Josh Smith (3-0) picked up his third win of the season and remained unbeaten after throwing five and a third stellar innings, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out two. Chris Tonte finished the game 2-for-4 with a game-high four RBI while and Kevan Smith extended his hitting streak 12 games and finished the day 2-for-4 with three RBI.
Smith’s two-run blast in the second inning put Pitt (22-14, 9-9 Big East) up 2-0 in the bottom of the second. Zach Duggan’s RBI single up the middle pushed the lead to 3-0 before Rutgers’ offense jumped into action.
Pitt Recap
Rutgers Recap
St. John’s 13 UConn 4
STORRS, Conn. – St. John’s used an eight-run third inning to defeat UConn, 13-4, and complete a series sweep in BIG EAST play. Jimmy Parque had two doubles and four RBI, while Matt Wessinger was 4-for-5 to lead St. John’s (24-14, 12-6). Tim Morris added a two-run home run, while Gino Matias added two RBI. Nick Cenatiempo (4-2) allowed four runs, three earned, in 6.0 innings of work to earn the win. George Springer and Mike Nemeth had two hits apiece for UConn (22-20, 8-10).
St. John’s took a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Joe Panik singled through the right side with one out before Wessinger singled off the glove of the diving third baseman. After a wild pitch moved both runners up, Matias roped a two-run double into left field. Matias advanced to third on a passed ball and scored when Danny Benedetti laid down a perfect squeeze bunt.
Cincinnati 4 Villanova 3
CINCINNATI – The University of Cincinnati baseball team completed its three-game sweep over Villanova University with a 4-3 win over the Wildcats Sunday afternoon at Marge Schott Stadium. Sophomore Justin Riddell (Lexington, Ky./Lexington Catholic) hit a three-run home run in the third inning to give UC a two-run lead, and that was all the support junior Brian Garman (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta) would need as he went 6.2 innings and struck out a career-high nine batters to win his fourth game of the season.
The Bearcats got off to a strong start in the first inning and jumped in front 1-0. Freshman T.J. Jones (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) walked to kick things off and quickly scored on a double down the left field line by senior Cameron Satterwhite (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller).
Cincinnati Recap
Villanova Recap
South Florida 9 West Virginia 6
TAMPA -The University of South Florida baseball team completed the three-game sweep of West Virginia on Sunday by beating the Mountaineers 9-6 to take a three-game lead in the BIG EAST standings.
The win improved USF to 15-3 in the BIG EAST, the most BIG EAST wins in a season in USF history. The Bulls went 13-14 in 2007 and 14-13 in 2008. The Bulls remained a perfect 9-0 at Red McEwen Field, and took a three game lead over Louisville and a four game lead of West Virginia in the BIG EAST standings.
The sweep is the first time that the Mountaineers have been swept in 2009.
South Florida Recap
West Virginia Recap
