Here is the Big East Recap for May 9th.
Game 1: West Virginia 15 Cincinnati 9
Game 2: West Virginia 9 Cincinnati 2
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Senior Joe Agreste and freshman left-hander Jonathan Jones had stellar performances to lead the West Virginia University baseball team to a doubleheader sweep over Cincinnati on Saturday at Hawley Field.
Agreste’s four-RBI effort led the Mountaineers (33-14, 15-8) to a 15-9 victory in a back-and-forth battle in game one, and Jones (6-1) held a powerful Cincinnati offense to just one run on seven hits while striking out seven in 7.1 innings pitched in WVU’s 9-2 win in game two.
WVU’s two victories on the day solidify a bid to the BIG EAST Tournament, which will be held from May 19-23 at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. The Mountaineers are now in third place in the BIG EAST and trail second-place Louisville by 1 ½ games in the conference standings.
West Virginia Recap
Cincinnati Recap
Louisville 5 St. John’s 4
QUEENS, N.Y. – The Louisville bullpen pitched 3.2 innings of hitless and scoreless relief to hold a one-run lead and push the Cardinals to a 5-4 series-clinching win over St. John’s on Saturday afternoon at Jack Kaiser Stadium.
The Louisville win, along with USF’s 7-6 loss at Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon, moved the Cardinals (36-13, 16-6 BIG EAST) to within 1/2 game of the first-place Bulls and 2 1/2 games clear of St. John’s (27-18, 14-9) with four BIG EAST games left. The Cardinals, who won Friday night’s series opener at St. John’s 10-8, extended their winning streak to a season-long seven games and Louisville has won nine straight road games overall.
Sophomore lefty Dean Kiekhefer earned his second straight weekend start for the Cardinals and the Louisville native delivered his second straight win after allowing four runs on nine hits with two strikeouts in 5.1 innings to improve to 5-4 this season.
Louisville Recap
St. John’s Recap
UConn 14 Pittsburgh 6
STORRS, Conn. – A nine-run second inning guided the University of Connecticut baseball team to a 14-6 win over Pittsburgh in BIG EAST Conference play at J.O. Christian Field on Saturday afternoon.
UConn, now 28-22 on the year and 11-12 in the conference, recorded seven hits to score nine runs to take a commanding 9-2 lead before cruising to the 12-run victory over the Panthers (26-17, 11-11 BIG EAST).
Mike Nemeth led the Huskies with four RBI on the afternoon along with two hits and one run scored. Nick Ahmed went 4-for-5 with two RBI and two runs as well for the Huskies as sophomore Pierre LePage and junior Peter Fatse chipped in with three and two hits, respectively, including Fatse’s two-run homer in the second frame.
Game 1: Rutgers 3 Seton Hall 1
Game 2: Seton Hall 3 Rutgers 2
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Redshirt freshman Willie Beard (Spotswood, N.J.) pitched a career-long 7.1 innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts to give Rutgers a 3-1 victory over Seton Hall in game one, before Keith Cantwell overshadowed a strong pitching performance by Casey Gaynor (Toms River, N.J.) with a complete-game, 10-strikeout effort to give the Pirates a 3-2 victory over the Scarlet Knights in game two of a Saturday baseball doubleheader in front of a season-high crowd of 541 fans at Bainton Field.
The doubleheader split moved RU to 20-29 overall and 6-17 in the BIG EAST, eliminating the Scarlet Knights from postseason contention. SHU moved to 22-22 overall and 11-12 in the conference.
In the first of two pitcher’s duels, Beard out-worked Seton Hall ace Sean Black to notch his first BIG EAST victory with a stellar 99-pitch outing. After giving up a run on an RBI double to Chris Affinito in the opening frame, Beard retired the next seven batters and cruised into the eighth where he handed the ball over to reliever Kevin Lillis (Fair Haven, N.J.) with a 2-1 lead.
Rutgers Recap
Seton Hall Recap
Notre Dame 7 South Florida 6
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – On the eve of Notre Dame’s senior day, it was the senior quartet of Ryan Connolly, Evan Sharpley, Jeremy Barnes and most noticeably Sam Elam that help the Irish rally from a 6-0 deficit and secure a thrilling 7-6 victory over USF Saturday afternoon at Frank Eck Stadium. Barnes drew a bases loaded, game winning walk in the bottom of the ninth inning. Notre Dame improves to 29-19 overall and 13-10, while the Bulls drop to 30-19 and 17-6.
With the Irish trailing 6-5 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, Connolly (Binghamton, N.Y.) reached to lead off the inning when USF starting pitcher Derrick Stultz plunked him on a 3-2 pitch. Connolly then scampered to second base on a wild pitch. After Stultz retired sophomore Cameron McConnell (Bannockburn, Ill.), Sharpley (Marshall, Mich.) pinch hit for sophomore Greg Sherry (Mendham, N.J.) and drew a walk.
Notre Dame Recap
South Florida Recap
Game 1: Villanova 16 Georgetown 2
Game 2: Georgetown 7 Villanova 6
Washington, D.C. – The Georgetown University baseball team split their doubleheader with the Villanova Wildcats on Senior Day, winning the second game in dramatic fashion, 7-6 after losing the first game, 16-2. Tim Adleman struck out seven batters over seven innings to earn the win in game two and Jared Cohen was perfect during two innings of relief to preserve the victory.
Georgetown Recap
Villanova Recap
