Seton Hill looked to avoid elimination from the NCAA Atlantic Regional as they hosted East Stroudsburg in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon in Greensburg.
Owen Sabol hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning and the Griffins never trailed again in a 10-4 victory over the Warriors. The Griffins improve to 46-11 overall while the Warriors end their season with a 36-14 record. The 46 wins for the Griffins tie a SHU single season record for wins, set in 2012.
Neither team was able to crack the scoreboard over the first three innings of the contest. The Griffins
Aidan Layton and the Warriors Brent Francisco kept each team off the scoreboard.
East Stroudsburg was able to get on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning. They used a single, walk and triple to take a 2-0 lead.
SHU responded in a big way in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Noah Sweeney singled to start the inning. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by
Joe Fiedor.
Jack Whalen walked to put runners on first and second.
Vincenzo Rauso singled to right field to and a bobble by the right fielder allowed Sweeney to score and Whalen to get to third.
Jack Oberdorf reached on a perfectly executed squeeze play that split the first baseman and pitcher with Oberdorf beating the play at first and Whalen scoring to tie the game at two. The Warriors made a pitching change and
Logan Vietmeier drew a four pitch walk. Sabol then hammered the first pitch he saw over the left center field wall to give the Griffins a 6-2 lead.
The Warriors used four hits in the sixth inning to trim the Griffins lead to 6-4.
SHU did not take any time to answer the two spot from the Warriors. Sweeney and Whalen singled to start the inning and put runners at first and third. Whalen then tripled down the right field line, a ball that alluded the glove of the right fielder, to put the Griffins in front 8-4. Rauso singled through a drawn in infield to score Whalen and extend the SHU lead to 9-4.
In the seventh,
Max Mandler doubled with one out. He scored from second when Sweeney reached on a fielders choice as SHU built their lead to 10-4.
SHU reliever
Michael Marinchak retired the final seven hitters he faced to close down the game.
Layton earned his eighth win of the season. He worked 5.1 innings, giving up four runs on five hits while striking out four. Marinchak picked up his first save with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed just three hits and struck out three.
Sabol and Rauso each went 3-3 to lead the offense. Sabol drove in four runs. Mandler, Sweeney and Fiedor each had two hits for the Griffins.
SHU will play Mercyhurst in the Regional Final on Sunday. The Griffins would need to defeat the Lakers twice to win the region. Mercyhurst needs just one win. Game one is set for an 11 AM start.
