BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – In one of its best offensive performance of the season, the Sacred Heart baseball team ended the 2016 regular season with an 11-4 triumph over LIU Brooklyn on Senior Day at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard on Sunday afternoon.

Ending the regular season with a record of 29-26, Sacred Heart will look to carry the momentum from the contest into next weekend's Northeast Conference Tournament, where one win will give the Pioneers their third 30-win season in six years. The second seed with an 18-13 mark in league play, SHU will take on third seeded Fairleigh Dickinson at 4.pm. on Thursday at Dodd Stadium in what will be its eighth consecutive postseason appearance.

SHU had a season-high three triples, while its 15 hits and 11 runs were its second highest total of the season. Five different Pioneers had multiple hits as eight of nine starters recorded a base knock, led by Jayson Sullivan and Keith Klebart with three each. 

Sullivan, one of six seniors honored prior to first pitch, finished a perfect 3-3 with a season-high three RBI's, run and hit by pitch. Klebart went 3-5 with two RBI's and a run and was a home run shy of the cycle.

Also with multiple base hits, as well as one walk each, was Ted Shaw, Jake Friar and Zack Short. In addition, Shaw scored three runs and drove in another, while Friar crossed home twice and had an RBI and Short scored once.

Sacred Heart jumped on top right off the bat, plating three in the first, and would never look back. The leadoff batter struck out but the next six Pioneers to come to the plate would all produce a quality at bat.

After Short walked and Sullivan was hit by a pitch, Victor Sorrento drove in the first run with an RBI single to right field. PJ DeFilippo doubled the advantage with a sacrifice fly before Dan Schock walked and Friar plated the third run on an RBI single.

Although LIU Brooklyn (19-35, 13-17) got a run back on Andrew Turner's solo home run in the second and scored on a double steal in the third, SHU had the answer each team as it notched a run in each of the first four innings.

Sullivan reestablished the three-run lead with an RBI triple in the second, which scored Shaw after he had singled with one away. Klebart then made it 5-2 in the third following a two-out single by Friar. Friar was awarded second on a balk, a play that proved important when Klebart roped his single up the middle.

It was two sacrifice flies that brought the score to 7-2 in the fourth. Once again, SHU put together six quality bats in a row beginning with Alex Perry's leadoff single. Shaw and Short then loaded the bases with a walk and single, respectively. Sullivan had the first sacrifice fly, and after Sorrento was intentionally walked, DeFilippo recorded his second RBI of the day.

LIU got as close as 7-3 on Tommy Jakubowki's RBI single in the fifth, but Sacred Heart put the game away with a four-run seventh, sparked by Schock's team-leading eighth homer of the season. Friar walked and Klebart and Shaw each lined RBI triples to left center before Sullivan closed the 11-run day for the Pioneers with a single.

Not to go unnoticed on the day was the SHU pitching staff, who allowed just six hits. John Sostarich picked up his fourth win of the season by going the first five innings. He battled to limit LIU Brooklyn to three runs on four hits and four walks.

Jackson Aldam then turned in a spectacular relief performance in which he faced the minimum of nine hitters in his three frames. The lone Blackbird to reach did so on an error, which he immediately erased with a double play ball in the next at bat. He did not allow a hit or issue a walk and struck out two.

Senior Mike Lembo put the finishing touches on the regular season, giving up one run on two hits in the ninth.

In addition to Lembo, Sullivan and Sorrento, Jesus Medina, Connor Landers and manager Scott Plank were all honored prior to the contest as the six members of the SHU Baseball Class of 2016.