BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (April 22, 2023) – If it was not already a week to forget for the Sacred Heart University baseball team, Saturday afternoon made sure of it at Veteran's Park. After surrendering back-to-back late-inning leads in their midweek contests, the Pioneers were swept off their home field in a weekend Northeast Conference series, with visiting Wagner using a seven-run eighth inning to chalk up a 10-5 win in the series finale. Justin Jordan (Darien, Conn.) put together a 5-for-5 day at the plate for SHU, the third five-hit game of his career and the second 5-for-5.
For Sacred Heart (16-21, 11-10 NEC), the sweep dropped the team to fifth place in the NEC, with only the league's top six teams able to qualify for the postseason. The good news for the Pios is they are still three games clear of a three-way tie for seventh, which includes next week's opponent, Coppin State.
It was the first time the Pioneers were swept on their home field in an NEC series of three games or more since May of 2019 against Fairleigh Dickinson. Sacred Heart had not lost five straight home games since May of 2019 as well, and had not dropped five straight on the same homestand since 2008.
At one point on Saturday, things were looking good for the Pios, who used a three-run fourth to break a 1-1 tie and surge out front. Jordan – who is now fourth all-time in program history with 238 career hits – opened the inning with a single through the right side and later scored on an RBI fielder's choice by Joe Cilea (Colts Neck, N.Y.). Joey Skarad (Stamford, Conn.) later cashed in the other two runs with a two-out single to right field.
Wagner (21-16, 14-7 NEC) closed the gap immediately, with two in the top of the fifth, as Cody Bey provided an RBI single and another run scored on an error. Sloppiness was a theme throughout the weekend for the Pios, who committed 12 errors, walked 15 and hit six batters across the course of the three-game series.
The wheels fell off in the eighth inning, as the Seahawks sent 12 men to the plate and collected seven hits to squeeze the remaining life out of the weekend. The keynote address was a three-run home run down the left-field line by DiMaggio Cazares, his second in as many games, and then Dante Faicchio added the exclamation mark with a solo shot to center field to make it back-to-back homers. All seven runs in the frame came after two outs were recorded, as six straight Seahawks reached base.
SHU got one back in the home half of the eighth on a solo home run to right by Dante D'Amore (Southington, Conn.), his first of the season, but it was not nearly enough to dig out of the hole.
Right-hander Michael Attonito (White Plains, N.Y.) suffered the loss (0-1) after a three-inning relief stint where he was charged with five runs on five hits, walked two and struck out three. Wagner right-hander Ruben Del Castillo (1-2) took over to start the fifth, threw one-run ball over the final five innings, allowed five hits, walked two and struck out four. Wagner pitching struck out 11 on the day.
The Pioneers have a midweek home-and-home with Fairfield on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then travel to Coppin State for a three-game NEC series April 28-30.
