MADISON, N.J. (March 8, 2024) – "Well well well, how the turntables…" – Michael Scott.
 
The Sacred Heart University baseball team did a full 180° turn as it dove into Northeast Conference play on Friday afternoon in the Garden State. Coming off three rough weeks of non-conference play to open the season, the Pioneers made a statement at Naimoli Ballpark, sweeping away Fairleigh Dickinson on its home field in a doubleheader, 2-0 and 5-0. SHU pitching did not cede a run on the day, surrendered just 12 hits and – perhaps most importantly for its long-term success – issued just two walks.
 
Senior right-hander Jake Babuschak (Jobstown, N.J.) fired a three-hit shutout in the first game, the first of his collegiate career. Three Pioneers combined for a nine-hit blanking of the Knights in the second game as SHU whitewashed last season's third-place team twice on the first day of conference play.
 
It marked the first time since 2016 SHU had two shutouts in the same season, never mind the same day. The last time the Pioneers recorded back-to-back shutouts was when the 2016 squad hung four straight zeros from March 25-29. March 25 was a doubleheader at LIU, which also marks the last time Sacred Heart blanked both ends of a doubleheader.
 
SHU improves to 3-8 (2-0 NEC) with the sweep, while FDU falls to 1-11 (0-2 NEC). The two teams will wrap up the weekend series on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Naimoli Ballpark.
 
Game 1: Sacred Heart 2, Fairleigh Dickinson 0
 
Babuschak (1-3) stole the show in the first game of the day, as he was ready to go right from the 10 a.m. first pitch. The senior right-hander needed just 106 pitches (74 strikes) to dispatch the Knights and author the second complete game of his career. Babuschak allowed just three hits and a walk on the day, to go with four strikeouts, but did have to work out of trouble on multiple occasions.
 
In the second, he surrendered a one-out double to Brian Sanders, but eventually stranded him on third by getting Brelon Harden to bounce out. In the third, a single, a sacrifice bunt and a balk put Nick Quagliato on third base with one out, but Babuschak induced a foul out from Joan Sosa and then got a groundout from Jeremy Cheeseman to end the threat. Quagliato also caused commotion in the fifth, with a two-out double to left-center, but then TJ Werner fouled out to first base to end the inning.
 
Babuschak saved his best for last, after he went back out for the top of the ninth inning. After a leadoff groundout from Cheeseman, things got dicey. Hunter D'Amato took a walk, and then Michael Simonelli (Milford, Conn.) dropped a flyball in center field, which put the two tying runs in scoring position with just one away. Head coach Pat Egan stuck with his ace though – without so much as a mound visit – and was rewarded. Babuschak got Sanders to pop up on the infield and then coaxed a fly ball to left from Sierra, before letting out a celebratory roar in front of the mound as the Pios came away 2-0 winners.
 
It was the first shutout for SHU pitching since a 2-0 win at Stony Brook on Feb. 28, 2021, when three pitchers combined to five-hit the Seawolves. It was the first individual shutout by a Pioneer hurler since James Taubl blanked FDU on the road on April 23, 2016.
 
The only runs of the contest came in the top of the fifth inning, as SHU capitalized on a pair of free baserunners. Simonelli was hit by a pitch with one out, then stole second before Zack Kovalchik (Archbald, Pa.) took a walk. Left-hander Patrick Gardiner struck out Peter Link (Holmes, N.Y.) for the second out, but then committed a balk to put two runners in scoring position, which proved costly. Tim McGuire (Portsmouth, R.I.) was next, went with a pitch on the outer half and laced a two-run double into the gap in left-center to get Babuschak the only runs he would need.
 
Gardiner (0-1) threw 93 pitches over five innings of work. He allowed the two runs on three hits, walked three, hit two batters and struck out eight. A pair of FDU pitchers combined to strikeout 14 Pios in the contest.
 
Game 2: Sacred Heart 5, Fairleigh Dickinson 0
 
SHU pitching kept right on cruising through the second game of the day. Right-hander Joe Trombley (Watervliet, N.Y.) fired 59 pitches (38 strikes) over four scoreless innings to open things up, right-hander Michael Boyian (Norwalk, Conn.) followed with 77 pitches (48 strikes) over the next four, and left-hander Owen MacDonnell (Londonderry, N.H.) closed things out in the ninth, as the trio combined for a nine-hit shutout.
 
Sacred Heart got the only run it would need in the top of the third inning. JW Fitzgerald (Westport, Conn.) took a one-out walk, stole second and scored from there when Kovalchik lashed a two-out single to center field. Kovalchik would drive in SHU's second run of the game as well, as he worked a five-pitch walk with the bases loaded in the fifth.
 
The Pioneers would leave the bases loaded after the lone run in the fifth, but broke things open in the next frame, with three in the top of the sixth. Tyler Galletti (Plainview, N.Y.) reached on an error leading off, then came around to score on a double into the gap in right-center by Gavin Donohue (Melrose, Mass.). Dennis Gamester (West Haven, Conn.) followed with an infield single to put runners at the corners and then Donohue came across on a squeeze bunt by Joey Vitiello (New Hyde Park, N.Y.). Fitzgerald chased home Gamester with what would be the game's final run with an RBI single back up the middle.
 
Fairleigh Dickinson threated to get back into the game in the seventh, as a hit batter, a single and a sacrifice bunt put two in scoring position with one out. After a strikeout and a hit batter made it bases loaded with two away, Boyian (1-0) got D'Amato to bounce out to second to end the threat. Boyian would also strand runners at the corners in the eighth.
 
Right-hander Joey Kosowsky (0-4) took the ball in the second game for FDU and needed 83 pitches (50 strikes) to navigate 4.2 innings on the mound. He allowed two runs on five hits, walked three and struck out five.