Festa's Gem Leads Pirates to Georgetown Sweep

UEENS, N.Y. – Freshman David Festa (Verona, N.J.)allowed only one run over seven innings, and junior Matt Toke (Three Bridges, N.J.) had three hits as the Seton Hall baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Georgetown with a 6-2 victory in game two of Saturday's doubleheader. The victory clinches a berth in the 2019 BIG EAST Championship for Seton Hall. The Pirates have now qualified for the marquee year-end tournament nine straight years. Festa was brilliant, allowing just one run on five hits over seven inning pitched. He struck out seven batters and walked only two to pick up the victory. Toke led the Pirate offense, going 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Both Christian Del Castillo (Miami, Fla.) and Tyler Shedler-McAvoy (Allendale, N.J.) drove in a pair of runs. Freshman Steve Grober (Hillsborough, N.J.) was the lone other Pirate with multiple hits. He went 2-for-4 with a run scored. What Happened: Similar to the start of game one, Shedler-McAvoy was the catalyst for a Seton Hall first inning run. He walked, stole second base, and advanced to third on a throwing error by the Georgetown catcher. He came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Del Castillo. After the bottom of the first, both pitchers settled in and a pitcher's duel ensued. Festa retired the first 10 batters he faced, while Georgetown's Jack Cushing retired 12 straight Pirates during one stretch and limited The Hall to just one hit over five innings. Georgetown finally broke through on Festa in the top of the sixth inning with a single run to tie the game at one. The Hoyas loaded the bases, but the Pirate right-hander was able to strand three. The Hall took the lead right back in the bottom of the inning. Senior Chris Villa (Staten Island, N.Y.) doubled to right-center field to lead off and advanced to third on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Jerry Huntzinger (Staten Island, N.Y.). Shedler-McAvoy then hit a roller to third, but it was bobbled, and the error allowed the go-ahead run to score and Shedler-McAvoy to reach first. Del Castillo followed with an RBI single to left field to put The Hall in front, 3-1. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Huntzinger slammed a double into the left field corner to drive in Grober. Shedler-McAvoy then delivered a double of his own to the left-center field gap to extend The Hall's lead to 5-1. I