Seton Hall scored 19 runs to St. John's two to force a game seven in the 2018 BIG EAST Championship presented by Jeep.
#BIGEASTbase Championship Heads To Game Seven
MASON, Ohio - For the first time in the current tournament format, BIG EAST Baseball's Championship Sunday will go to game seven as No. 2 seed Seton Hall defeated top seed St. John's, 19-2 in the 2018 Championship Presented by Jeep.
Game seven will also air on FS2 at 5:20 p.m. ET. John Fanta and David Bernhard will be in the booth with Matt Schumacker in the dugouts.
Seton Hall second baseman Rob Dadona went 4-for-5 with three RBI. Ryan Ramiz had four RBI while hitting 3-for-six and a run scored. Christian Del Castillo had three RBI and went 2-for-5 from the plate. Mike Alescio went 4-for-5. He scored twice with one RBI. Ten Pirates had at least one RBI. Seton Hall had 26 hits to St. John's six.
The game started out as a pitchers' duel as neither team could score in the first two innings. Seton Hall broke the scoreless tie in the third then added three runs in the fourth and fifth.
In the seventh inning, the Pirate bats became alive again as Casey Dana hit a homer to center field. Christian Del Castillo also homered in the inning, also scoring Tyler Shelder-McAvoy who had singled in between home runs. Seton Hall finished off the inning scoring eight runs. Shelder-McAvoy went 3-for-5 and scored four times.
Seton Hall scored another two in the eighth. Through four games, Seton Hall has scored 45 runs. The BIG EAST Tournament record for runs scored by a single team is 47. It occurred twice, in 2009 by Louisville and 2007 by Rutgers.
The last time a tournament went to the "if-necessary" game was in 2003. From 2006-14, the championship was single elimination and no if necessary game was scheduled. Double-elimination through the entire tournament re-instated in 2015. It was also used from 1985-2005.
The extra game has occurred 10 other times in BIG EAST baseball history. In seven of those championships, the loser of the first game came back to win the title. The last time the champion came from the losers' bracket was 1991. Villanova won two games against St. John's, 6-2, 12-3.
In 1985, the first BIG EAST Baseball tournament, which was played in Bristol, Conn., St. John's and Seton Hall played a championship doubleheader. Seton Hall came out of the losers' bracket to defeat St. John's 5-4 in game six. St. John's won the title with a 7-6 victory in 11 innings in game seven.