BROOKLYN – The Sacred Heart baseball team hit seven home runs that led to 19 runs, and the pitching staff allowed just seven hits over 14 innings of scoreless baseball in a doubleheader sweep at LIU Brooklyn on Friday afternoon. The Pioneers have now taken the first three games of their opening Northeast Conference series and have won one seven of nine to move to 8-10 overall. 

Zack Short and Dan Schock each had two homers, one in each game, to lead the offensive barrage. Short finished the day 4-10 with six RBI's, four runs and a triple.

It was Jason Foley and then Jesus Medina and Mike Lembo combining to keep LIU off the board. In addition to just the seven hits, the three struck out 11 and did not walk a single batter.  Pioneer pitchers have now given up just one earned run in 23 innings through the first three games of the series.

SHU looks for a four-game sweep of the four game series tomorrow at 1 pm.

Game One

Seven of Sacred Heart's eight runs came from the five long balls, which were the most the Pioneers have hit in a single game since they hit six on May 14, 2009, and more than double its total of two this season coming into the game. Victor Sorrento and Schock each launched their second of the year, while Short, Alex Perry and Medina all hit their first. For Perry and Medina, it was the first of their careers.

Short's was the igniter, a three-run bomb coming in the first inning that gave Foley more than enough run support.  That capped a two-out rally that saw Jayson Sullivan and Sorrento both reach with two-out singles.

Two innings later, Sorrento followed Sacred Heart's lone run that did not come on a home run, Medina scoring on a passed ball, with a solo shot for a 5-0 advantage. Perry's and Medina's solo homers came one out apart in the sixth to push the lead to seven before Shock capped the offensive explosion with two outs in the seventh.

Sorrento, Medina and Perry each had two hits in game one. Sorrento and Medina each also scored two runs, while Sorrento added a walk.

Foley's three-hit shutout was the third of his career and the first for SHU this season. The junior was extremely efficient, as in addition surrounding just the three hits, he threw just 69 pitches and struck out five without walking a batter. He worked three 1-2-3 innings and allowed just three runners to reach scoring position, one of which came after an error. He did not give up a hit in his final four innings of work. 

Game Two

Again it was Sacred Heart striking in the first thanks to Short, and once again that would prove to be enough for SHU's starting pitcher, Medina. This time it was a sacrifice fly by Short, which scored Ted Shaw. Shaw opened the game by getting hit by a pitch and advanced to third on a Sullivan double.

After scoring three more in the second thanks to a Shaw single two Blackbird errors, and one more in the third on a PJ DeFilippo sacrifice fly, Short's second blast of the day came in the fourth inning. It was a two-run homer this time, scoring Sorrento, who had just followed a Sullivan double with one of his own. Shock then completed the scoring once again with a three-run dinger, his team-best third of the season, bringing home Short and Klebart, who had tripled and walked, to make it 11-0.

Short was a perfect 3-3 in game two, driving in three for the second consecutive game and also scoring three runs. Sullivan was the only other Pioneer with multiple hits, doubling twice and scoring once.  Cody Doyle was 1-2 with two walks and a run, while DeFilippo also walked twice, scored, and added the RBI.

Medina would go six innings, throwing one less pitch than Foley and allowing just four hits for his first win of the year. He kept the scoreless day for the pitching staff in tact by working out of a jam of runners on first and third with nobody out in the sixth, recording two of his six strikeouts and also forcing a pop up to shortstop with one out. That was just the second runner to reach scoring position against him, with one also reaching third in the third. He worked two 1-2-3 innings. 

Lembo worked a perfect seventh for his second scoreless inning of relief in the past four games.