BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (April 14, 2024) – After a stretch of 13 innings without a run, including a frustrating loss on Saturday, the Sacred Heart University baseball team broke out in the back half of Sunday afternoon's Northeast Conference rubber game with Le Moyne. Devin Hicks (Virginia Beach, Va.) crushed a pinch-hit, two-run, go-ahead double, which was the key blow in a six-run bottom of the sixth inning at Veterans Memorial Park. The Pios plated 10 runs from the sixth inning on to take their sixth straight NEC series victory with a 10-3 win over the Dolphins.
 
Senior right-hander Elijah Foster (Plainfield, N.J.) had struggled with his command in his last two starts, but got it together in a pressure situation on Sunday. He still needed 98 pitches (59 strikes) to get through 4.2 innings, but was charged with just a pair of fifth-inning runs on three hits. More importantly, he issued just three walks and piled up seven strikeouts.
 
For a solid chunk of the afternoon, it looked as if SHU (18-14, 14-4 NEC) might squander the performance. The Pios went without a run through the first five innings and had left seven on base, which was a very similar theme to Saturday, when the team did not score in the final eight innings of an 11-inning loss while missing out on multiple opportunities. Now riding a 13-inning scoreless streak, the home team went into the last of the sixth chasing a pair of runs.
 
The chase ended there, and loudly at that. The Pioneers sent 11 men to the plate in the frame and collected six hits, including three for extra bases, to come up with a much-needed six-spot. They had some help from Le Moyne (13-17, 9-8 NEC) right-hander Jordan Goldmann, who was finally overwhelmed by the traffic on the bases. After Gavin Donohue (Melrose, Mass.) opened the inning with a double down the left-field line, Goldmann hit back-to-back batters to load the bases with nobody out. Michael Simonelli (Milford, Mass.) was next and yanked a pitch through the right side to get SHU on the board and end the scoring drought.
 
Enter Hicks. Hitless on the season (0-for-17), the transfer from Bryant & Stratton came up as a pinch hitter in the nine spot, got a second pitch out over the plate and did not miss. Hicks hammered the ball off the fence in straightaway left, easily clearing the left fielder for a two-run double to put the Pioneers out front, 3-2, and record his first hit in a SHU uniform. Alex Ungar (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) followed and put the hammer down, as he drove the ball deep into the power alley in right-center for a two-run triple to make it 5-2.

"I just wanted to finally contribute, to give the guys a chance to comeback and get the bats hot, and I did," said Hicks after the game, regarding his first Sacred Heart hit. "I was ready all day. Coach said 'be ready', and I was doing what I needed to do all day to get the opportunity done… I got the call and I just put a good swing on it and did my best."
 
The back-to-back extra-base hits spelled the end of the day for Goldmann (4-3), who departed after five-plus innings and 99 pitches (59 strikes). Right-handed reliever Kennen Smith was greeted by an RBI single from Tim McGuire (Portsmouth, R.I.), which left Goldmann with a fairly ugly line of six runs on 10 hits. Goldmann did not issue a walk but hit five batters and struck out just one.
 
Right-hander Charlie Costello (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) had come on to record the final two outs and strand a pair in the top half of the sixth and went the rest of the way to pick up the win (3-1) in relief for SHU. He allowed a run on two hits, struck out two and faced just 14 batters while recording the final 11 outs.
 
SHU added two in the seventh and two more in the eighth to open up the 10-3 final and lock down the series victory.
 
The Pios hit the road for five games in the coming week, beginning with non-conference trips to Fordham on Tuesday and Massachusetts on Wednesday. SHU travels to Delaware State for three games on April 19-21, its first road NEC contests in a month.