SETTERS LOSE TO BENTLEY, 1-0, DESPITE 1-HITTER FROM HALLBERG

WALTHAM, MA - Pace junior Bryan Hallberg (River Edge, NJ/River Dell Regional) (River Edge, NJ/Riverdell) pitched a complete game, 1-hitter but one unearned run was enough for Bentley College to squeeze out a Northeast-10 Conference victory.  With the 1-0 win, Bentley goes to 13-11-1 overall and 7-6 in the NE-10 while Pace drops to 19-9 overall and 6-3 in conference play.

Hallberg sat down the Falcons in his first trip through the Bentley order and was perfect through three innings before a lead-off walk and a batter reaching on an error.  With two runners on base, Hallberg sat down the next three to end the early Bentley threat. 

Hallberg would pitch out of a similar jam in the 5^th after hitting a batter with one out.  After an errant throw by catcher Chris Brown (Kingston, RI/South Kingston) allowed another runner to reach base, Hallberg was able to get the next batter to ground out before the runner on second was thrown out attempting to steal third.

In the 6^th inning, Tim Dennehy (Norwood, MA) reached on an error by Pace shortstop Andre Liscinsky (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) (Trumbull, CT/Trumbull).  After Denehy moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Bill Dacier (Medway, MA), Denehy would advance to third on a passed ball by Brown.  Hallberg would get Kevin Vona (Belmont, MA) to ground out, but Steve Gath (Reading, MA) came up with a two-out single, scoring Denehy with the go-ahead and eventual winning run.

In the 7^th, Pace junior Matt Castellano (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph) (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph) led off the inning with a single and Brian Hollrah (Glenwood, MD/Glenely) (Glenwood, MD/Glenely) reached base on a fielding error by Bentley's pitcher on a sacrifice bunt.  Liscinsky then dropped down a sacrifice bunt of his own, moving Castellano to third and Hollrah to second.  With one out and two runners in scoring position, Brown popped up to first base and Castellano was doubled off of third to end the inning.

Hallberg was brilliant on the mound, throwing 69 of his 97 pitches in the game for strikes.  Hallberg gave up one unearned run on one hit while striking out four.  He goes to 3-2 on the season.  His counterpart, Brett Fistes (South Deerfield, MA) picked up the victory to improve to 3-0 on the season. Fistes held Pace scoreless over 8 2/3 while giving up six hits, walking three and striking out two.  At the plate, Castellano was 2-for-2.

Pace returns to action when they host the Falcons of Bentley College on Thursday, April 13^th at 3:30 p.m. in a Northeast-10 Conference match-up slated for 9-innings at Finnerty Field on the Pleasantville campus of Pace University.