The Hofstra University baseball team came back from a four-run deficit with six runs in the eighth inning. This gave the Pride a 7-6 victory over St. John’s University on Tuesday, April 15. The out-of-conference win moves the Pride to 13-24 overall on the season.
Michael Craig started the eighth inning rally, brought home the go-ahead run and had a team-leading three RBIs on the day on two hits.
Dylan Palmer knocked in two triples on the day and tied Ricky Caputo for the Hofstra program record for career triples with 10.
Hofstra’s bullpen played an integral role in the win. They pitched a combined six innings, allowing only one earned run. Trent Jenks earned the win in his 1.2 innings on the bump, coming in during the seventh inning and stretching into the eighth. Tanner Sanderoff was awarded the save with his 1.1 innings of work, allowing only one hit and earning one strikeout.
The Pride took an early lead with a leadoff triple from Palmer. The play set up an RBI groundout from Craig to bring the speedy Palmer home. That was the only offense for the Pride for the first seven innings of the game though, as St. John’s pitching shut down the Hofstra bats.
The Red Storm answered with a one-run second inning on a string of three singles, including an RBI bunt single from Jackson Tucker to tie the game.
Hofstra starting pitcher Branden Brown struggled in the third and St. John’s took the lead with a four-run inning. A leadoff double from Jared Beebe was followed with a walk to Shaun McMillan. Will Cowan brought in the first run of the inning on a single to right field. A walk drawn by Sean Britt loaded the bases and Jace Jeremiah worked a walk to bring in a run. Jon LeGrande capped off the rally with a two RBI single.
Both pitching staffs put up scoreless innings from the fourth through the seventh. CJ Griggs had the only extra base hit of this stretch, a double to centerfield.
Jacob Ruiz and Sam Mettert struggled with their command, allowing the Pride to make the comeback in the eighth inning. Craig started the rally with a base hit. Dom Camera then drew a walk and a wild pitch put both baserunners in scoring position, setting up Luke Masiuk for a two-RBI double. Tyler Castrataro was hit by a pitch and Nick Biddle walked to load the bases for Michael Brown, who delivered with an RBI single. Sean Lane skied a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Castrataro home. Palmer was hit by a pitch, and Craig earned his second single of the inning, driving in the go-ahead run to give the Pride a 7-5 lead.
The Red Storm fought back in the bottom of the inning with one run. LeGrande tripled to the right center field gap and a sacrifice fly from Tucker put St. John’s within one.
St. John’s led off the ninth with a double from Beebe, but Sanderoff retired the next three batters to secure the victory.
The Pride headed back home to host 17-16 Stony Brook University for a three-game Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series on Friday, April 18.
