By Dave Diamond

The Pride baseball team was riding high, certainly as high as this season has gone thus far after a 7-6 come-frombehind victory over Georgia State University on Mar. 24. Two losses later, including Sunday’s 8-2 loss in the rubber game of the series, the Pride found itself in a familiar position: back in the middle.

The Panthers capitalized on quiet Pride bats to take the weekend series at Hofstra. It is the third straight Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) series in which the Pride lost the all-important final game of a three-game set.

“We have just been struggling to put runs on the board and the only thing that has been keeping us in games lately is good pitching and timely hitting every now and then,” Pride senior shortstop Josh Stern said. Stern was a bright spot for the Pride, going 2-for-4 with an RBI in the game.

But for Hofstra on Sunday, starting pitching and timely hitting took a back seat to a major error, one the Pride was unable to recover. Georgia State put three runs on the board in the top of the first inning when Justin Newman singled to right field. The ball then went under the glove of outfielder Anthony Sarnoand rolled all the way to the fence, allowing Newman and two other Panthers to round the bases. It was the first error of the year for the normally sure-handed Sarno, and it put the Pride in a tough position to battle back.

“It’s always tough to overcome something like that, but the bottom line is we have to hit and score runs give our pitching a chance to hold up,” Stern said.

That in mind, the Pride answered in the bottom of the inning following a lead off hit from junior Andy Campana, and slugger Ricky Caputo brought him in with a sacrifice fly. Hofstra added another run in the next inning thanks to great hustle by senior captain Steve Oliveri.

Oliveri worked a walk, then stole second and third base, allowing Stern to rip a two-out single up the middle, which cut the Panther lead to 3-2.

“Coach just took a gamble that it would be a breaking ball and a tough pitch to throw on with two strikes, and it was,” Oliveri said of the steal of second. “I just got a good read on the ball in the dirt and took off,” he said of the next steal.

The score remained the same into the seventh inning when GSU took advantage of potentially tired Pride starter Pat Rogers. Panthers second baseman Ryan Sterling hit a two-run double down the right field line, and the damage could have been worse if the battling Rogers had not induced a couple of fielder’s choices. Sterling lived up to his name for GSU, going 3-for-4 with a walk, two runs and four RBI. Rogers was done after the double, having given up five runs (two earned). He took the loss, falling to 1-1 on the year.

While Brody Fontaine found his way out of the seventh and pitched a perfect eighth inning, Pride hitters did no harm before Georgia State put the game out of reach.

In the top of the ninth, the Panthers’ Eric Suttle singled home Aeden Ennis, who previously doubled to left. Sterling delivered the final blow, a two-run home run to give the Panthers an 8-2 win.

Hofstra is averaging under five runs per game this year, leaving the players confused about why they continue to give up late runs and yet have trouble scoring themselves.

“I don’t know the answer,” Stern said, “but it obviously has to change especially in conference if we want to compete for the CAA title.