For the second straight weekend, the Hofstra University baseball team traveled to the Garden State, this time to start a three-game series against Seton Hall University on Friday, March 20. An eighth-inning RBI single from Frankie Scrivanic was the game-winner in a 5-4 Pirates victory.

Carlos Martinez started on the mound for the Pride. Martinez entered the afternoon 0-1 on the season and had an ERA of 4.22. He pitched five innings with five strikeouts, gave up five hits, walked one batter and allowed three runs, two of which were earned. 

For Seton Hall, Steven Svenson, who was the 2026 Big East Preseason Pitcher of the Year, took the mound. At the beginning of the afternoon, he was 1-1 on the season with a 3.50 ERA. He went five innings, struck out three batters, gave up five hits, walked two batters and allowed one run. 

The Pirates first scored in the bottom of the first when Gabe Cavazzoni looped a hit over shortstop Michael Brown’s head. Cavazzoni double scored Aiden Dill and gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead. Seton Hall doubled its lead later in the inning when Ryan Frontera lined a double down the right field line, which scored Aidan Sengenberger.

Hofstra answered back in the top of the third inning when Tyler Cox flew out to center field, which scored Brown, and cut the Pirate’s lead to one, but they extended their lead to 3-1 in the fifth inning when Sengenberger sent a groundball to left field and scored Tommy Manzo from second base. 

The Pride’s bats woke up in the seventh. JJ DeVito drove in the first run of the inning, chopping a grounder to third base, which scored Tyler Castrataro. Hofstra took their first lead of the afternoon when Cox lined a double to right field that scored Brown and DeVito. The three-run inning gave the Pride a 4-3 lead to enter the seventh-inning stretch. 

Hofstra’s lead did not last long, though, as Seton Hall immediately answered back in the bottom of the seventh inning. Cavazzoni grounded out to Brown, but Jake Lopez scored and tied the game up at four. 

In the eighth, the Pirates took the lead that they would not relinquish after Scrivanic sent a groundball up the middle, which scored Ty Acker from second and gave Seton Hall a 5-4 lead. After Acker scored, the Pirates looked to John Higgins for the save, who locked down his sixth save of the season. 

With the defeat, the Pride dropped to 5-11 on the season and moved to 2-4 in Coastal Athletic Association play. Seton Hall improved to 9-8 on the season, all 17 games being non-conference matchups.

Game two of the three-game set was on Saturday, March 21, with first pitch from Mike Sheppard, Sr. Stadium at Owen T. Carroll Field scheduled for 1 p.m.