Thanks to a three-run ninth inning, the Hofstra University baseball team evened out their series against Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) foe Towson University in a 9-6 victory on Friday, April 3.
With the win, Hofstra improved to 10-15 on the season with a 5-6 record in CAA play. Towson fell to the bottom of the CAA North standings with a 12-15 overall record and a 3-11 record in conference play.
Gabriel Melara hit his second and third home runs of his Hofstra tenure, just under 24 hours after hitting his first homer for the blue and gold. Going 4-5 and driving in three runs, Melara broke a personal record for hits in a game and contributed to one of the Pride’s three ninth inning runs.
In his fifth start of his bounce back season, Carlos Martinez also broke some notable season records, surpassing a five-inning benchmark met in his last two starts by going 7.1 innings against the Tigers. In his latest mound appearance, Martinez gave up five runs on six hits but struck out seven batters – his new season-high.
The Pride first got the ball rolling when Tyler Cox drove in Nick Biddle for an early 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Melara hit his first home run of the day the next inning.
Martinez earned three of his runs on an unfortunate play in the bottom of the fourth. Easily getting the first two outs in the inning, Martinez walked Max D’Alessandro and gave up a base hit to Frank Adamski Jr. He then gave up a three-run home run to Nich Francuzenko before putting the inning to bed by getting an unassisted out on a bunt placed by Josh Janove.
Aden Knowles left the game as the Tigers’ starter, giving up just the two runs in 5.0 innings pitched. Matt Lynch came in for relief but had an unlucky appearance on the mound. In 0.2 innings worked, Lynch opened the top of the sixth by putting CJ Griggs on third base on a walk, passed ball and sacrifice fly to right fielder Keldrin Rodriguez.
Melara tied the game on an RBI single to left field. Tyler Castrataro joined Melara on the basepath on a base hit, then both runners stole a base, putting two runners in scoring position for George Holt. Holt then flied out to center fielder Nick LoBello to plate Melara and give the Pride the lead back. Biddle hit a single to center field to send Castrataro home for a 5-3 Hofstra lead.
The top of the eighth opened with Melara launching his second solo home run of the game. Towson tied the game up in the bottom of the eighth when Martinez ended his mound appearance on an RBI triple to LoBello. Maddon McArthur came into relief but opened his appearance with a wild pitch that scored LoBello; the run was credited to Martinez. The Tigers responded to Melara’s power hitting later that inning, when Brian Heckelman hit a two-out solo home run.
Griggs reached first base on a one-out walk in the top of the ninth and was replaced by pinch runner Giovanni Bausone. Nick Gallello joined Bausone on the basepath with a single up the third-base line, then Melara advanced both runners on a single to right field. Bausone scored on a throwing error from new right fielder Brady Nathison.
Castrataro advanced Gallello to third base on a walk and stole second base. A pair of wild pitches drove Gallello and Castrataro in for the Pride’s last successful scoring attempts.
Brayden Gregg faced three batters in the bottom of the ninth, pitching into a double play ball to Francuzenko and ending the game with a popout to shortstop Michael Brown. Gregg earned his first save of the season on the brief but important mound appearance.
Hofstra looked for their second consecutive CAA series win with a rubber game on Saturday, April 4. First pitch was set for 2 p.m.
