By Danny Powell
The Pride dropped a thrilling non-conference game to the New York Insititute of Technology as they hosted their Nassau County rival. Hofstra’s fell short in their bid for a comeback as the Bears pitching staff shut down the young Pride line-up in the late innings.
The Bears came out swinging hot bats and led 3-0 after the top of the second inning. The Pride answered quickly, putting up a run in the second and then getting a sacrifice fly from freshman third baseman Matt Prokopowicz in the third inning to trim the deficit back to one.
It seemed that Hofstra was poised to take control in the bottom of the fourth as three walks loaded the bases with just one out. NYIT reliever Frank Sonnenberg managed to wiggle out of trouble though, getting catcher Tom Caltabiano to pop out to end a tough at-bat, and inducing shortstop Chris Mentrasti to fly-out to centerfield. Sonnnberg was brilliant all game, allowing just one run on three hits and one walk in five and a third innings of work.
NYIT then added another run in the top of the sixth, as pitcher John Fuhrmann allowed a lead-off walk then threw two wild-pitches two advance the runner to third before surrendering a RBI single to third baseman Denten Neill.
Hofstra quickly trimmed the lead back down to one as freshman Dion Pouncil came up with a huge two-out RBI single with two men on to plate Hofstra’s third run of the game. This turned out to be the last run of the game, however, as pitching took the upper-hand the rest of the way.
After scoreless seventh and eighth innings, it looked as though the crowd at University Field was about to be treated to some ninth inning heroics as sophomore centerfielder Nick Panzarella led off with a single to put the tying run on first base. The Bears pitching and defense clamped down yet again as the next two batters flew out before pitcher Mike Roth struck out Mentrasti to wrap up a 4-3 victory for NYIT. The teams end up with a split in the two-game season series.
The win improved the Bears to 16-19 on the season while the Pride fell to 16-30. Hofstra is now 8-15 in non-conference game, but that includes an 0-6 record against national powerhouses Florida State University and Auburn University.
The Pride will wrap up their non-conference schedule when they host Long Island University next Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.