By Mark Walters

A Gatorade commercial once said, “A bat’s a bat, even if it’s flat.” While this might be true, recent technology may prove otherwise. In a move to improve hitting, several of the Pride baseball players have switched bats, from Akadema to Easton.

Akadema, a baseball equipment company, supplies the team with a plethora of equipment from bats to equipment bags, but there was nothing found in terms of an official contract between Akadema and the team.

While Coach Dotolo is pictured on Akadema’s website, praising Akadema’s bats, he has a job to do as a coach.

“If the guys think they’re gonna have more confidence with different bats, it’s my job to protect my team. If they think Easton bats will make the difference, then I gotta do what I gotta do,” Dotolo said.

The Akadema bats have been, according to players, broken and dented. Some describe the Easton bats as adding confidence when they step to the plate, and others say the new bats simply feel better.

While the dramatic improvement the Pride needs to get out of the CAA basement in the standings has yet to be seen, small steps have been taken. The Pride recorded its first conference win at Delaware after some players switched bats. After that came a dramatic victory over New York Tech, 15-3. Last weekend, Hofstra took two of three from Old Dominion.

Contrarily, the Pride also dropped a game to New York Tech, 6-4, the day before the 15-3 trouncing. George Mason swept Hofstra the weekend following the Tech series.

So what’s the deal with the bats?

Taking a look at school history, one could make a strong argument that the bats do not make the hitter. Looking back at Hofstra’s pre-Easton bat era, Pride batters have done some solid hitting using Akadema bats.

According to statistics supplied by Head Coach Chris Dotolo, with an Akadema bat, Matt Prokopowicz was named to the “Baseball America” All-American team last season at third base. This was not the only All-America honor for Prokopiwicz as a freshman, but it is the standard All-American team for NCAA baseball.

Prokopowicz hit .416 with his Akadema bat last year, good for 10th in the nation. He set the school record for hits in a season with 82 and was also named CAA Rookie of the Year.

Joining Prokopowicz on the all-time list of Hofstra players for single season hits are Pride assistant coach, Josh Stewart, with 77, Josh Stern with 74, and Ricky Caputo with 73.

The top three players for career hits at Hofstra are Caputo with 248 hits, Stern with 231, and Andy Campana, who had 211 hits. Caputo is ranked second in school history with 34 home runs over four years. Stern is fourth on that list, with 27 dingers. Again, this was all done with Akadema bats.

While he said, “it’s the Indian, not the arrow,” Coach Dotolo, who ordered the Easton bats, has noticed some changes.

“You could put a broomstick in Matt’s hands, and he’ll figure out a way to hit the ball,” Dotolo said. “A lot of the guys still use the Akadema bats, but some guys have more confidence with the Easton bats. Two of the Easton bats have broken, and they didn’t even last two weeks.”

It seems to be primarily a confidence issue for the Pride, who continues to struggle at the plate.

Against Stony Brook on April 15, Hofstra was struck out 10 times. In its only loss to Old Dominion in last weekend’s series, Pride batters were rung up 13 times. St. John’s recently K’ed Hofstra 11 times, and in a game against George Mason, the Patriots struck out Hofstra 15 times.

So go ahead and ask yourself, would the bats have made those strikeouts any different?