By Mark Walters
HEMPSTEAD, NY-As the wind hissed across University Field late Friday afternoon and the temperature dropped, the Pride lost its tenth consecutive conference game to visiting James Madison 6-4 in the first match-up of a three-game weekend series. Since joining the CAA, Hofstra is 6-12 against the Dukes and 6-16 all time. JMU went on to sweep Hofstra in the weekend series.
In game one, the Pride was unable to score any runs after the fourth inning, which is when JMU did most of its damage, scoring one in the fifth, two in the sixth to tie the game, and one in the seventh to take the lead. The visitors added an insurance run in the eighth.
Hofstra got on the board early as the Pride managed to plate two runs in the first inning.
Senior Dave Cole reached base on a hit and was moved to second via Mark Stuckless’ sacrifice bunt. Matt Prokopowicz then hit Cole home with his first of three base hits.
The next two innings were scoreless for both teams until James Madison scored in the top half of the fourth. McKinnon Langston got on base with a walk, advanced to second off a Matt Browning single, and was sent home by means of Dave Herbek’s ground out to first.
The home team also scored in the fourth when Jeff Guthridge walked and stole second. He advanced to third off Nick Panzarella’s base hit, and was finally hit home by Tom Legregni’s fielder’s choice. Legregni scored when Tom Caltabiano hit him home.
The Pride had runners on base in all but two innings, something Head Coach Chris Dotolo said could’ve made it a different game with a couple more hits.
“We made some mistakes that really hurt us. Three base-running mistakes tonight,” he said, referring to Dion Pouncil’s second-inning run down, Dave Cole being doubled up off a line drive to end the game, and John Kenny stealing when he shouldn’t have.
“When you don’t score enough runs, those mistakes are glaring mistakes. If we were able to score eight or nine runs, then you don’t notice those things as much,” Dotolo added.
“We played well today, we just didn’t capitalize. We had the chances, we had guys on base, and we didn’t get the guys in that would’ve won the game for us,” said Dave Cole, who was 2-5 with a run scored. “Hopefully the outcome is better tomorrow,” he added.
Saturday did not see a better outcome for the host team, as Hofstra lost 6-2.
James Madison erupted to score five in the sixth inning, and despite the Pride plating two in the seventh, it wasn’t enough as the Dukes added an insurance run in the eighth.
Justin Wood pitched his first complete game of his career, while Nick Panzarella gave up four runs in the sixth to record the loss. Panzarella was the first of five Pride hurlers to face JMU on a cold and windy, yet sunny Saturday afternoon at University Field.
Panzarella struck out five batters, but lost control in the sixth.
The New Jersey native walked JMU shortstop Mike Fabiaschi, and a wild throw to first from the catcher resulted in Fabiaschi reaching third. Alex Foltz’s base hit scored Fabiaschi, and Foltz scored on a sacrifice fly by JMU first baseman Steve Caseres.
After reaching first on a hit and a walk respectively, Joe Lake and Brett Sellers each scored via Trevor Knight’s one-out double, who then scored when Matt Browning flied out to Dave Cole for the second out of the sixth.
The Pride responded in the seventh when Matt Prokopowicz got a base hit, reached second on a wild pitch, and made it to third after the first baseman could not field an infield fly. Prokopowicz’s run was unearned, and Hofstra added one more courtesy of Jeff Guthridge’s RBI single.
Both teams had four hits, but the Pride couldn’t seem to figure out Justin Wood, who struck out six Pride batters and got a lot of help from his fielders.
Game three was a new day but the same story. James Madison beat Hofstra 7-5 Sunday to complete the weekend sweep. The Pride remains one of two winless teams in CAA play along with Virginia Commonwealth, while 2nd place James Madison improves to 12-3 in the conference.
The Dukes went up 2-0 in the first inning, but the Pride came back in the third to make it 3-2. Nick Panzarella walked to lead off, and Tom Legregni reached first on an error by the shortstop to put Panzarella in scoring position. A Mark Stuckless groundout scored Legregni. Matt Prokopowicz then hit a two-run blast out of University Field.
JMU responded in the fifth, scoring two, and then one in the seventh to go up 5-3, but the Pride would not go away.
Legregni got a two-out base hit and advanced to second when Stuckless walked. The two both stole off Dukes’ pitcher John Mincone, who walked Prokopowicz before being taken out. Trevor Knight then gave up a two-RBI base hit to Pride catcher Elliot Hagburg that tied the game 5-5.
It was not enough, however, as the visitors scored two runs in the eighth to go up 7-5, and for good. Knight earned the win for the Dukes, while Brody Fontaine took the loss for the Pride. JMU starter Kurt Houck recorded nine strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.