By Mark Walters
Towson, Md.- After a 12-6 victory over Iona last Thursday at home, the Pride went on the road Easter weekend to Towson for a three-game conference series against the Tigers.
Despite taking early leads in games one and two, Hofstra (6-15, 0-9 CAA) fell to Towson (8-12, 3-6 CAA) three straight times, losing 5-2, 7-4, and 6-0, respectively.
Down 1-0 in the 3rd inning of game one, David Cole and Tom Legregni reached base for the Pride via singles. Mark Stuckless laid down a sacrifice bunt to put Cole and Legregni in scoring position, and Matt Prokopowicz singled home both base runners, giving Hofstra a 2-1 lead.
Towson answered back in the same inning as the Tigers scored four to go up 5-2.
Zach Umberger got the win for Towson, while Rob Kumbatovic took the loss for Hofstra, allowing five runs on eight hits with three strikeouts in seven innings.
Game two was similar in that Hofstra led Towson early, but the home team came back differently for its second win of the series.
The Pride scored one in the third, fourth, and fifth innings to go up 3-0, but Towson tied it up with three runs in the fifth.
The Tigers would take the lead for good in the seventh with four runs to go ahead 7-3.
A ninth inning Pride rally yielded one run when they loaded the bases and scored on an Adam Perlo sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to three.
Anthony Sarno started on the hill for the Pride and recorded four strikeouts in five innings. Reliever Rob DiFalco took the loss. Towson’s Josh Squatrito earned the win in Saturday’s contest.
“This weekend we had a few hits here and there, but the bottom line is we need to get a few hits here and there, move the guy over and get him in,” Cole said.
“When we pitch, we haven’t hit a whole lot. Our offense has been struggling, so as good as the win was against Iona, that momentum didn’t carry over as we wanted,” Pride Assistant Coach Asa Grunenwald said, referring to the Towson series.
In game three, Towson got all it needed by means of Nick Natoli reaching first on an error, and getting to third after a walk and a throwing arror. Matt Collins got an RBI when he grounded out to score Natoli.
The Tigers added two in the third with a two-run homer, two in the sixth, and one in the eighth for insurance.
Pride sophomore Matt Prokopowicz was left on base all three times he reached it as Hofstra was shut out and swept.
Having been in seven close calls of the nine conference losses, sophomore Dion Pouncil said the team is playing good defense but they just need to score more runs to help the pitchers out.
“We’ve had some clutch moments, we just have to put in that extra work, go that extra mile so we can start getting some W’s,” Pouncil added.
After a doubleheader at Siena this week, Hofstra returns to Hempstead to host a three-game, weekend series against conference rival James Madison University..