Game One By Joe Barone – SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
After winning four of their last seven games, the Hofstra Pride made history Friday afternoon, in a losing effort to the Villanova Wildcats.
Junior pitcher Chris Bonk (2-3) went the distance for the Pride, allowing three earned runs while striking out three as the Pride lost 3-1. Bonk’s accomplishment was the first time in nearly four years a Hofstra pitcher threw a complete game.
In a pitching duel for most of the nine innings, Villanova capitalized on an early mistake by Hofstra.
With one out and a man on second base, Pride pitcher Chris Bonk lost a handle on the ball that sailed to the backstop allowing Wildcats’ outfielder Adam Goss to advance to third base.
This set up Villanova’s first scoring opportunity and Todd Czinege would connect to put the Wildcats ahead early, 1-0.
Bonk, however, settled down after the run scored as he pitched four scoreless innings, retiring eight consecutive batters, giving Hofstra a legitimate chance to remain in the game.
The Pride’s bats were ineffective as Wildcats’ starter, Josh Harris (2-2), baffled hitters for eight innings, allowing six hits but only one earned run.
In the bottom half of the sixth inning, Villanova sought to pull away.
After a leadoff double by Czinege, Chris Bonk would surrender RBI singles from Wildcats’ third baseman Kevin Jewitt and Jeff Courter, putting Villanova up 3-0.
Once Hofstra’s hitters were retired six consecutive times, they attempted to start a rally in their final turn at-bat.
Following singles to start the ninth by Steven Foster and Brett Johnson, Villanova’s Harris walked David Leiderman forcing Wildcat’s coach Joe Godri to bring in their closer, Chris Haggarty, with the bases loaded.
Haggarty surrendered a sacrifice fly, putting Hofstra on the board but later he shut the door and end the Pride’s recent two-game winning streak.
Game Two by Elliot Ruben – STAFF WRITER
The Hofstra Pride baseball team bounced back in a resiliency fashion to beat the Villanova Wildcats 1-0, a day after they had their first complete game in four years.
Hofstra starter Bowie Matteson went seven strong innings, only allowing six hits, and striking out five. Matteson also didn’t allow a single walk.
Villanova starter Hunter Schryver picthed eight innings and only allowed two runs and one hit, while striking out eight, but despite his efforts, he still recorded the loss.
In a continued sign of great pitching by the Pride, they only needed two hits the entire game to get the victory.
The lone run of the game came in the third inning when center fielder Steven Foster drove in Ryan Donovan, who just entered the game as a pinch runner for Brett Johnson, via an RBI single.
Despite the fact that the Wildcats had eight hits in total, Hofstra pitchers Matteson, and then Matt Weissheler in the eighth, and then Chris Weiss were able to hold down the fort and keep Villanova off the board.
While the Wildcats did manage to get eight hits, Hofstra pitching spread the hits across the lineup. Villanova batters went 1-for-3 or 1-for-4 and none were able to string together consecutives hits which stranded nine base runners.
Weissheler threw a pretty quick eighth inning, only allowing one hit, but also striking out one, and limiting his pitch count to 15.
The closer, Chris Weiss, was a little more a erratic, allowing a hit and a walk, while getting his pitch count up to 24. However, he managed to notch his first save of the season and preserved the 1-0 victory for Matteson.
With the win, Bowie Matteson improved to 1-0, and his ERA dropped to 4.21 while Hunter Schryver dropped to 0-2 and his ERA slightly inflated to 2.70.
The Pride improved to 8-12, and the Wildcats dropped to 8-13. Hofstra is now only a half game back of Villanova in the loss column.
Game Three by P.J. Potter – STAFF WRITER
The final game of the series took 13 innings to decide a victor in the rubber match on Sunday. Hofstra took advantage of a few key outs from the pitching staff as well as clutch hits to provide the Pride a 3-1 win over the Villanova Wildcats.
Adam Heidenfelder was given the start for the Pride against Ryan Doty of Villanova.
Pitching was the key factor in this matchup; no one scored until the top of the 8th inning when Brad Witkowski knocked in Steven Foster on a triple down the right field line.
Heidenfelder, who was still in search of his first career win, came up with the no decision once again. He tossed six complete innings, while only letting up two hits and surrendering no runs.
Nick Kozlowski has found a new role on the team by now coming out of the bullpen, replacing Heidenfelder to start the 7th. It was smooth sailing for Kozlowski until the bottom of 9th inning with two outs and no one on base. Hofstra was leading 1-0 until the senior flamethrower gave up three consecutive base hits and a hit batter, allowing one run to cross home plate.
Brendan Mulligan came up clutch by striking out the next batter after relieving Kozlowski, sending the game into extra innings.
The pitchers on each end were keeping the score at a standstill, until David Leiderman stepped into the batter’s box in the top of the 13th for the Pride. His single up the middle was good enough to bring in Ryan Donovan and Steven Foster to score. Villanova was unable to answer in the bottom half of the inning.
Kevin Weissheier earned his first victory and Chris Weiss came in to get his second save on the season.
The Pride improved their record to 9-12 and are now at their best winning percentage on the year at .429.
Hofstra comes back home to host against Fairfield university this Tuesday on March 31st, the game is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.
