By Gio Annatelli – STAFF WRITER
Hofstra defeated St. John’s 6-3 on Wednesday, as the Pride won back-to-back matchups in two straight days. Hofstra improved to a 7-11 record while the Red Storm fell to 10-9 on the season.
The Pride started out strong, getting four runs off Big East Pitcher of the Week, Alex Katz, in the top of the second.
Brad Witkowski came through with an RBI single that brought in David Leiderman. Chris Weiss followed later in the inning with an RBI single that drove in Eric Ferguson and moved Witkowski to third.
Chris Hardardt laid down a sacrifice bunt and Witowski scored as well as moved Weiss to second. The final run of the 4-0 start came from an RBI single by Dalton Rouleau.
St. John’s responded with a run in the bottom of the second, as Tyler Sanchez shot an RBI single with two outs.
Hofstra was able to score two runs later in the third. Both Steven Foster and Leiderman were walked by Katz, which ended his day.
Witkowski come through with a clutch two-out double that drove in both Foster and Leiderman and gave the Pride a commanding 6-1 lead.
St. John’s was able to cut the deficit in the bottom of the fifth in an odd fashion. Zach Lauricella led off the inning with a walk, he made it to third off a wild pitch plus tagging up on a fly out and he finally reached home from a groundout RBI by Michael Donadio.
Robert Wayman added one more run for St. John’s, driving in a run in the bottom of the sixth, but that’s all Hofstra gave the Red Storm.
Pride reliever Nick Kozlowski got out of a bases-loaded jam by getting a fly out and strike out to end the inning.
Hofstra starter Alec Eisenberg (2-1) allowed two runs on three hits over the span of five innings. Kozlowski received his first career save by throwing the final four innings, allowing one run on six hits.
Katz (2-1) allowed six runs over four hits in two and a third of innings work. He also let up three key walks. Chris Kalica, Joey Graziano, and Shawn Heide let up just four hits in the rest of the game.
