By Gio Annatelli and PJ Potter - STAFF WRITERS
After being unable to play for 19 straight days due to the weather, Hofstra was able to come away with a 6-4 win at Mitchell Athletic Complex in game one of a double-header against conference rival William & Mary on Friday, but dropped game two in a blowout 11-1 loss.
Walks hurt the Pride early in game one, as pitcher Nick Kozlowski walked two straight batters to load the bases. The Tribe capitalized on the scoring opportunity, driving in two runs in the top of the second inning.
Hofstra was not going to let that bring them down, as they answered in the bottom of the inning by scoring three runs, all with two outs.
Freshman Chris Weiss was able to drive in Brad Witkowski with a single. Eric Ferguson then tied the game with an RBI single of his own. Steven Foster drew a walk with the bases loaded to force in the go-ahead run and the Pride never looked back.
Ferguson tripled in the bottom of the fourth and then scored on a wild pitch. William & Mary scored in the top of the fifth, but the Pride was able to get the run back as Brett Johnson homered to start off the inning. It was Johnson’s first home run on the year and also Hofstra’s first long ball of the season.
Dalton Rouleau completed the Hofstra scoring with an RBI single in the sixth and the Tribe tried, but failed, to comeback by scoring a run in the top of the seventh off an RBI double.
The Pride pitchers seemed to start out slow, giving up some runs, but they then shut down the Tribe for the rest of the game. Kozlowski (1-2) let up just three hits and three runs in six innings of work to get the win. Kozlowski gave up four walks in the first two innings, but only gave up one more in the third. He also had five strikeouts.
Pitcher Chris Bonk came in for relief to earn his first save of the season, giving up just two hits and striking out five batters on three innings of relief.
The Tribe’s Jason Inghram (1-2) allowed six runs on eight hits in six innings. Three of the six runs were unearned. He let up four walks while also having six strikeouts. Chris Lohr pitched two innings of relief, only allowing one hit.
Hofstra’s Ferguson had a day of his own, going 3-for-4 with a triple and scoring two runs while also batting in a run.
“[Ferguson] ended his last game in Hawaii with two hits. He’s been struggling those whole first eight games,” said head coach John Russo. “For 19 days he’s been feeling pretty good about himself.”
Ferguson wasn’t the only Pride player to bounce back, as Brett Johnson finished the game with a home run.
“He just changes our whole lineup,” Russo stated. “He lets guys hit down lower in the order and he gives us a great presence.” Johnson has been out with a foot injury since the first game of the season.
Bonk then faced off against the Tribe’s undefeated Nick Brown in the second game, but couldn’t earn the sweep of the day, falling 11-1.
The Tribe was able to swing momentum their way in this game by tacking on two runs in the first inning off of hits from Josh Smith and Charley Gould.
William & Mary wasted no time as they continued scoring runs early in the game, piling on seven more runs in the 3rd and 4th innings. Bonk’s day on the mound ended after tossing 3.1 innings while giving up seven earned runs on nine hits, falling to 1-2 on the season with a 6.91 ERA.
Hofstra’s relievers were able to minimize the damage later in the game with only two more runs crossing home plate for the Tribe for the remainder of the game, but it came at a cost.
Coach Russo had to dig deep into his bullpen, using a total of seven pitchers in the game.
Hofstra first baseman Ryan Donovan scored the lone run for the Pride in the bottom of the 4th off of Brad Witkowski’s double to left field.
William & Mary’s bats came alive, accounting for 13 hits, compared to just five in first game.
The majority of the hits for the Tribe came from the bats of Cullen Large, Josh Smith and Tim Hoehn, combining for eight hits. Large went 4-for-5 in the game, including a triple along with three runs batted in. Smith had three RBIs as well, totaling two hits and a stolen base.
Hofstra was limited to five hits in the game. Witkowski went 2-for-4 and freshman Jake Fallon had a pinch hit single.
