Two well-timed home runs by Teddy Cillis and Vinnie Costello were not enough for the Hofstra baseball team, as it fell to the UNCW Seahawks 7-4 on Friday afternoon.
The UNCW victory came in the first matchup of the three-game series between the two teams at University Field.
A methodical comeback by Hofstra just never fully capitalized despite the heavy threat it displayed in the final two innings. Loading the bases in both the seventh and eighth innings, the Pride seemed destined to finally flip the lead UNCW carried throughout the game. Yet it only managed to come out with one run from the prosperous opportunities.
After the Seahawks scored two more runs in the top of the ninth, the one point deficit that Hofstra had crept towards stretched back out to three, creating a margin too wide for the Pride to overcome.
The Seahawks did most of its damage in the third and fourth innings, bringing in five runs to jump out front against Hofstra.
This attack was partially due to mishaps from Hofstra’s defense, allowing two of the three UNCW runs in the third inning to be unearned while committing three total errors in the inning.
“I don’t think you’re going to beat a team like UNCW making four errors. Just making mistakes like what we made just hurt us overall,” said Hofstra baseball coach John Russo.
The errors stained the good day Hofstra pitcher Teddy Cillis was having, as prior to them he had allowed just one hit and had four strikeouts well into the third inning.
“I told the team I thought he couldn’t keep his composure. The problem was this, we make the error which is fine. But then we booted in the outfield, and then booted another one in the outfield, and that cost him 25 extra pitches that inning. Next inning we give up two runs. We throw a guy out stealing but we drop the ball at second base. That cost him two runs, and another fifteen pitches,” Russo said.
Overall, Cillis had a good outing from the mound, with seven strikeouts and just one walk while allowing eight hits and five runs. Only three of those runs were earned.
Despite the fairly good outing, the loss put Cillis at 0-7 for the season.
The pitcher held his own from behind the plate as well, having the best day out of Hofstra’s batters. Cillis was two for four with two runs and two RBIs that came on a two run homer that he notched in the bottom of the fifth.
Vinnie Costello hit the other home run for the Pride, coming as a lead off hit in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Most of the work in containing the rest of Hofstra’s lineup came in the hands of UNCW’s Alex Royalty, allowing four runs with nine hits and six strikeouts throughout the majority of seven innings.
With the loss, Hofstra falls to 9-26 on the year, as 10 of their last 12 games have resulted in losses.
The Pride will attempt to even up the series against UNCW on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
