The Hofstra University baseball team completed the sweep over the University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks with a 7-5 victory on Sunday, May 14. Steve Harrington’s four-RBI game and clutch go-ahead double in the ninth led the way for the Pride.
Harrington, who has hit well in the last two series, continued his dominance from the batter’s box. In the three-game series, Harrington collected eight RBIs and six hits and extended his on-base streak to 42 games.
The red-hot Harrington wasted no time, connecting on a deep, two-run home run over the right field wall to take an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. In the bottom half, however, a leadoff bunt single from Robert Gallagher put a runner on base, and Jacob Humphrey’s single through the hole cut the Pride’s lead to 2-1.
The River Hawks were the first to get the bats going in the bottom of the fourth inning when another Humphrey single set up Frank Wayman’s base hit over the shortstop Michael Florides, scoring Humphrey to tie the game 2-2. Conor Kelly’s base hit then sent Wayman across the plate to take over the lead 3-2.
In the fifth inning, Humphrey continued to produce for the River Hawks, sending an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-2. But the sixth inning was the turning point for Hofstra; Ryan Morash’s double set up Anthony D’Onofrio to cut the lead to 4-3. Following a pitching change for the River Hawks, another single up the middle scored D’Onofrio to tie the game at 4-4.
The game remained tied at four heading into the ninth inning, with another pitching change for the River Hawks for Michael Simes. The change did not do much for the River Hawks since Harrington came up to the plate with runners on first and second. Harrington ripped a double over the center fielder’s head and the two runners scored, letting Hofstra take a 6-4 lead late in the game. The Pride added another score when Frank Dimartino stole home to take a 7-4 lead.
With closer Michael O’Hanlon on the mound, Humphrey belted another RBI single to try and climb back, but O’Hanlon completed the save and secured the third out which led to the weekend sweep for Hofstra.
John Mikolaicyk gained the win coming in from the bullpen, and O’Hanlon secured his sixth save of the season. With this series being the final road trip of the season for Hofstra, the Pride travels back to Hempstead to take on the Elon University Phoenix and try to punch their ticket into the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament.
The first game of the last series of the season will be set for noon on Friday, May 19, at University Field.
Photo courtesy of Pete Coco
