The Hofstra Pride baseball team saw its seven-game win streak end at the hands of the Northeastern University Huskies, 6-1 at Friedman Diamond in Brookline, Massachusetts on Friday, April 21.
This was the first time these two teams met since the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) tournament championship game on May 29, 2022, where Hofstra defeated Northeastern on a walk-off hit by pitch en route to its first conference title.
With this loss, the Pride drops to 17-20 overall in 2023, with a conference play record of 9-10. The Huskies improve to a 30-7 overall record, with a CAA record of 11-5. Hofstra is in sixth place in the conference, while Northeastern is in third.
It took the Huskies until the bottom of the third inning to get the scoring started. With a runner on first, Mike Sirota hit the first offering from Pride starter Cade Henry out of the yard for a two-run home run. Tyler MacGregor struck a triple two batters later, but Henry got the Pride out of the inning by getting Alex Lane to fly out to center field.
Northeastern used the next inning to solidify its lead. Henry got two quick outs to begin the inning before giving up back-to-back singles to Spenser Smith and Gregory Bozzo. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, Luke Beckstein took the full count pitch and hit a single up the middle, doubling the lead for the Huskies to 4-0. Danny Crossen made it 5-0, bringing home Beckstein from second base on a single up the middle.
Northeastern sealed the deal and made it 6-0 in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, Smith grounded into a fielder’s choice, bringing in Lane.
The Pride got on the board in the top of the eighth inning. Hayden Smith came out of the bullpen to relieve Aiven Cabral but gave up two straight four-pitch walks. With two men on out and no one out, junior Steve Harrington hit a double to left center, which brought home Brian Morrell. Griffin Young came in to relieve Cabral and was able to record all three outs.
Hofstra did get seven hits in this game but could not take advantage of getting runs. Both Jake Liberatore and Zach Bailey, the latter being a former Husky, got two hits in the series-opening game.
Cabral finished the game with his fifth win of the season, going seven innings, striking out three and walking one. Henry was handed his sixth loss of the season. He went five innings, giving up five earned runs, striking out three and walking five. The University of South Alabama transfer is currently 1-6, has a 7.71 ERA and has struck out 29 hitters in 44.1 innings pitched.
The Pride has been a high-scoring team all season long, but this was the first time the team was held to under five runs in a game since game one of a doubleheader against College of Charleston on April 7.
Hofstra returns to action against the Huskies on Saturday, April 22. Hofstra looks to celebrate Earth Day by reducing the number of runs it gives up, reusing its game plan for the seven games before this one and recycling by taking its issues in game one and making them better in game two, which begins at 11:30 a.m in a doubleheader.
Photo courtesy of Pete Coco
