A midweek lull in their conference schedule didn’t slow the Hofstra baseball team down as the Pride cruised to an 8-3 victory over the Iona University Gaels at University Field. The Pride earned their sixth straight win on Tuesday, April 18, to improve their record to 16-19, while the Gaels fell to 7-26 on the campaign.
“Overall, I think it was a very well-played game by us,” said Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto. “I think we pitched well and I was happy with the way we ran the bases.”
The Hofstra offense once again exploded for eight runs on 16 hits, continuing their torrid stretch of offensive play. Second baseman Santino Rosso led the way for the Pride on Tuesday, using a four hit performance to drive in two runs. The red-hot duo of Dylan Palmer and Kevin Bruggeman also combined for six hits, one of which being Bruggeman’s tenth career home run. Hofstra has now scored 64 runs throughout their six-game winning streak, largely due to the emergence of players like shortstop Michael Florides at the bottom of the order. After a slow start to the season, Florides has seen his batting average rise all the way to .266 after totaling nine hits and six RBI in his last five games.
“He was patient, and he’s raised his batting average over 100 points in these last few weeks,” Catalanotto said. “We need him defensively in the lineup, so whenever he’s hitting like this, it’s a huge bonus.”
Defensively, the midweek matchup allowed Catalanotto to utilize some unfamiliar pitchers that haven’t gotten a lot of work in recent games. The new arms also worked with an unusual battery mate, as sophomore catcher Dom Camera made the start in place of Bruggeman behind the plate.
“Dom hasn’t gotten much time, and we wanted to see what he could do back there,” Catalanotto said. “I think Dom is a great receiver of the ball, he’s a really good thrower, and we saw that he looks really athletic.”
Making his first start of the season, junior righthander Steven Kaenzig tossed three scoreless frames and struck out three hitters. After Sean Hamilton surrendered the lead, Danny Kelleher, Penn Sealey and Michael O’Hanlon combined to allow just one run across the final four innings.
“We’ve been trying to get these guys some innings, but it’s tough when you have guys like Brad Camarda throwing complete games,” Catalanotto said. “It was good to get these guys an opportunity, and I feel like they really challenged the hitters.”
Hofstra will continue a brief stretch of non-conference play against Fairfield on Wednesday before they travel up to Boston to resume Colonial Athletic Association play against the Northeastern University Huskies. Hofstra currently sits 1.5 games out of the final conference tournament spot with 12 games to play.
Photo courtesy of Pete Coco
