After a 14-10 slugfest the day before, the Hofstra Pride baseball grabbed another win in their series against the Towson University Tigers, 7-4, in an all-around complete game for the Pride.
“I thought it was a very well-played game,” said Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto. “I think our pitchers did a good job throwing strikes and getting outs. We got some clutch hits. All around I was happy with the way we played today.”
Tristan Nemjo started on the mound for Hofstra, not letting up a hit until the fourth inning. Across his 5.2 innings pitched, he allowed only four runs on five hits while fanning eight batters.
“Nemjo, especially early on, was throwing strikes and getting ahead,” Catalanotto said. “It looked like he had command of all of his pitches and I know he had a little bit of bad luck there at the end but for the most part he looked great.”
Mark Faello showed up for the Pride in relief, dominating his way through the Tiger’s lineup in 3.1 innings of work, allowing no runs on four hits and closing out the game with the save.
“Mark came in and gave up a few hits but was letting them hit,” Catalanotto said. “Like I tell my pitchers all the time, we have the best infield in the conference, so I tell these pitchers to let them hit the ball and our guys are going to clean up and make the plays and that’s what he did today.”
Towson’s Brett Seils held Hofstra hitless until the fourth inning.
“Seils was mixing it up good, he threw a lot of off-speed pitches,” Catalanotto said. “I think at that point we started to say that this team throws a lot of off-speed pitches and maybe we should look for them and the approach changed. They started to look for off-speed stuff and it worked.”
Towson got the juices flowing first with a leadoff double from shortstop Casey Bishop over Dylan Palmer’s head setting up a Bryce Federick sacrifice fly to left field scoring Bishop to take a 1-0 lead.
Hofstra answered back in the bottom half with two back-to-back doubles from Brian Morrell and Kevin Bruggeman, tying the game at one. The inning continued when Santino Rosso clobbered a two-run shot over the right field wall to gain a 3-1 lead, prompting a pitching change by Towson.
“I think the guys are having good at-bats,” Catalanotto said. “It seems like when we get down early, we don’t get concerned and we’re swinging at good pitches, [so] for the most part I’m very happy with the offense.”
Towson made it a one-run game with a Jeremy Wagner double, sending catcher Brian Heckelman home. Then, second basemen Jordan Peyton slammed a two-run shot over the left field wall to take the lead back 4-2.
Hofstra did not back down once again, putting runners in the corners and setting up a Palmer single through the right side, scoring Zach Bailey to tie the game once again. For insurance, Steve Harrington flew out to left field to score Michael Florides on a sacrifice fly to regain the lead 5-4. Florides, in the bottom of the sixth, put the ball into play flying out to center field putting another run on the board 6-4 for the Pride. The seventh saw Rosso belt a single into left field scoring the final run of the game for Hofstra 7-4.
With their overall record now at 14-19 and Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) record at 8-9. The Hofstra baseball team will look for the sweep of the Tigers in their home field on Sunday, April 16 with the first pitch set for 12 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Pete Coco
