The Hofstra University Pride baseball team dropped game three of a four game series against the University of Nevada Wolfpack in a winter wonderland on Saturday, March. 4, by a score of 6-5. Sloppy play in the fifth and seventh innings ultimately cost the Pride the game in Reno, NV.

The bottom of the fifth is where Nevada did most of their damage. The Wolfpack scored one of their three runs that inning on a sacrifice fly from shortstop, Micahel Ball, scoring Jeff Bauser from third. Nevada then completed a double steal after Mason Hirata walked and just like that, it was second and third with one out. A wild pitch from Hofstra’s pitcher, John Mikolaicyk and then shortly after a passed ball from the Pride’s catcher, Kevin Bruggeman, cost the team two more runs as Nevada took a commanding 4-1 lead.

The seventh inning consisted of the same trend as the fifth, errors. A fielding error credited to the Pride’s second baseman, Santino Rosso, gave the Wolfpack a base runner to start the inning. A double from Hirata down the right field line scored one to improve their lead to 6-1.

Hofstra is now 3-6 as the struggles continue, even late game heroics weren’t enough to win this one. The Pride put together four runs on three hits in the top of the ninth inning to put some pressure on the Wolfpack. Hofstra got some extra help from the Wolfpack as third baseman Derek Tenney made a throwing error to extend the top of the ninth, an opportunity that the Pride pounced on, but ultimately fell short.

Snow played a factor in this one as players from both teams were shielding their faces from the snow pelting their faces. The snow and wind got the best of  Mikolaicyk as his day on the mound ended after 6.0 innings pitched, three earned runs, five hits, seven strikeouts, three hit batters and three wild pitches. Mikolaicyk’s poor start to his 2023 campaign continues as his earned runs average (ERA) goes up to 8.74, his walks/hits per innings pitched (WHIP) increases to 1.54 and his record worsens to 0-2 after today’s lackluster outing, all on just 12.1 innings of work.

Hofstra outhit Nevada, eight to seven, but errors, wild pitches and passed balls decided this one in the mountains. With snow accumulating for a majority of this contest, walks created errors and errors created walks throughout the game, as well as the Pride’s inability to score runs early in games continued this afternoon, causing the Pride to extend their losing streak to three games.

Ryan Morash put together a solid day at the plate as he went two for five and knocked in two runs for the Pride.

The Hofstra University Pride look to bounce back Sunday, Mar. 5, at 1:05 p.m. (PST) as they try to avoid a four game sweep in Nevada against the Wolfpack. 

 Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics