A six-run bottom of the eighth inning powered the Hofstra baseball team over the University of Albany Great Danes 11-8 on Friday, Feb. 24, in the second of three meetings between the teams at University Field at Hofstra this weekend. Brian Hart (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the Pride while Nick Jessen (0-1) picked up the loss.
“That was a big eighth inning. We had some good hitters and some good at-bats and we needed that,” said Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto. “You need some veteran guys to step up and to put together some good at-bats.”
Some of those veteran guys included Brian Morrell and Will Kennedy, both putting up three RBIs to their name in the contest while Anthony D’Onofrio, Kevin Bruggeman and Jake Liberatore collected one apiece. Across the 17-hit game, 10 of them were chalked up to those five players.
This game marked the second time in as many days that Hofstra was able to erase a multi-run deficit to win the game, repeatedly coming back from being down 2-0, 4-2 and 7-5 in the game.
“Don’t get me wrong, I would love to score a ton of runs early…but it is a great trait to have,” Catalonotto said. “This team does not give up.”
Although the offense came alive for the Pride, it was a different story for the pitching, which struggled to limit the Great Danes offense. Cade Henry started on the mound and struggled in his 5.2 innings of work, allowing four runs on seven hits. Henry also struck out three while walking three as well.
“I thought [Henry] pitched pretty well. He threw strikes early,” Catalanotto said. “If you look at his pitching lines, it doesn’t look as good as how he actually pitched. He had some bad luck towards the end, but I was encouraged.”
The Great Danes offense was led by Will Feil, who collected two RBI’s. Will Binder, Owen Silliman, Devin Kruzinski and Chris Fisher also contributed with one RBI each. Cregg Scherrer started the game for Albany, tossing five innings, allowing three runs on six hits, striking out five and walking three.
The Pride and Great Danes will put the bowtie on the series with the season finale coming on Sunday, Feb. 26. The game will begin at 1 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
