Stop me if you’ve heard this before; the Hofstra baseball team won via a walk-off hit. Santino Rosso’s double in the bottom of the tenth inning that sealed an 8-7 win on Saturday against Northeastern University was the Pride’s eighth walk-off win this season and second in their last three games. Yes, it may be redundant, but it also sent Hofstra to its first-ever Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship game.
“I really think this team is so special,” Rosso said to Newsday. “Whether we’re up or down, we have confident at-bats, and we believe in each other. We know somebody is going to get the job done.”
“We needed a big hit there,” said Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto. “Like we’ve been doing all year long, getting that big hit and walking teams off. The guys were very confident and had a feeling we were going to win.”
Hofstra took a commanding 5-1 lead in the bottom of the first as Brian Morrell and Jake Liberatore hit a pair of home runs off Northeastern starter Eric Yost. But as the game moved into the middle innings, the Pride saw their lead begin to dissipate. In the top of the sixth, Luke Masiuk belted a two-run home run deep over the leftfield wall to put Northeastern ahead 6-5.
“I know I was getting anxious,” Catalanotto said. “I don’t know about the rest of the team. They were still up in the dugout cheering. I know my heart was beating quite a bit because I felt like we were letting it slip away. As far as the guys were concerned, I felt like they were still upbeat.”
“This team just never gives up,” said Hofstra left fielder Will Kennedy. “We always have an answer when someone takes the lead on us. It could be anyone on the roster. It could be a starter or someone who got ready and came off the bench to contribute.”
Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score before Morrell hit a sacrifice fly of his own to drive in his third RBI of the day and give Hofstra a 7-6 lead. Northeastern tied the game again in the top of the ninth when J.P. Olson hit a single back up the middle off of Hofstra closer Michael O’Hanlon. In the tenth, the Pride turned to ace pitcher Brad Camarda who faced the minimum to set up Rosso for the walk-off victory.
“These guys believe we are going to win,” Catalanotto said. “It’s a confident group, and we feel like we can’t be beat. Sometimes when you have that belief among the whole entire group, everyone feeds off of it.”
The Pride will face Northeastern again on Sunday at 11 am for the CAA crown. The Huskies beat the College of Charleston 6-3 to avoid elimination from the tournament after losing to Hofstra earlier in the day.
Camarda will start the CAA Championship game for Hofstra. The senior right-hander pitched a masterful complete-game shutout against the Huskies on May 8 and will get the ball once again for the biggest game in the history of the Hofstra baseball program.
“Camarda wants the ball, and we want to give him the ball,” Catalanotto said. “He’s a bulldog. There’s no one on this squad that I’d rather give the ball to than him.”
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Abbey Lipcsik
