The Hofstra baseball team was dismantled by the No. 24 ranked Rutgers University in an 18-1 loss Tuesday afternoon at Bainton Field in Piscataway, New Jersey. The 18 allowed runs are a season-high for the Pride, with the previous being an 11-0 loss to UNC-Wilmington. The Pride is now 18-17 entering the final month of the regular season.
The Rutgers offense found its groove in the bottom of the third against Hofstra starter Aljo Sujak, typically one of the Pride’s main weapons out of the bullpen, when Ryan Lasko touched the plate following a fielder’s choice.
To close out the third, Hofstra turned to Cullen SantaMaria, whose outing did not start as planned. It only took two pitches for Nick Cimillo to single, moving Danny DiGeorgio to second who then stole third. DiGeorgio’s aggressiveness on the base paths turned into another run for the Scarlet Knights as he came in to score on a Chris Brito sacrifice fly. Already down by three, SantaMaria hit then walked the next two batters to load the bases for Tony Santa Maria. A passed ball during the at-bat allowed every runner to move up a base, including Cimillo from third to make the score 4-0. Rutgers’ Santa Maria won the battle against the Pride’s SantaMaria as he hit a two-run single up the middle, giving his team a 6-0 lead.
Brian Morrell led off the fourth inning for Hofstra with his fourth home run of the season. But, after doing nothing else, the Pride were forced to endure another multi-run inning from Rutgers in the bottom of the frame. Danny Kelleher came on as the new pitcher, and the defense behind him didn’t do him any favors as left fielder Will Kennedy committed an error that resulted in the leadoff batter standing second base. Two batters later, DiGeorgio drove in his second RBI on a hit to center. Brito added to his run production with his second and third RBIs of the day with a blast over the right field fence to give Rutgers a 9-1 lead after four innings.
With the game seemingly out of reach, Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto used the opportunity to use pitchers who have not seen a lot of action throughout the season. The first of those was freshman Jake Halloran, who had appeared in one prior game. Halloran gave up two runs on a single by Lasko and a double by DiGeorgio, his third RBI. He also hit a batter, walked one and threw a wild pitch.
The next inning was graduate Matt Gonzales’ turn, his fifth appearance of the season. Gonzales did not record a single out, as he hit a batter on his first pitch and proceeded to walk the next three. Catalanotto then put in Mike Mirando. With the bases loaded in his second appearance of the season, Mirando let one run score but limited the damage to just that, leaving the score 14-1 through the sixth inning
Freshman Brayden Martino got the call for the seventh and continued the pattern of his fellow bullpen mates, allowing four runs, on three hits and three walks as the number of runs for Rutgers increased to 18.
With the end in sight, his brother Bryce Martino pitched the bottom of the eighth and did not allow a single run to score. Three flyouts on 12 pitches were all Martino needed to put away the Rutgers offense and not have them score for the first time in five innings.
Wyatt Parliament got the win for Rutgers, improving his record to 5-0, while Sujak was credited with the loss and is now 1-1 for the year. Hofstra used eight pitchers and only struck out one batter, a season-low.
The Pride close out their long road trip with a three-game series at The College of William & Mary that starts on Friday, April 29. The series is a crucial Colonial Athletic Association battle (CAA) as the two teams sit in a three-way tie in the CAA standings with James Madison University, with the three schools owning a 9-6 conference record.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
