The Hofstra Pride baseball team was blown out by UNC-Wilmington (UNCW) in an 11-0 bout on Saturday, April 9, at Brooks Field in Wilmington, North Carolina. UNCW scored eight of its eleven runs in one inning and managed to hold the Pride offense to two total hits. The in-conference loss drops Hofstra to sixth in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) standings with a little over a month remaining in the season.
Tristan Nemjo was on the mound for his fifth start of the season for the Pride, while freshman Cyle Phelan started for UNCW. Nemjo came into the game having lost his last three starts, while giving up eight runs in his last 14.2 innings.
The game started off slow for both sides as the only two baserunners through two and a half innings were walks given up by Nemjo. Everything changed in the bottom of the third when eight runs were scored by UNCW, all with two outs and all credited to Nemjo.
The inning looked innocent to start, with a single, pop out and another single for UNCW. There was then a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third, but a shallow fly out ended the threat of a sacrifice as there were now two outs. Nemjo followed by hitting the next two batters, one to load the bases and then another which brought in the first run of the ball game. Nemjo then walked the next hitter to bring in another run.
Later in the inning, on a 2-2 count, UNCW freshman John Newton swung and sent the ball high and far over the left center field fence for a grand slam that gave UNCW a staggering 6-0 lead. That was not all for Nemjo, as he walked the next batter on five pitches and then gave up another home run. This time it was Byran Arendt, another freshman, crushing the ball deep over the left field fence. Nemjo then gave up another single, and that was all Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto could stand to watch. After letting up five hits, two hit-by-pitches, two walks and eight runs in one inning, Nemjo was replaced with Cullen SantaMaria, who got the last out on the first batter he faced.
Following a seven-pitch top of the fourth inning in which the Pride offense did nothing, the bottom of the frame started like the top of the third. A leadoff single and then a line drive home run by Ethan Baucom extended UNCW’s lead to double digits. It did not stop there as a walk, single and wild pitch put UNCW runners on second and third with one out. A sacrifice groundout by Ron Evans ended up being the eleventh and ultimately the final run of the game for UNCW.
Phelan held Hofstra hitless through 4.1 innings until Steve Harrington poked a ball through the left side to give the Pride one of its two hits of the game, the other being a Michael Florides single to left field. Phelan ended his tremendous start with seven innings pitched, two hits, three walks and five strikeouts. Noah Overton and Cody Benton would both throw a hitless inning to finish off the game with a final score of 11-0.
Phelan earned his second win of the season to improve to 2-0, while Nemjo was credited with his fourth consecutive loss as a starter. He is now 0-5.
The Pride will face UNCW one more time before heading back home in the final game of the weekend series on Sunday, April 10. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Joe Browning/UNCW Athletics
