The Hofstra baseball team kept nipping at the heels of Elon University but weren’t quite able to sink its teeth into the Phoenix, as the Pride lost the second of a three-game series between the two Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) schools 6-5, on Saturday, March 26, at Latham Park.
The score remained scoreless through the initial three and a half innings of the ballgame, despite the Pride’s best efforts to get on the board early.
With Brian Morell on second base and two down in the first, Steve Harrington hit a single to right field. Rather than holding up at third base, Morrell blew past Hofstra third base coach Jimmy Goelz‘s stop sign and opted to test the arm of Elon right fielder Alex Iadisernia. The decision proved costly as Morrell was gunned down by his counterpart at home.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the fourth when Elon’s Luke Stephenson broke the ice. After the junior catcher started the inning with a single up the middle off of Hofstra starter Tristan Nemjo, he stole second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch. However, Elon got more than it bargained for as Stephenson was allowed to cross home plate after Hofstra third basemen Ryan Morash was called for obstruction on the play.
In the bottom of the fifth, Elon once again got started with a single. This time, it was Samuel Frontino who led off the inning with a base knock. A Connor Coolahan base hit and a walk from Iadisernia later, and the home team had loaded the bases. All three runners came in to score in the inning, with Frontino first on a wild pitch. Parker Haskin then singled to center field, allowing both Coolahan and Iadisernia to come around and score.
The payout of that half-inning for Elon was quickly muddled, though, as Hofstra pushed across three runs in the top of the sixth. With the bases loaded and one down, a failed pickoff attempt from Phoenix starter Brian Edgington allowed Morrell to touch home safely. Edgington then surrendered a free pass to Kevin Bruggeman to reload the bases and was subsequently pulled for the game in favor of the left-handed Liam Dabagian. Anthony D’Onofrio welcomed Dabagian to the ballgame with a hard-hit single through the left side that brought in Harrington and Liberatore, cutting the Phoenix’s lead to 4-3.
Hofstra remained just inches from chasing down Elon in the run column as the game took on a repetitive nature in the latter stages. In their chances, Hofstra tied the score, only for Elon to reclaim the lead once it stepped up to the plate.
The Pride appeared to have finally caught its opponent with a pinch-hit home run from Nick Marrero in the top of the eighth. But, in the ninth, the offense allowed Elon to escape. Ben Simon recorded the save by striking out Harrington, Liberatore and Bruggeman in order, ending a game of baseball that was more like a game of cat and mouse.
Edgington earned the win, his fourth of the season. Nemjo was given the loss despite a solid five innings of work in which he sent seven Elon hitters back to the dugout on strikes.
Morrell once again led the way for the Hofstra offense by collecting three hits in his four at-bats to go along with a walk and two runs scored.
The Pride’s record drops to 9-8 with the loss as the team is now 1-1 in conference play.
The rubber match of the three-game series is set for Sunday, March 27, with first pitch at 12 p.m.
