The Hofstra baseball team split a doubleheader against Saint Peters University and Long Island University (LIU) on a rainy afternoon at University Field on Sunday, March 6. The Pride picked up its third consecutive win in the first game against the Saint Peters Peacocks with a final score of 6-2 but fell to the LIU Sharks 8-4 later in the afternoon.
Brad Camarda started on the mound for Hofstra in the first game and was lights out, pitching seven strong innings with seven strikeouts, while giving up only one run on two hits in his second start of the season.
“He was awesome. That’s what I saw of him in the fall,” said Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto. “He’s a strike thrower, and he goes right after guys. I’m glad he got back to that, because his first outing really wasn’t like that. He wasn’t throwing strike one.”
Brian Morrell was the leader for the Pride’s offense going 3-4 and potting three RBIs with a three-run homerun over the right center field fence.
“We knew when we got him that he would be in the middle of the lineup, because he just seems to square balls up,” Catalanotto said. “We’ve been really happy with his at-bats.”
The scoring did not start until the third inning when Anthony Abbatine crossed the plate for Saint Peters on a wild pitch from Camarda, one of his few mistakes of the afternoon. The Pride answered back with two of their own runs, with Santino Rosso hitting an RBI single and Morrell doubling to left center to give the home team a 2-1 lead.
That score lasted until the bottom of the seventh inning when Morrell picked up his second, third and fourth RBIs of the day with his three-run homerun that cleared the right center field fence to make the score 5-1 and give Hofstra breathing room. Aljo Sujak replaced Camarda to start the eighth inning and was able to get two outs before loading the bases. Mike McKenna came in for the Pride and balked in a run, but he was able to retire the next batter to limit the damage and keep a three-run lead for the Pride.
With Sean Flaherty standing on third in the bottom of the eighth, Michael Florides flied out to right, scoring Flaherty, and giving Hofstra back the four-run cushion. That was all Mckenna needed as he picked up the four out save to close the game with a final score of 6-2.
John Mikolaicyk was the starter on the mound for game two of the doubleheader, this time against LIU. After giving up a two-out solo home run to EJ Exposito, Mikolaicyk was able to strike the next batter out and find a groove for the next four innings.
Chris Buehler was the starter for the Sharks and the Pride got to him quickly. Rosso led off with a single and Ryan Morash slugged a two-run home run down the left field line to give the Pride the lead. Steve Harrington grew the lead in the third inning on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded to make it 3-1 Hofstra after three innings of play.
It all came crashing down on Mikolaicyk and the Pride in the sixth inning, as the LIU Sharks rallied for five-runs in the frame. Without getting any outs, Mikolaicyk loaded the bases and, after a long at-bat, walked Giovanni Ciaccio to bring a run in. Danny Kelleher replaced Mikolaicyk but only for one batter, as he gave up a bloop single to shallow right that moved everyone up a base. Chris Keenan then arrived from the bullpen replacing Kelleher, and immediately hit his first batter, unintentionally. With still zero outs recorded, the next batter Carlton Harper singled to right, scoring two and giving LIU a 6-3 lead.
Hofstra showed signs of a comeback in the eighth as Jake Liberatore hit a sharp single to right that scored a run which cut Hofstra’s deficit down to two. That was all they could muster as Will Kennedy struck out looking to end the inning. That was the closest the Pride got to tying it as Michael Edelman provided two insurance runs to increase LIU’s score to 8-4 and make it an easy save for Josh Gainer, which he was able to record by setting down five batters out of the bullpen.
Hofstra concludes the weekend now sitting 4-3 so far this season. The Pride will be back in action on Tuesday, March 7, at home against Manhattan College at 3pm.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
