Late inning magic and walk-off heroics once again led the Pride to a win at home, as the Hofstra baseball team defeated the Peacocks of Saint Peter’s University 5-4 on Saturday, March 5. After being down 4-1, the Pride scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth and won the game, thanks to Steve Harrington’s second home run of the season.
The Pride is now 3-2 on the young season, while Saint Peter’s drops to 3-3. Garrett Sullivan came away with the win, the first of his Hofstra career. Ryan Wappaus was credited with the loss, having given up the three-run jack to Harrington, as well as a blown save.
“[Kyle] Mahady, the starting pitcher [for Saint Peter’s], really kind of kept us at bay,” said Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto. “We’re going to have to do a better job making adjustments during at-bats, but it was nice that we showed some fight again like we did in our last win and that we were able to walk it off.”
Saint Peter’s got the scoring started right away with a solo home run from Collin Jensen off of Pride starting pitcher Mark Faello in the top of the first. Hofstra responded right away in its half of the inning with an RBI double by Brian Morrell that scored in Will Kennedy and tied the game at 1.
The Peacocks then took the lead back with a three-run top of the fifth inning, with runs scoring on a double by Jensen, a single by Sam Haney and on a wild pitch by Hofstra reliever Tristan Nemjo.
Saint Peter’s Mahady dominated the Pride to the tune of four hits in 8.1 innings while striking out three Hofstra hitters. The bottom of the ninth was a different story, though.
Mahady began the bottom of the ninth inning by hitting Anthony D’Onfrio with a pitch, followed by a single by Will Kennedy that put runners on the corners. Morrell then hit a sacrifice fly to drive in D’Onofrio to make it a 4-2 game. Kevin Bruggeman hit a double to put both him and Kennedy in scoring position. Saint Peter’s replaced Mahady with Wappaus to face Harrington. On Wappaus’s second pitch, Harrington hit a high fly ball to left center field that got help from the wind and left the yard.
Harrington got on base every plate appearance, and went 2-2 with a pair of walks, collecting a trio of RBIs.
“[Harrington has] such great hands,” Catalanotto said. “He has a knack for getting the barrel of the bat to the baseball. We’ve noticed that the whole fall and here in the last couple of months. He’s able to adjust to different pitches, and it was a good spot. The kid’s got some of the best hands on the team when it comes to hitting.”
Steven Kaenzig turned in a stellar mound performance from the bullpen, going three innings only giving up one hit and a walk.
“That was huge,” Catalanotto said. “Early in the season, we’re trying to figure out a lot of things, figure out what we have. And for [Kaenzig] to do what he did there, we couldn’t allow them to score any more runs [and put us] into too deep of a hole. And he’s earned himself some more playing time.”
Hofstra returns with a double-header on Sunday, March 6, against two different teams. Game one is against Saint Peter’s at 11 a.m., while game two is against Long Island University at 3 p.m.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
