Despite a last-ditch effort in the top of the ninth inning, the Hofstra baseball team was unable to come away with a second win in its double header on Friday, Feb. 25, against the Huskies of Houston Baptist University. The Huskies won 4-3 at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas.
With this loss, the Pride is now 1-1 on the season, while Houston Baptist won its first game, improving to 1-5.
The win went to Andrew Reitmeyer, while the loss went to Michael O’Hanlon, his first of the season.
The Huskies got off and running right away, scoring three runs off John Mikolaicyk. Those three runs were all that Mikolaicyk gave up, as he went on to have a ten-strikeout day, which is a career-best.
No other points were scored until the top of the sixth inning, when Hofstra got on the board. After Santino Rosso and Ryan Morash both singled, the Pride scored two thanks to a Will Kennedy sacrifice fly.
Hofstra tied the game in the top of the ninth. After Sean Flaherty hit a double, and his pinch runner Matt Pelcher advanced to third via a ground out, sophomore Steve Harrington hit a game-tying pinch-hit home run to right field off of Reitmeyer. This was Harrington’s second home run of his collegiate career, the first one having been on April 3, 2021, against the University of Rhode Island, also off the bench.
The Pride almost took its first lead of the game after Anthony D’Onofrio hit a single and stole second base, but he could not convert after Reitmeyer struck out the next two Hofstra hitters.
Houston Baptist responded to the tying hits in the bottom of the ninth. With Hofstra’s O’Hanlon on the mound, Brennan Bales hit a double, and his pinch-runner Lane Botkin got to third on a sacrifice. The Pride then made the decision to intentionally walk the Huskies’ Logan Letney to get a double play and send this game into extra innings. The home plate umpire called a balk on O’Hanlon, allowing Botkin to score and the Huskies to win the game.
It was a good hitting effort all around for the Pride, as D’Onofrio went 3-4 and Rosso went 2-5. Morash and Will Kennedy each got hits as well. In all, Hofstra got 11 hits in game two.
The Pride returns to action on Sunday, Feb. 27, where it will finish out this series against the Huskies at Constellation Field. The game begins at 1:30 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
