The Hofstra baseball team improved to 4-2 on the season and remained in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) North Division after splitting a double-header with La Salle University on Sunday, March 1 at Hank DeVincent Field.
The Pride suffered a tough loss to the Explorers in game one after surrendering a five-run lead in the seventh inning, but bounced back with an offensive explosion of 14 runs in the night-cap. Freshman infielder Luke Napolitano had a huge day at the plate, going 4-5 with seven runs batted in in the 14-5 game two victory.
In the first game of the day, Hofstra immediately jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Austin Gauthier, who went a perfect 4-4 in the opener, launched his first home run of the season to start the game. The No. 66 ranked hitter in the nation from last season extended the Pride’s lead to 2-0 two innings later with a double to right-center field that scored Kevin Bruggeman.
Starting pitcher Jimmy Joyce was dealing early in the game and went six innings before he gave up his first run. He escaped several jams throughout those frames and pitched his team into the seventh with a 5-0 lead. The Pride got RBIs from Rob Weissheier, Ryan Morash and Brian Goulard to push their advantage to five runs, but Joyce ran into more trouble in the bottom of the seventh and could not escape the game unharmed.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Explorers center fielder Jack Cucinotta drove an RBI single to left field that scored Salvatore Monticciolo and made it a 5-1 game. With Joyce still on the mound and the next batter up, Tatem Levins drilled a bases-clearing double to right field and made it a one-run ballgame.
That double ended the day for Joyce, and while his final stats may not look pretty in the scorebook with five earned runs, he pitched a strong outing for the second game in a row.
With runners on first and second base after relief pitcher Chris Mott walked the first batter he faced, Ryan Guckin gave La Salle a 6-5 lead with a two-RBI triple.
The score remained the same the rest of the way and the Pride suffered another late-game loss.
Despite the tough loss in the opener, Hofstra responded with a 14-5 onslaught in the second game to split the double header with La Salle. The win allowed the Pride to leave Philadelphia with a 3-1 record against the Explorers this season.
The story of the second game was redshirt freshman Luke Napolitano, who transferred from the University of Kansas this year. The Rockville Centre, NY native batted 4-5 on the day and drove in a career-best seven runs.
Napolitano got the scoring started for the Pride in the second inning and drove in three runs on a triple to right-center field.
Later in the game with Hofstra ahead 5-0, La Salle got to starting pitcher Ryan Rue and made it a two-run game in the third.
However, the Pride bats continued their barrage as Weissheier and Goulard provided RBIs one inning later to make it 8-3.
With the score at 10-4 in the sixth inning, Napolitano struck again and drove in two more runs with a single to center field. To cap off his huge day at the plate, he added one more single down the right field line that scored two more runs and made it 14-5.
Rue finished his outing with four earned runs through five innings of work. It was not the best day for one of the Pride’s strongest arms, but his offense had his back on this one.
Hofstra will open up a three-game series against Villanova University on Friday, March 5 at 1 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
