The Hofstra baseball team continued their opening series with a game against Purdue University on Saturday, Feb. 15, splitting a doubleheader at Sanford Memorial Stadium in Sanford, Florida.
The Pride’s bats came alive in game one, defeating the Boilermakers 13-6, but the team could not earn the sweep in the nightcap and fell 10-4.
Anthony D’Onofrio’s four-hit, three-RBI performance led the Pride to a commanding 13-6 victory over Purdue in game one of the doubleheader and secured their first win of the 2020 season.
Although Purdue struck first with a run in the third inning, Austin Gauthier put the Pride in front with a two-RBI single in the fourth inning that scored Alex Sica and Brian Goulard. Later in the inning, Hofstra extended their lead to 4-1 with a run-scoring single from freshman Santino Rosso.
With the score at 4-3 following two unearned runs, Bryce Bonner hit a two-RBI single with the bases loaded to put Purdue ahead. The Boilermakers responded in the bottom half of the fifth inning and plated four runs to retake the lead 5-4.
Hofstra’s bats answered the following half-inning and exploded with seven runs to take back the lead at 11-5. With the bases loaded, Anthony D’Onofrio stayed hot and delivered the go-ahead base hit that scored Austin Gauthier and Will Kennedy. The Pride was not done and extended their lead to five runs following a two-run scoring double from Ryan Morash.
Hofstra continued the barrage and added two more runs in the ninth, taking game one of the doubleheader 13-6.
For the Pride, D’Onofrio tallied four hits in the game and drove in three runs while Gauthier also added three RBI’s on two hits. Starting pitcher Steven Boscia was solid on the mound and surrendered only one earned run in four and one-thirds innings pitched while striking out five.
Game two was a different result for the Pride, as they split the doubleheader with a 10-4 loss in the nightcap. The game was knotted up at four heading into the seventh inning, but Purdue plated six unanswered runs and improved to 2-1 on the season.
D’Onofrio continued his hot hitting and put the Pride ahead 2-1 in the third inning with a single that scored Gauthier. In the following inning Vinnie Costello blasted his first home run of the season and added his second with a solo shot in the sixth inning that extended Hofstra’s lead to 4-1.
Purdue rallied an inning later, however, and used a sacrifice fly from Justin Fugitt and a two-run double from Evan Albrecht to tie the game. In the eighth, the Boilermakers tagged Hofstra reliever Andrew Mundy with six more runs and broke the game open.
After splitting the doubleheader and falling to 1-2 on the season, the Pride will wrap up their opening series with Purdue on Sunday, Feb. 16, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
