The Hofstra baseball team traveled to New Brunswick, New Jersey on Wednesday, April 17, and defeated Rutgers University by a score of 6-4. The Pride improved their record to 8-24, while the Scarlet Knights fell to 13-20.
Rutgers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning off of two RBI base hits from Carmen Sclafani and Luke Bowerbank. The Pride got one back in the fourth inning when Anthony D’Onofrio drilled a double down the left field line to score Austin Gauthier.
In the sixth, with Rutgers still ahead 2-1, Hofstra erupted for five runs on three hits to take a 6-1 lead. Parker Scott came on in relief for the Scarlet Knights to start the inning, but could only record one out. He walked two and gave up an RBI single to Vito Friscia, which tied the game. Later in the inning, Steven Acosta replaced Scott, but was not much better. A fielding error by the third baseman Sclafani loaded the bases, which was followed by a bases clearing double by Jimmy Joyce.
The Scarlet Knights had a great opportunity to cut the deficit in the bottom half of the inning, but could not capitalize. After Hofstra starting pitcher Steven Boscia nailed two straight batters with a pitch, Seamus Brazill came on in relief and got out of the jam. The next inning, Hofstra committed a costly error, which allowed Rutgers to put two more runs on the board. One run came on an RBI triple from Mike Nyisztor, and the other came as a result of an RBI groundout from Tim Dezzi to close the gap at 6-4 Hofstra.
Rutgers could not get anything going on offense past the seventh inning and their comeback fell two runs short. Daniel Page relieved Brazill in the ninth inning to pick up his third save of the season.
For the Pride, Boscia pitched another quality start to earn his second win of the season. After getting off to a rough start early on, Boscia has allowed only two runs in his last 12 innings. Scott took the loss for Rutgers and moved to 0-2.
Hofstra won consecutive games for the first time this season and snapped Rutgers’ five game winning streak.
The Pride will look to keep their momentum going on Friday, April 19, when they open up a big Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) series against University of North Carolina-Wilmington (UNCW). UNCW sits in fourth place in the CAA standings with an overall record of 20-18.
Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
