James Madison University limited the Hofstra baseball team to six hits to defeat the Pride 9-3 in the Pride’s regular season finale on Saturday afternoon at University Field.
Hofstra finished the regular season 23-21 and 12-12 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play. James Madison has one more series to play in the CAA. The Dukes are 23-26 overall and 8-13 in conference play.
“At the end of the day, we won 12 games in CAA play. We’re above .500 for the first time in a while,” said Hofstra head coach John Russo. “We’re a strong team. They’re a tight bunch.”
A throwing error by third baseman Daniel Page helped put runners on second and third for the Dukes after a sacrifice bunt moved the runners over. Zach Tondi hit a sacrifice fly and Ryan Coale contributed an RBI single to put the Dukes up 2-0. Hofstra went down in order in the bottom half of the inning.
James Madison scored the bulk of its runs in the bottom of the second. DaVonn Griffin and Matt Dipasupil singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Michael Morgan then hit an RBI single to right field, which chased Jimmy Joyce from the game. Teddy Cillis entered to pitch and gave up an RBI single to Adam Sisk, followed by a double to Josh Jones that scored two more and put the Dukes up 6-0.
Joyce allowed five runs (three earned) on five hits in 1 1/3 innings for the Pride.
Six runs were enough for Nick Stewart to lead his team to victory. He allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits over 5 2/3 innings. The Dukes utilized five relievers behind him. Matt Colon, Matt Marsili, Tucker McCoy, Dan Goggin and Nick Robertson combined to pitch the final 3 2/3 innings and allowed an unearned run and two hits.
Hofstra scored runs in the second, sixth and seventh innings. The first came on a throwing error. Austin Gauthier hit a single that drove in Vito Friscia in the sixth and a passed ball allowed Tyler White to come home in the seventh for Hofstra’s third run, but the Dukes’ lead was stacked too high for the Pride to overcome.
Cillis pitched 5 1/4 innings of relief, struck out 10 and allowed four runs. Chris Weiss pitched the final 2 ⅓ innings and allowed two hits with four strikeouts.
The Dukes received multiple hit games from Sisk, Coale and Griffin, who each had two hits.
Hofstra returns to action in the CAA Championship, which begins May 23 at James Madison in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Hofstra’s opponent is yet to be determined.
“It’s been a long year,” Russo said. “We were 4-8 at one point and really fought hard to come back and that really took a lot out of us. I think this break, I think the weekend off, is right at the exact right time … this weekend break might be exactly what we need to get us rested to play before the tournament.”
Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
