By Jerome Bailey, Staff Writer
Despite, an early 2-0 lead, the Pride baseball team (0-5) fell short for the third straight game to the no. 2 Florida State Seminoles (5-0), 14-4. With the loss, the Pride has now lost six straight games to start the season. The Seminoles, who only rank behind LSU, scored five runs in the third and recorded 17 base hits to improve to 10-0 all-time against the Pride.
“We were able to see how things are done at a high level,” said freshman pitcher Jared Rogers. “Florida State plays very good, aggressive and confident about themselves on the field. We want to learn from them as much as possible and get our young guys some experience.”
Senior Elliot Hagburg lined two hits and drove in a run for the Pride. Hagburg, who had previously started in 35 games as a catcher for the Pride, played right field for the first time on Sunday. Freshman infielder Matt Ford also added an RBI for Hofstra.
Midway through the third inning, the score was tied and the Pride had runners in scoring position. Florida State Coach Mike Martin made a change, calling in pitcher Tyler Everett. The Pride could not score any runs off Everett to break the tie and Everett would record three scoreless innings.
On Friday and Saturday, pitchers Sean Gilmartin and John Gast led the Seminoles. They surrendered no runs in 11 combined innings. The duo only allowed seven hits and three walks. Gilmartin pitched game one and had seven strike-outs in six scoreless innings. In game two, Gast posted a career-high five strikeouts in five innings.
Conversely, Pride pitchers had to deal with a powerful Seminoles offense, led by third baseman Sherman Johnson, who hit his first and second home runs of the season and recorded ten RBIs.
“It’s got to get experience to throw the ball over the plate,” Pride head coach Patrick Anderson said about his pitchers. “We are trying to develop some guys, so that will be aggressive with the strike zone. We were behind in the counts a lot, our fastball demand is very poor.”
In all three games the Pride had runners on base, however it could not convert. In the first game of the series, the Pride trailed 3-0 in the third inning, and had runners on first and third base, yet Pride senior outfielder John Kenny was thrown out at the plate on a double-steal attempt. Following that, the Pride could not mount another rally, and the Seminoles extended the lead to 9-0.
“To be honest with you, our timing is off, we are not seeing the ball. Our aggressiveness right now on pitch selection offensively has not been very good. But again, it’s early on and we are not too concerned. We just have to get things going offensively with the aggressive part,” said Rogers.
The Pride look to get its first win this weekend in Maryland, during a three-game set against the Terrapins, starting Friday, March 5.