Elliot Rubin and Mike Rudin – STAFF WRITER AND SPORTS EDITOR
After a rainout on Friday, Hofstra lost a tough game to start Saturday’s doubleheader with the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens in a game in which they never really had a shot. Delaware shutout the Pride in the first four innings, scoring six runs in the process, en route to a 9-2 route of the Pride.
Hofstra got sweet revenge in game two with an offensive-outburst of a dozen runs, winning 12-7 to even the series by the end of the night.
Hofstra’s starter in game one, Nick Kozlowski, had a rough day at the office, only lasted 2.2 innings, gave up five runs and seven hits, with no strikeouts.
While the Pride mounted somewhat of a comeback in the seventh inning, scoring two runs in the second inning, via Brian MacDonald’s Sac Fly, followed by Ryan Donovan’s RBI single, it is was too little to late as the early deficit was too much for the Pride to come back from.
Kevin Weissheler relieved Kozlowski and was pretty erratic, though he only allowed one run in 3.1 innings to go along with five walks and five strikeouts. Adam Selbert pitched the final two innings, allowing four hits, and three runs, one of which scored on a wild pitch.
The team finished with seven hits; shortstop and leadoff man Dalton Rouleau went 1-for-5 with a run, left fielder Brett Johnson went 1-for-4 with a walk, and the first baseman, Ryan Donovan, went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk. Those three players were the main contributors on offense as the Pride had a quiet day at the plate overall.
The game, however, wasn’t without personal milestones. Catcher Chris Weiss recorded his first stolen base of the season and third baseman Eric Ferguson recorded his second triple of the season.
For Delaware, starter Adam Davis 6.1 strong innings, allowing only six hits, yielding only two runs, and striking out seven. Taylor Mahoney and Luke Alicknavitch pitched the remaining three innings, combining to allow only one hit and one walk.
The Blue Hens recorded 12 hits, and three different players had multi-hit games, including cleanup hitter Gary Jones, who went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI, 2 runs, a homer and a walk. Third Baseman Diaz Nardo had a really good as well; he went 2-for-4 with a homer, two RBI, two runs and a walk.
Hofstra dropped their second consecutive loss Pride pitcher Nick Kozlowski received the loss, falling to 1-3. Delaware’s Adam Davis notched his second win of the young season and improved his record to 2-1.
Game two marked a bright spot for the Pride as they snapped their mini two-game losing streak with a win by five runs.
Yet things didn’t start out well for Hofstra as Delaware led 4-1 in the first four innings of the game. Rightfielder Eric Ferguson drove in the first Hofstra run in the top of the fourth with a RBI triple.
Starting Pride pitcher Chris Bonk cruised through the first three innings, allowing one run until he hit some trouble in the fourth – giving up three.
Three crucial hits along with an error and passed ball contributed to the three-run rally that got the game away from Bonk.
Hofstra bounced back in the top of the fifth with two runs, thanks to RBI hits by Steven Foster and Dalton Rouleau to get within one run.
Bonk finished his performance one inning later surrendered a solo homerun in the bottom of the fifth. Bonk pitched a total of five innings and allowed six hits, five runs but gave up zero walks and struck out two.
Down 5-3 heading to the top of the sixth, Hofstra had a field day with an eight-run rally to propel the Pride forward and take the lead for the first time in the game.
Chris Weiss cracked the run supply with an RBI double then Steven Foster smashed it open with a grand slam to push Hofstra ahead 8-5 with one swing of the bat.
David Leiderman’s RBI double and Eric Ferguson’s two-run bomb added three more insurance runs until Delaware got the third out to end the rally.
But the damage was done as the Pride maintained the lead in the final three innings.
Hofstra scored one more run in the top of the seventh off an error by second baseman Lopes Zach that let Jake Fallon take home plate to boost the Pride’s lead to seven runs.
Hofstra reliever Bowie Matteson pitched the final four innings, he allowed two runs in the eighth inning but kept his composure to close out the game with a 12-7 win. He allowed seven hits, zero walks and struckout three.
Hofstra starter, Chris Bonk, earned his second win on the season while his record plateaus at 2-2 and he lowered his ERA to 6.52.
The split in the doubleheader set up game three to decide the series winner between the Pride and the Fightin’ Blue Hens.
