An offensive explosion led the Hofstra University Pride over the St. John’s University Red Storm 17-5 on Tuesday, April 11.

The offense started quickly for the Pride as they put up 11 runs in the bottom of the second inning and knocked freshman pitcher Mario Pesca out of the game.

“It was nice to go ahead and beat someone up a little bit,” Hofstra  head coach Frank Catalanotto said. “We really haven’t done that all year long.”

A  bases-loaded walk and a single back to the pitcher set the stage for Hofstra’s Brian Morrell. Morrell only needed one pitch, sending it high and far over the  right-center field fence for a game-breaking grand slam.

“He was awesome,” Catalanotto said. “He’s been swinging the bat better lately. I thought he was very defensive two or three games ago and today he was more aggressive. Obviously, the home run was a big hit at that time, but he’s been swinging the bat  well, and we need him down the stretch.”

The inning did not stop there as two batters later, Kevin Bruggeman hit a ball that hit the top of the huge center field fence which scored Santino Rosso from first base. A single and two hit batsmen later had Zach Bailey get in on the fun. He hit one through the right side which scored two to make it 10-0  in the Pride’s advantage. One more run was added off a Jake Liberatore sacrifice play.

15 players went up to the plate in the second inning with eight of them getting hits. Liberatore made two of the three outs, although one of them scored a run. 

Mark Faello made the start for the Pride and threw six strong innings, allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts. Faello got the help of the double play ball as twice he produced a line drive that was caught in the infield and managed to double up the baserunner at first. 

“For me, it was just his confidence on the mound and throwing strikes,” Catalanotto said. “Stuff wise he’s got great stuff; he’s just got to believe in his stuff and sometimes that wavers a little bit. Sometimes he doesn’t throw strike one but today he was doing that.”

Steve Harrington led the way for the Hofstra offense as he went 4-4 with four singles, a walk, and a  hit-by-pitch. Morrell had two hits in the leadoff spot, which is new for him as Dylan Palmer was out of the lineup.

“I don’t know if we really have a  leadoff guy with Dylan not in the lineup,” Catalanotto said. “Instead of having a  conventional type lead off guy I said why not put him there and see what happens and he looked good.”

Hofstra now has four total wins against St. Johns, and it was the first since March 2015 when they won 6-3 in Queens.

This marked the beginning of a six-game homestand for the Pride as they play Towson University three times starting on Friday at 2 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics