RENO, NV – The Hofstra baseball team fell to the Wichita State University Shockers 19-10 in the first of a four-game weekend on Friday, Feb. 28. Hofstra is now on a six-game losing streak, dropping to 1-7 on the season. Wichita State won their sixth straight game and is now 7-2 on the season.
This was the first meeting ever between the two schools. Wichita State was fresh off a 2-1 victory over Kansas State University this past Wednesday, Feb. 26, while Hofstra was swept in three games last weekend by La Salle University.
Steven Boscia got to start for the Pride for the third time this year. He came into this game 0-1 on the season after his rough outing last Saturday against La Salle. His struggles would continue as Wichita State got their scoring started almost immediately. After two singles by Jack Sigrist and Alex Jackson to start the game, Hunter Gibson hit an RBI double to give the Shockers an early 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Garrett Kocis would walk with the bases loaded to stretch the lead to 2-0 for the Shockers.
Jake Hamilton started for the Shockers and was dominant throughout the first three innings of play, only allowing one hit from Rob Weissheier in the first inning. Of the nine batters he retired, Hamilton struck out eight.
Boscia was pulled in the third after giving up three more runs: an RBI double by Couper Cornblum and a sacrifice fly from Ross Cadena, as well as another RBI from Gibson.
Jack Anderson came in to pitch for Boscia and only lasted one-third of an inning, giving up two runs to make the score 7-0 Wichita State. Mark Faello was next to take the hill, but the Shockers continued their onslaught as they led 9-0 after the top of the fourth.
Hamilton’s dominance on the mound came to a halt in the bottom half of the fourth inning. The Pride scored their first two runs on the game on an RBI double by Sean Flaherty to make it 9-2. A single by Brian Goulard scored Flaherty to make it 9-3 Wichita State.
Faello pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top half of the fifth, leading to the Pride scoring three more runs in the next half inning to cut the deficit down to 9-6. After Ryan Stuempfig replaced Hamilton on the mound, Anthony D’Onofrio got the scoring started with an RBI single. Vinnie Costello walked with the bases loaded, scoring Santino Rosso. Goulard would pick up another RBI, this time by fielder’s choice after grounding out to second, scoring D’Onofrio.
The sixth inning saw two more runs from Wichita State, extending their lead to 12-6. Seamus Brazill came in for Faello in the seventh inning for the Pride. Gibson provided another RBI single to extend the Shockers’ lead to 13-6, after a triple by Cornblum started the inning.
Wichita State continued to keep tacking on runs in the eighth and ninth innings. A three-RBI double by Cornblum in the eighth gave the Shockers a double-digit lead of 16-6. The bottom half of the eighth inning saw Goulard’s first Hofstra home run to make it 16-7. The Shockers responded in the top of the ninth, scoring three more runs courtesy of RBIs from Cade Clemons and Blake Marsh.
The Shockers led 19-7 going into the bottom of the ninth. The Pride didn’t go down without a fight, due in large part to a three-RBI double by Goulard. That wouldn’t be enough, as the Pride dropped their sixth straight game, losing to Wichita State 19-10.
Photo Courtesy of Hofstra Athletics
