Comeback bid falls short vs. No. 9 UConn

The Hofstra University baseball team faltered in its late-season comeback attempt against the No. 9 nationally ranked University of Connecticut Huskies 9-7 in Storrs, Connecticut. The loss brings the Pride’s overall record down to 23-24 while the Huskies move to 36-11.

After T.C Simmons homered off Michael O’Hanlon to give the Huskies an 8-5 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, Hofstra’s Kevin Bruggeman responded with a one-out single, scoring Dylan Palmer. After a wild pitch moved Bruggeman to second, Ryan Morash laced the ball to left field to cut the UConn lead to one.

In the second half of the inning, a four pitch walk to Maddix Delena followed by a single with a throwing error by Santino Rosso enabled Delena to score and give the Huskies a multi-run lead. It proved to not be needed as the Pride went down in order in the bottom of the ninth inning as Justin Willis picked up his eighth save of the season.

Four Hofstra hitters had multiple hits, with Morash leading the way and going 4-5 with two RBIs. Steve Harrington was close behind with an RBI and three hits. Designated hitter Nick Marrero was the only member of the Pride to work a walk.

Hofstra managed to get 16 hits against the Husky pitching staff, but Michael Florides was the only one to get anything more than a single as he hit a double in the top of the sixth inning. Meanwhile, UConn had seven extra base hits, three home runs, three triples and a double. 

John Mikolaicyk started on the mound for the Pride and pitched four innings and allowed six runs, two unearned, on five hits. His ERA is up to 6.85 as he remains winless in six starts with a record of 0-5.

A combination of Danny Kelleher and O’Hanlon threw four innings for the Pride and gave up three runs, one unearned, with five hits and just walking one batter. Kelleher got all but one of his batters to ground out, while O’Hanlon got three ground outs and three strikeouts. 

The Pride will travel to the University of Massachusetts Lowell for a three game weekend series before coming back home to play Colonial Athletic Association opponent Elon University to try and earn themselves a spot in the CAA Championship. The first of three games starts Friday, May 19, at noon.

Photo courtesy of Rob Cuni