Hofstra baseball takes game one against the Aggies

The Hofstra University baseball team started the weekend off on the right foot, knocking off the North Carolina A&T State University Aggies with a score of 5-3 in the first game of their three-game set on Friday, April 26. The Pride used a four-run seventh-inning rally to snap a two-game skid and improve their conference record to 6-10. The Aggies now sit at 5-11 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play.

The game was highlighted by an impressive pitching duel between Hofstra’s Michael O’Hanlon and NC A&T’s Coley Kilpatrick. O’Hanlon earned his fourth win of the season by pitching 7.2 innings of three-run ball, collecting seven strikeouts and only allowing four hits.

“It’s huge when we don’t have to use very many pitchers on the first day [of a series]; it just helps us throughout the series,” said Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto. “That’s what [O’Hanlon] seems to do; he gives us a bunch of innings on Friday and it helps out quite a bit.”

Kilpatrick got the loss but pitched very well through six innings before running into trouble in the seventh inning when the Pride got three runs off him.

Hofstra’s usually potent offense was held at bay for the first six innings, their only run coming from an RBI groundout from senior catcher Matt Pelcher in the bottom of the second. The Aggies matched that in the fifth inning by scoring on a fielding error by Hofstra third baseman Santino Rosso. NC A&T took the lead in the top of the seventh on Rosso’s third error of the game.

In the bottom of the seventh, Michael Florides tied the game with a hard RBI single into center field. Rosso more than made up for his adventurous day in the field with a three-run home run over the left field wall, giving the Pride a 5-2 lead they would not relinquish.

“When you’re having a rough game like that … sometimes you can lose focus and you can be harping on your errors, and he didn’t do that,” Catalanotto said about Rosso. “He put together a good at-bat.”

Two of the Pride’s five runs were produced by the six through nine hitters.

“All year long, we’ve been getting the top three or four guys that have been hitting and not much after that,” Catalanotto said. “When we can get production down at the bottom of the order, it’s just going to help us that much more.”

NC A&T’s Tre Williams hit a long solo home run to chase O’Hanlon from the game, but Mike McKenna nailed down a perfect four-out save, striking out two to secure the win.

“I was happy that McKenna was able to go out there and shut it down, and he didn’t throw a lot of pitches either, so he’ll be available throughout the weekend as well,” Catalanotto said.

The Pride went for the series win on Saturday, April 27, at University Field in Hempstead. First pitch was at 1 p.m.

Photos courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Alexis Friedman