Hofstra baseball drops series to UNCW

The Hofstra University baseball team lost their second-to-last Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series against the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks (UNCW) 14-3, ending the weekend on an offensive dud on Saturday, May 12.

After tying the series up the night before with a great pitching performance from Carlos Martinez, the Pride could not double down on the offensive side of the ball.

Coming off a rough start in last weekend’s series, Tanner Sanderoff got the start for Hofstra. Sanderoff only lasted 3.0 innings and allowed five runs off four hits with four strikeouts.

The Seahawk's starting pitcher Ryan Calvert did not go far into this game, only pitching 3.0 innings. However, in those three innings, he allowed one run on three hits with four strikeouts.

UNCW started the game hot from the plate with Jon Newton clobbering a home run over the center field wall followed by an Aiden Evans groundout and Tanner Thach hitting a groundout to take a quick 3-0 lead in the second.

In the fourth, Alex McCoy got the Pride on the board with a solo home run with the Seahawks still leading 3-1 heading into the bottom half. But for UNCW, the bottom half of the fourth was the game's turning point.

Kevin Jones and Jac Croom both hit back-to-back home runs to extend their lead 5-1, but another Thach single followed by a fielder choice blew the game open for UNCW as they put a four-spot, now leading 8-1 after the fourth.

The Seahawks continued to pour it on in the fifth with two singles and a double from Newton, Trevor Marsh and Brock Wills, rounding out a 12-1 lead in the fifth.

Hofstra tried to play catch-up with a Penn Sealey double down the left-field line, scoring two runs in a 12-3 game. UNCW scored two more runs in the later innings with a home run and a double as the Seahawks capped the game at 14-3.

As the team with the best record in the CAA, UNCW holds the top seed in the rankings while Hofstra remains in the hunt as the seventh seed. Hofstra looked to clinch a playoff spot against Monmouth University.

Their last regular season series took place at home against the Hawks on Thursday, May 16, with the first pitch set for 3 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Rob Cuni