Hofstra at Northeastern
BROOKLINE, Mass. (Interstat) — Hofstra Pride ended a three-game losing streak to Northeastern with a 13-2 victory Sunday afternoon at Parsons Field, behind a dominant pitching performance from Nicholas Reese and a 10-run fourth inning that broke the game open.
Reese tossed seven innings, allowing just one unearned run on no hits while striking out two. He walked two batters and retired the final 15 he faced, leaving the game after the seventh inning with a 13-2 lead. The performance came five days after Reese threw three scoreless innings of relief against UNC Wilmington.
Hofstra, which improved to 15-21 overall, collected 11 hits. Gabriel Melara went 2 for 2 with three runs batted in, Nick Gallello was 2 for 5 with two RBI, Michael Brown was 2 for 5 with one RBI, Danny Corona was 1 for 3 with two RBI, and Tyler Cox was 1 for 3 with two RBI. CJ Griggs went 1 for 4.
Northeastern, which dropped to 25-17, managed just three hits. The Huskies scored their only runs in the first two innings. In the bottom of the first, an unearned run crossed on a fielder’s choice by Brinker after a throwing error by Hofstra third baseman Melara. In the second, DiGiorgio singled home Musacchia, who had singled and advanced to third on a groundout and a flyout.
The game was scoreless through three innings. Hofstra stranded a runner in the third when Brown reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second, but Griggs grounded out.
The fourth inning turned the contest into a rout. Hofstra sent 14 batters to the plate, scoring 10 runs on six hits, two walks, two hit batters and two Northeastern errors. Corona led off with a hit by pitch and Melara was also hit by pitch. Gallello singled to load the bases. Cox hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Corona. Biddle walked to reload the bases. DeVito reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Melara, and a throwing error by DiGiorgio allowed Gallello to score and Biddle to advance to second. Holt lined out, but Gallello scored on a throwing error by Criscola. Brown then ground-ruled doubled to deep center field, scoring Biddle. After a pitching change, Griggs walked, Corona walked with the bases loaded to score DeVito, and Melara singled to score Brown and Griggs. Gallello doubled to score Corona and Melara. Cox singled to score Gallello. After another pitching change, Cox stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Tarantino, then Biddle singled to score Cox. DeVito flied out to end the inning.
Hofstra added two more runs in the fifth. Holt lined out, Brown struck out, but Griggs doubled down the left-field line. Corona doubled down the right-field line to score Griggs. Melara was hit by pitch, and Gallello grounded out.
The Pride’s final run came in the seventh. Brown singled to right center, Griggs grounded out advancing Brown to second, Corona struck out, and Melara singled to left field to score Brown.
Northeastern used four pitchers. Ryan Griffin started and allowed three hits and two earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. Basel allowed five runs in two-thirds of an inning. Matthew Sapienza allowed three hits and one earned run in 2 1/3 innings. Joseph Hauser allowed two hits and one earned run in one inning.
The victory gave Hofstra a split of the four-game season series with Northeastern. The Huskies had won the previous two meetings, 8-6 on Saturday and 8-0 on Friday. Northeastern had taken two of three from Hofstra in Hempstead, New York, in March.
Hofstra next hosts Saint John’s on Tuesday, while Northeastern travels to Maine on Wednesday.
Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Northeastern 7, Hofstra 4, and its ELO system gave Northeastern an 81.60 percent probability to win.