Hofstra baseball secures first CAA sweep of the season

The Hofstra University baseball team completed its first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) sweep of the season and its second CAA series win over the North Carolina A&T State University Aggies with a 10-4 win on Sunday, April 28. 

Hofstra now stands 8-10 in the CAA with a 17-27 overall record and ranks No.8 in the standings as they continue to climb their way up.

“I thought the guys came out ready to play and ready to sweep,” said Hofstra head coach Frank Catalanotto. “We had a lot of energy and Tanner [Sanderoff] did a good job on the mound for us, and we swung the bats. I know Luke Masiuk hit the three-run double which was huge at the time, but it was good to get the sweep.”

Having now had a solid couple of weeks under their belt, Hofstra enters the final three weeks of the season.

“It means a lot because it means we're actually in this thing,” Catalanotto said. “A couple of weeks ago, we might’ve thought it was slipping away and we might not be able to make the playoffs. But now, I think we find ourselves in a spot where, if we have a few good weekends, we can make the playoffs.”

Looking for the sweep, Sanderoff got the call to the mound. In his start, Sanderoff finished the day with 5.0 innings pitched, allowing three runs on three hits and tallying five strikeouts.

“I thought he was great,” Catalanotto said. “He’s been good when we’ve sent him out there and with the exception of that home run ball, I thought he pitched great… [It's] good to know we have a guy there that we feel comfortable running out there.”

The Hofstra offense continued to strive after putting up 14 runs the day before with 10 runs on 12 hits in this game.

After the fourth, Hofstra had a 7-0 lead over the Aggies with the bulk of their runs coming from the top of the lineup with two doubles from Matt Pelcher and Masiuk and two RBI singles from Alex McCoy and Santino Rosso. Pelcher led the team with three hits and one RBI on the day. Behind him, Dylan Palmer, Rosso and Will Kennedy all had two hits with at least one RBI.

However, the bottom of the lineup also has been contributing to filling the bases.

“We’ve talked about it the last few weeks, we’re getting production now at the bottom of the lineup,” Catalanotto said. “All the way through, one through nine everyone is hitting with some young guys, and it's good that you have a lineup with no weak spots.”

In the later innings, the Aggies tried to get some runs on the board with Tatsunori Negishi taking Sanderoff deep while Hofstra was still leading 7-3. The Pride continued to string together runs, with Palmer laying down an RBI single and Kennedy doing the same capping their runs at 10.

Sanderoff got the win with his contributions from the mound while Evan Hart received the loss for the Aggies. In his start, Hart only survived 2.0 innings allowing one run on one hit. Relief pitcher Diego Barrett allowed the bulk of the runs with seven runs on seven hits.

Riding on their CAA series sweep, Hofstra will start the week against Seton Hall University on Wednesday, May 1, on the road. Then on Friday, May 3, Hofstra will have their first game in a series against Long Island rival, Stony Brook University, on the road starting at 2 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Hofstra Athletics/Joe Orovitz