By Mark Mausner -- STAFF WRITER The Hofstra Pride baseball team was downed for the third straight time, 10-5, en route to being swept by Elon on Sunday afternoon at Latham Park in North Carolina.
With the game tied at two runs apiece, Elon scored three runs in the bottom of the third. Ryne Ogren’s solo homer broke the tie and junior infielder CJ Young knocked in two runs with a hard-hit double down the third base line to make it 5-2 Phoenix.
The Pride responded in the following frame as redshirt freshman Nick Bottari sent a solo shot over the wall in left field to make the score 5-3 in the top of the fourth.
That’s as close as the Pride would get as Elon blew the game open in the bottom of the fourth. Ogren started off the fireworks by recording his second RBI of the game with a double to deep leftfield.
That double advanced Will Nance to third and he was brought home by Nick Zammarelli’s sacrifice fly to left to give the Phoenix a 7-3 lead.
Dave Jesch was then brought in to relieve Bowie Matteson, who pitched three and 2/3 innings, allowing nine runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out five. He took the loss as his record dropped to 3-4.
Despite coming out of the game, Matteson was responsible for the final two Phoenix runs in the fourth as Danny Lynch’s single down the right field line plated Ogren and Young’s single scored Tyler McVicar giving Elon a 9-3 advantage.
After a Kyle Jackson sacrifice fly made it a 10-3 lead for Elon, Bottari earned his second RBI via a sacrifice fly to bring score Hofstra’s fourth run.
With the bases loaded, Kevin O’Connor walked to bring the Pride within five. Steven Foster then grounded out to end the inning, leaving three men on base and cutting the Pride’s comeback short.
Mason Daniels (3-3) got the win for Elon, throwing seven and 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on five hits to go along with three walks and six strikeouts.
Hofstra came into the Elon series on a five-game winning streak, but dropped to 13-27 overall and 4-10 in the Colonial Athletic Association with the sweep. Elon moved to 19-22 overall and 10-7 in league play with the series win.