By Marco Meglio -- STAFF WRITER Hofstra men’s baseball team suffered its 15th loss of the season Tuesday, losing 6-1 to Manhattan at Dutchess Stadium. Dave Jesch took his second loss of the season, giving up two earned runs over his three and two-thirds innings of work.
The Pride is currently riding a five-game losing streak. In addition, the loss comes at the hand of a Manhattan team that is currently 4-13 on the season.
After losing three straight to Ohio State, the Pride had a lot higher hopes coming into this game. Instead, the constant trend of offensive inconsistency continued.
Pitching has not been at fault in a majority of their losses. In fact, out of their 15 losses, the pitching has held opponents to score five runs or less eight times.
In the first inning the Jaspers got off to a quick start, with catcher Fabian Pena giving them a 1-0 lead with a RBI base hit up the middle. Pena would continue to rake all afternoon, finishing 3-3 with two RBI, a walk, and a run.
The Pride came back in the bottom half of the frame, scoring an unearned run off a failed pickoff attempt. Other than that it was silent for the rest of the game.
Designated hitter Mat Annunziata went 0-4 as the leadoff man, lowering his batting average to .247. Hofstra also went a combined 3-28 from behind the plate, notching nine strikeouts within that time.
In the second inning the Jaspers broke away, scoring a run on an Anthony Rondon single to right field. Two innings later, Jesch’s day would be done, totaling just three and two-thirds innings on the afternoon.
In came John Rooney, who did not really help the Pride’s cause. After completing one inning of work, Rooney gave up a RBI double in the fifth. Once again, Pena was the one delivering the run. Pena was moved over to third and then later scored in the same inning on a passed ball.
Just when Rooney thought his day would get easier, the Jaspers tallied another run in the sixth inning on a Jose Carrera single through the left side. Rooney stayed in to finish the game.
Despite giving up only two runs, Jesch was saddled with the loss.
The Pride will look to try to bounce back and break their five-game losing streak on Wednesday against the Monmouth Hawks at 3 p.m. at University Field.