Hofstra baseball keeps playoff hopes alive at Monmouth

The Hofstra Pride baseball team kept their playoff hopes alive on Saturday afternoon with a 9-1 win over the Monmouth University Hawks. The Pride hit their way to victory as they recorded 17 hits to the Hawks’ two. After the win, Hofstra currently sits at 12-13 in Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) play and seventh in the conference. Monmouth is 5-16 in CAA play and 10th in the conference.

With two outs in the top of the second inning and the bases juiced, Dylan Palmer was at the dish. The freshman sensation ripped a single down the third base line that scored Anthony D’Onofrio from third base and Zach Bailey from second base to give the Pride an early 2-0 lead. Runners on the corners for Santino Rosso as he laced a single to right field, which knocked in Michael Florides from third.

The Pride followed up a no-hitter on Friday from Brad Camarda with a one-hit performance by Marko Faello on Saturday. Faello surrendered one run, one hit, four walks and one hit batsman but managed to strike out four in  6innings of work. Faello earned his fifth win of the season and improved his record to 5-6. 

The Pride tacked on a pair of runs in the sixth inning as well. With both runs coming with two outs in the inning, déjà vu of the third frame, Rosso homered to deep center field. After Kevin Bruggeman doubled to left field, Steve Harrington singled to left field, scoring Bruggeman from second base. Hofstra led 5-0 heading into the seventh frame.

Scoring with two outs was a common occurrence for the Pride in this one. With two outs and runners on first and second base, Rosso stayed hot and ripped a single to right field, scoring Florides from second. Hofstra pulled off a double steal as Rosso stole second and Palmer stole home, giving the Pride a 7-0 lead in the top of the seventh inning.

Two hitters for the Pride finished the contest with four hits. Palmer went 4-5 at the plate with two  RBIs, one run scored, one walk and two stolen bases as well. Rosso went 4-6 with four RBIs and one run scored. Harrington, Florides and Ryan Morash all put together two-hit games. Florides crossed home plate three times in the game as well.

Monmouth, trailing 7-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning, got on the board as Will Trochiano brought Nick Czarnecki in on a single up the middle to avoid the shutout, 7-1.

Reed Interdonato got the nod for Monmouth in this one. Interdonato surrendered nine hits, five runs, three walks, one hit batsman and struck out two in 5.2 innings of work.

The Pride seeks to complete the three-game road sweep on Sunday, May 6, as the first pitch is set for 1 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Rob Cuni/Hofstra Athletics