NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Hofstra rolled to six runs in the first two innings and then blew the game open with a five-run fifth inning on the way to a 13-7 baseball win over NJIT Tuesday evening at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium.
With the win, Hofstra's season record goes to 14-22, while NJIT's loss leaves the Highlanders at 17-14-1.
In a scenario not uncommon for midweek games in college baseball, both coaches managed with an eye toward getting a look at pitchers who may not have seen a lot of game action. Often, pitchers are on predetermined innings and/or pitch counts.
The result is frequently a lot of scoring and that's what happened Tuesday night.
The winning pitcher for Hofstra was junior right-hander Chris Bonk (3-5), who started and allowed seven hits and four runs. Although it was his seventh start, Bonk was making his first appearance in nine days and his four-inning outing was his longest since March 27.
The Pride used four relievers and only the last two, brothers Kevin and Matt Weissheier, avoided allowing a run. Kevin, a senior, pitched the seventh and eighth innings and did not allow a run or hit. He came on in relief of Kieran Ryan with a run in and the bases loaded and got three outs, although one inherited runner scored.
Kevin pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning and brother Matt, a freshman tossed a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the win for Hofstra.
NJIT used five pitchers, all freshmen, and it wasn't until the fourth one,
Brent Jones, that the Highlanders got a completely effective appearance. He shut out Hofstra on one hit over two innings, lowering his season earned run average to 1.35 in the process.
Brandon Pilovsky made his second appearance of the season and retired all three Hofstra batter he faced in the ninth inning.
The starting pitcher for the Highlanders was
James Sofield (0-2), who lasted 1.2 innings in his second start of the season and was charged with the loss after yielding six runs in 1.2 innings.
The first Highlander reliever,
Justin Chin came into the game with two out in the second inning after Hofstra's Steven Foster had reached Sofield for a three-run homer. Chin got the third out and was effective in third and fourth innings, putting up zeros. But he ran into trouble in Hofstra's five-run fifth inning and ended with a line of four runs allowed in three innings.
Hofstra scored three runs in the top of the first inning, but NJIT stayed in the hunt with a two-run bottom half against Bonk. However, Foster's three-run clout in the top of the second made it 6-2 for the visitors.
With Chin holding the Pride in check for a couple of innings, NJIT trimmed the deficit to 6-4 before Hofstra took full control with five runs in the fifth inning. The visitors added on two more runs in the sixth inning for a 13-4 lead that NJIT reduced a bit with a run in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh.
Foster, a freshman center fielder, finished the game 3-for-3 with three runs batted in for Hofstra. He doubled to go along with his home run.
1B Brian MacDonald went 3-for-4, including a double, and led Hofstra with four runs batted in. C Chris Weiss added three hits, including a two-run homer in Hofstra's big fifth inning.
NJIT had 10 hits—all singles—led by two each from CF
Ed Charlton and C
Cody Kramer. Charlton drove in two runs, giving him 25 for the season, which matches
Stephan Halibej for the team lead.
Hofstra's three first-inning runs came on a sacrifice fly 3B David Leiderman and a two-run single by MacDonald. NJIT got two back after Charlton scored on a wild pitch and Halibej drove in a run on a ground out. Foster soon hit the one-out three-run homer to make the score 6-2 in the top of the second.
The Highlanders' two runs in the fourth inning scored on an RBI single by RF
Jesse Uttendorfer and a later ground out by Charlton.
The Pride had six hits in its five-run fifth inning that included consecutive bunt hits to the area between the pitcher's mound and first base, with the second one driving in a run. LF Mat Annunziata added an RBI double and Weiss capped the scoring with his two-run homer.
The first of Hofstra's two run in the sixth inning scored during an infield double play and the second run scored on single by MacDonald.
Charlton drove in NJIT's run with a single in the bottom of the frame and the Highlanders scored one on a wild pitch and another on a ground out in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The Highlanders are scheduled to get back in action this weekend with a home-and-home four game series against Fairleigh Dickinson. The teams are slated to play a doubleheader on Saturday in Teaneck with a 1 pm start and the series will shift to Newark for a Sunday doubleheader at Riverfront Stadium, also starting at 1 pm.
