Sophomore Elliot Hagburg and junior Mark Stuckless each had two RBIs and three Hofstra pitchers combined to allow just four runs as the Pride defeated Fordham, 9-4, in a non-conference game under the lights Tuesday night. With the victory, Hofstra improves to 17-30 while the Rams drop to 25-19-1.

The Pride jumped out to a five-run lead in the third and never looked back. Sophomore John Kenny worked a walk to start things off and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from junior Chris Mentrasti. Senior Anthony Sarno promptly singled up the middle, driving Kenny home to give the Pride a 1-0 lead. Senior Matt Kougasian continued his hot hitting as he smacked a single into centerfield to score Sarno, who had reached second on a throwing error by the pitcher. After a groundout moved Kougasian to second, Hagburg ripped a two-out double to left to score the senior. Junior Tom Legregni kept the rally going when he reached on an error and Hagburg and came around to score when junior Nick Panzarella singled to left to put the Pride up 5-0.

Meanwhile, Sarno, who started the game on the mound, kept the Fordham line-up off balance with his excellent breaking stuff and freshman Anthony Gionesi came on in the fourth as a change of pace and pitched three innings, allowing just one run while striking out two.

After Fordham pushed a run across in the sixth to cut the Hofstra lead to 5-1, the Pride scored three insurance runs in the eighth to distance themselves from the Rams. With runners on second and third and one out, Stuckless smoked a double down the left field line to score two. The junior came around to score as Mentrasti pushed him home on a groundout. Hagburg picked up his second RBI of the game in the ninth inning when he doubled home sophomore Matt Prokopowicz, who was hit by a pitch to reach first, to up the lead to 9-1.

Senior Tom Caltabiano was able to stave off a late Fordham rally to close the game out. The catcher-turned-pitcher allowed three runs in the ninth to account for the four Ram runs but picked up his first save in the process.

Hofstra returns to action tomorrow, Wednesday April 30, for a non-conference game at New York Institute of Technology. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.

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