Hempstead, NY - Mike Morrelli went 4-for-4 with two home runs and six RBIs as New York Tech pounded out 16 hits against eight Hofstra pitchers in a 12-4 win Tuesday afternoon at University Field. Hofstra falls to 5-19 with its fourth consecutive loss, while New York Tech ups its record to 10-17 on the season. New York Tech got a strong pitching perfomance from Matt Doran, who allowed three earned runs over seven innings to improve his record to 2-3.
The Bears opened the scoring in the first inning as a fielding error set-up Christian Dienna's RBI fielder's choice for a 1-0 lead. The Bears extended the lead to 2-0 in the second as Ryan Campbell drove home Eric Cos. Campbell finished with three hits and three RBIs on the day, while Cos scored three times.
The Pride responded in the bottom of the inning as freshman Jim Best drove Doran's pitch deep over the wall in right for his first career home run, which cut the deficit in half. That would be as close as the Pride would get as New York Tech scored twice in the fourth off of Bobby Neelon and put the game away with a four-run fifth inning against two other Hofstra relievers.
Sophomore Scott A'Hara came on in relief to start the fifth and retired the first batter before sandwiching a hit and walk around a groundout. With two on and two outs, Morrelli put the game out of reach with a three-run home run to left that put the Bears up, 8-1.
Senior Brody Fontaine (0-5), who pitched the first two innings for the Pride in a tuneup for a weekend CAA series against Delaware, allowed just two runs (one earned) but was tagged with the loss.
Doran was sharp, allowing six hits with five strikeouts in his seven innings. Morrelli added a tack-on solo homer in the ninth to close out the scoring.
Sophomore Anthony Nelson (two hits) and junior Matt Prokopowicz had RBI groundouts in a two-run seventh for the Pride.
Hofstra will be off for two days before hosting CAA-rival Delaware at University Field for a three-game series starting Friday. Game time is set for 3 p.m.
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