Atlanta, GA- Georgia State's Charley Olson allowed no earned in eight innings and Carlo Moniz hit a two-run home run as part of a five-RBI night as Hofstra fell to the Panthers, 8-2, in a conference matchup on Saturday at Panthersville.
Freshman shortstop Matt Ford (Lansing, NY) lined a team-high three hits in four at-bats from the leadoff spot, accounting for all but two of the Pride's total hits. Hofstra dropped the first two games of the series in falling to 10-15 and 3-2 in CAA play.
Olson (2-4) struck out 10 against three walks and his only two runs allowed came at the expense of three Georgia State errors. Coupled with David Buchanan's complete-game victory the night before, gave the Georgia State bullpen another rest. The two starters have given up just four runs (two earned) in 17 out of a possible 18 innings in the series as the Panthers improved to 16-15 overall and 4-4 in conference play.
Junior right-hander Sean Monaghan (East Meadow, NY) labored through 4 2/3 innings but held Georgia State to two runs on eight hits in earning the no-decision. Hofstra's righty starter put two men on with two outs in the fifth before left-handed reliever Joe Burg (Lindenhurst, IL) entered and picked off Brandon Williams to quash a potential rally with the score tied at 2.
The Panthers would finish the rally in the next inning, scoring three times in the sixth against the Pride bullpen to pull ahead for good. Rob Lind reached on a leadoff infield hit to the left side, prompting freshman Drew Liebert (Baltimore, MD) to pitch for Burg.
Liebert started strong, getting Shane Hammond to fall behind 0-2 before the catcher knocked a run-scoring double down the leftfield line. A sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk but two runners on and junior Jeff Guthridge (Bel Air, MD) entered for Hofstra's third pitcher of the inning.
The Panthers scratched across two more runs in the inning for a three-run lead and tacked on another insurance run in the seventh, reaching junior Kevin Rigopoulos (Athol, MA) for an unearned run that extended Georgia State's lead to 6-2. Liebert (0-1) took the loss.
Moniz, who went 3-for-4 with three runs scored in the series-opening win on Friday, continued hit hot hitting against the Pride, ripping a second-inning RBI single to open the scoring. He then smacked an eight-inning two-run home run, capping a 4-for-5 effort.
The Pride capitalized on a Georgia State miscue to tie it in the third. Freshman Matt Watkins (San Carlos, CA) reached on a two-base error to start the inning and scored on senior Mike Walraven's (Thompson Ridge, NY) sacrifice fly to left to tie it at 1.
Georgia State pulled ahead the next inning by also taking advantage of an error. Brett Maxwell doubled and scored on a fielding error one-batter later for a 2-1 Panthers lead in the third. The Panthers promptly gave the lead back to Hofstra, making two errors in the fourth inning to score senior John Kenny (Franklin Square, NY). Hammond's error-Georgia State's third of the game-allowed Kenny to score the tying run from third and fellow senior Elliot Hagburg (East Hanover, NJ) to advance to the second.
The Pride would not pull even again, though the team has still won four of its last six games.
Hofstra will close out the three-game series with a Sunday matinee against the Panthers. Freshman Jared Rogers (Flemington, NJ) will look to follow a career-best effort against Northeastern last week into the finale. Rogers improved to 2-4 by holding the Huskies to one run in eight innings, striking out four. The right-hander will oppose Ryan Moore, who has posted 1-1 record with a 13.85 ERA through his first seven starts.
Game time has been moved up from it's original start time of 1 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.
