Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Pride baseball team will look to carry the momentum from a Colonial Athletic Association series win over Delaware into a pair of midweek non-conference games Wednesday and Thursday. The Pride will host LIU Brooklyn Wednesday at 3 p.m. and Molloy College Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in a newly-scheduled contest. Hofstra (20-21) will be looking to get to the .500 mark for the first time this season.
The Pride took two of three games from the Fightin' Blue Hens last weekend, winning a thrilling 4-3 game in 13 innings on Saturday and then a 7-3 victory on Sunday to clinch the series. In Saturday's win, Joe Perez put down a suicide squeeze bunt to bring home the winning run and the pitching trio of Joe Burg, Bryan Verbitsky and Brett Schreiber held the high-octane Delaware offense in check. Burg started and allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings. Verbitsky went a career-long 7 1/3 innings and allowed just one hit with six strikeouts, while Schreiber recorded one out to earn the win.
For his efforts, which also included a win over Manhattan, Verbitsky earned CAA Pitcher of the Week accolades.
In Sunday's win, Hofstra got another strong pitching performance as Nick Kozlowski made his first start in more than a month and allowed three runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings. Schreiber shut the door for the final 2 1/3 innings. The Pride offense put up seven runs in the first three frames with Perez recording a pair of RBIs.
LIU Brooklyn enters the game with a 14-22 record, but the Blackbirds are coming off a four-game sweep of Mount St. Mary's. This will mark the first meeting between the two schools since the 2011 season when LIU Brooklyn posted a 6-3 win over the Pride at MCU Park in Brooklyn on May3. Hofstra won the last meeting at University Field, 11-10, on May 4, 2010. The overall series between the two schools is tied at 22 games apiece.
Jared Rogers will get the start for the Pride, while LIU Brooklyn has not announced their pitching plans.
Thursday's game against Molloy will mark the first ever meeting between the two programs. Molloy, a Division II program, is 19-20 overall.
David D'Errico will start on the mound for Hofstra in that game.
