Old Westbury, NY –
Max Dolente's RBI single in the top of the 11th inning snapped a 1-1 tie and propelled the Pride to a 3-1 victory over NYIT Tuesday afternoon at Lorenzo Field. The win snapped an eight-game losing streak for Hofstra.
The Pride improved to 6-18 with the win, while NYIT dropped to 10-13 with the loss.
Both teams got stellar pitching as the game was scoreless until the bottom of the sixth inning. Hofstra's
John Rooney, who was making his first career start, allowed two hits and struck out seven in five scoreless innings. Matt Diaz started for the Bears and went three innings and allowed two hits as well. Timothy Milligan followed with two scoreless frames.
NYIT got on the board in the sixth, scoring a run against the Pride's first reliever
Bowie Matteson. Louis Mele, Anthony Caradonna and Robert Fiato had consecutive one-out singles with Fiato's hit driving in the first run. After a scoreless seventh inning,
Ryan Karl led off the top of the eighth with a solo home run to knot the score at 1-1.
Moving to the 11th inning, the Pride got a leadoff single from
Vito Friscia.
Mat Annunziata followed with a single of his own and
David Leiderman followed with a sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position. After
Teddy Cillis was intentionally walked, Dolente came through with a single to right that scored pinch-runner
Kevin O'Connor. After a fielder's choice resulted in a force out at home,
Tom Archer drew a bases loaded walk to provide the Pride with an insurance run.
Chris Bonk came on in the bottom of the inning and allowed a one-out walk before inducing a game-ending double play for his first save.
Adam Heidenfelder (1-3) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of relief.
Chris Johnson took the loss for the Bears after allowing two runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings of work.
Hofstra is back in action tomorrow afternoon at Fairfield. Game time is at 3 p.m.
NOTES:-Hofstra is now 27-21-2 all-time versus NYIT and has won 11 straight games in the series
-Karl's home run was his second of the season
-Friscia had two of the Pride's nine hits
-The win was the first career victory for Heidenfelder
