Beaumont, TX - The Hofstra Pride Baseball team opened the 2018 season on the wrong end of a pair of pitcher's duels, falling to Lamar by scores of 2-1 and 3-0 Friday evening at Vincent-Beck Stadium.
 
John Rooney threw six shutout innings in a no decision in game one but the Cardinals rallied for two runs in the seventh inning. Three Lamar pitchers limited the Pride to two hits and the one unearned run. In the nightcap, Matt Weissheier threw 5 1/3 innings of three-hit, one-run ball and was the hard-luck loser.
 
Hofstra is 0-2 on the season while Lamar moved to 3-3 on the year.
 
Game 1
Hofstra got on the board in the second inning as Teddy Cillis drew a leadoff walk and stole second. An error put runners on the corners with two outs before an errant pickoff throw allowed Cillis to score. Rooney would work in and out of trouble over the course of his outing, stranding seven runners including three during his final inning of work. The junior left-hander finished his day by allowing five hits and two walks with five strikeouts in a 105-pitch outing.
 
Lamar put together a two-out rally in the seventh to score both of its runs off of reliever Chris Weiss (0-1). A leadoff single by pinch-hitter Chase Whetsel was followed by a strikeout and a foul out, before a wild pitch and a Cole Coker single brought in the tying run. Cole Secrest then knocked in the winning run with a single of his own.
 
Jace Campbell started for the Cardinals and allowed one run on one hit with eight strikeouts in six innings. Kristjan Storrie (1-0) allowed one hit and struck out the side in his inning of relief, and earned the win. Tanner Driskill notched his second save with two perfect frames, fanning three.
                                                                                                                       
Steven Foster and Mikey Riesner had Hofstra hits, both singles. 
 
Game 2
Vito Friscia and Parker Quinn each had a pair of hits, but Noah Sills and Ryan Erickson combined on the five-hit shutout. Sills (2-0), who blanked #22 Missouri State for six innings in his first start, went 5 2/3 innings tonight and allowed all five hits and struck out six. Erickson went the final 3 1/3 without allowing a hit to earn his first save.
 
Lamar scored a run in the sixth as Payton Robertson led off with a double and, after moving to third on a sacrifice, came in to score on a double from Coker off of Cillis, who came on in relief. The Cardinals added two more runs in the eighth on two infield singles, a walk, an RBI fielder's choice and a wild pitch.
 
Weissheier (0-1) struck out two in his outing. Cillis went the final 2 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with one strikeout.

The teams play another doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m. (EST).
 
Notes:
-One of Quinn's hits was a double.
-Riesner had hits in both ends of the twinbill.
-Hofstra had never played Lamar before tonight.