Hempstead, NY - The Hofstra University Baseball team took one more step towards earning a Colonial Athletic Association Playoff berth with a doubleheader split against William & Mary Friday at University Field. Hofstra will need to win the series finale Saturday to secure a spot in the six-team tournament that gets underway Wednesday at James Madison.

Hofstra won game one, 4-3, after taking a 4-0 lead in the fourth and holding off a Tribe rally in the later innings. Kevin O'Connor provided the big hit, a three-run home run to left field, that gave Hofstra a 3-0 advantage. Later in the inning with Sean Rausch at third and Daniel Page at first, the Pride pulled off a double steal with Rausch getting in just ahead of the tag to make it 4-0.

William & Mary scored a run in the seventh as Matthew Trehub led off with a double and came in on a pinch-hit single from Jason Waldman. The Tribe would make things interesting in the ninth as Brandon Raquet hit a two-run home run to left to make it a one-run game with two outs. But Andrew Mundy struck out the final batter to earn his fifth save of the season in relief of starter Jack Jett.

Jett (2-3) was outstanding in winning his second start in a row, throwing six scoreless innings and allowing six hits with six strikeouts. Mundy pitched the final three innings, allowing three runs on five hits with three strikeouts.

Wade Strain (5-4) took the loss for William & Mary, allowing four runs on five hits in five innings with seven strikeouts. Jacob Haney went the final three frames and allowed a pair of hits and struck out seven.

Raquet, Trehub and Owen Socher each had two hits for William & Mary.

William & Mary used a six-runs second inning to take control early and went on to post a 12-2 victory. Hunter Smith had the big blow, a three-run home run to straight-away center field that made the score 6-0. Kyle Wrighte, Raquet, and Zach Pearson also had RBI hits in the inning. The Tribe would extend to a 7-0 lead in the fifth on Jack Cone's RBI single.

Hofstra got on the board in the bottom of the fifth as Parker Quinn singled to start the inning and went to third on a double from Rausch. Ryan Morash knocked in the run with a groundout. The Pride would tack on another run in the seventh on an RBI single from Vito Friscia that scored Vinnie Costello.

But William & Mary added a run in the eighth and four more in the ninth to put the game out of reach.

Michael James (1-8) took the loss for Hofstra after allowing the six runs on seven hits in two innings of work. Friscia had two of the Pride's nine hits in the game.

Bodie Sheehan (5-2) picked up the win after allowing one run on seven hits with six strikeouts in six innings. A trio of relievers went the rest of the way and limited the Pride to a run on two hits. Raquet had a pair of hits in game two and drove in four runs. Wrighte was 4-5 with three runs scored.

The series finale will begin at 12 p.m. Saturday. Hofstra will honor its eight seniors – Friscia, Quinn, James, O'Connor, Mundy, Matt Siedem, Daniel Page, and Austin Pollack – prior to the start of the game.

Notes:
-O'Connor's home run was the first of his career.
-Jett matched his career-highs for innings pitched and strikeouts.
-Austin Gauthier extended his hitting streak to eight games with hits in both ends of the doubleheader.
-Hofstra is 19-31 all-time against William & Mary.