by Vin Messana
When I saw Hofstra‘s schedule updated to include a season opening DH against Seton Hall on 2/21, I immediately changed my plans. Nevermind that it was a 2 hr, 15 minute drive to the game and the weather was flirting with below freezing.
So with a 12pm start in South Orange, NJ I hopped in the car and made the drive and arrived just after first pitch.
Game 1
Hofstra came out of the gates firing, scoring two runs in the top of the first on a wild pitch that scored Austin Gauthier, who led off the game with a double, and on a sac fly from Brian Goulard that scored Anthony D’Onofrio. It appeared the Pride would pick up right where they left off in the abbreviated 2020 season and that’s having no trouble scoring runs. That was not the case, though, as the Seton Hall starter, Brennan O’Neill, consistently eluded trouble each inning. He allowed just two hits, but walked four and hit two batters. He was taken out in favor of Joe Cinnella with two outs in the fourth inning with runners on the corners. Cinnella came up big, striking out Santino Rosso to keep the score 2-0.
His counterpart, Hofstra RHP Jack Jett, was able to get through five innings unscathed thanks to his ability to leave runners stranded. He allowed a single in the first, two walks in the second, two singles and a HBP in the third, and a walk in the fourth inning but kept the Pirates off the board each inning.
In the sixth inning, the Pride had a golden opportunity to break the game open. Ryan Morash led off with a single and stole second (The Pride was 4-for-4 on stolen base attempts) and advanced to third on a single through the left side by Alex Sica. With 1st & 3rd nobody out, Will Kennedy sac bunted the runner into scoring position to make it 2nd & 3rd with 1 out for catcher Kevin Bruggeman who grounded out to the pitcher to keep the runners at bay. Seton Hall than opted to intentionally walk Austin Gauthier to get to Rosso, who grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the jam and leave the bases loaded.
It was costly as a leadoff single and a fly out to center allowed the runner to advance to second. That was it for Jack, who gave way to Chris Mott – making his Hofstra debut after transferring from New York Tech. He promptly threw a wild pitch to advance the runner to third and a sac fly allowed the runner to score and cut the lead in half. He struck out the next batter to end the sixth.
After the Pride went down 1-2-3, Coach John Russo sent out closer John Mikolaicyk to slam the door. The hard throwing RHP transferred from Herkimer CC. He struck out the first two batters, but the third strike eluded the catcher to allow Seton Hall to get a base runner. At that point, his defense sabotaged him as the next two batters reached on errors to allow the tying run to score and put the winning run 90 feet away.
The game ended on a wild pitch that allowed the Pirates to come away with the 3-2 victory. Mikolaicyk was tagged with the tough luck loss, even though he really recorded four outs in the inning. Hofstra’s offense recorded just four hits, with no player compiling more than one – but Gauthier singled and walked three times.
One more note: Anthony D’Onofrio made a spectacular grab to rob an extra-base hit in which he was sprinting with his back away from home plate, slammed into the center field fence and found a way to hold onto the ball. He channeled his football past to make that play. The switch from SS to CF seems to be working out okay for him.
Game 2
I was considering leaving after the first game due to the cold, but decided against it, in case I missed a come-from-behind victory.
That proved to be prophetic. Jimmy Joyce took the mound for the Pride. He was coming off a strong 2020 season in which he really turned the corner as a pitcher-only. He came into his collegiate career as a highly-decorated two-sport athlete and 2-time LIC at Wantagh. He struggled to balance right field and being a relief-pitcher, and has since thrived in his role as a weekend starter.
In the top of the first, Anthony D’Onofrio lined a single to right center field but was picked off to end the inning to send up the Pirates.
Joyce struggled out of the gate, allowing a leadoff single, a stolen base followed by an RBI bloop triple by Preseason BIG EAST Co-Player of the Year Tyler Shedler-Mcavoy. But to his credit, he shut the door after that. He stranded the runner at first to limit the damage.
Rob Weissheier led off the second inning with a single but was stranded at first. More on him later.
In the top of the third, Hofstra’s first two batters were retired but they mounted a two-out rally. A walk to Austin Gauthier and a debatable balk got him into scoring position for D’Onofrio, who made it hurt with an RBI single to make it 1-1.
The game wasn’t tied for long, as the Pirates regained the lead in the home half of the third on a sac fly by Shedler-Mcavoy to score Jerry Huntzinger, who led off with a single.
Joyce retired the side in order in the fourth inning, but escaped trouble in the fifth inning when the Pirates got runners on 2nd & 3rd with 2 out, but he was able to bear down and coax a ground out to second to elude any damage.
Ryan Rue came on in relief for the Pride in the sixth inning and what a job he did. The southpaw was able to retire the side in order in the sixth and seventh innings which allowed his team an opportunity to come back – which is what they did.
Weissheier, the power hitting grad student from Kellenberg, came to the plate with one out and Gauthier on second base after he singled and D’Onofrio sacrificed bunted him over. Weissheier turned on a fastball and deposited it off the parking garage in left field to give the Pride a 3-2 lead and send his dugout into a frenzy.
Rue went back out for the eighth inning, worked around another extra-base hit from Shedler and stranded him in scoring position with a strikeout to end the jam.
In the bottom of the ninth, it seemed for a second that ghosts of late-inning pasts would be revisited. Rue retired the first two batters but walked the next two batters to prompt a visit from pitching coach Blake Nation. He was able to settle down, though, and induce a game-ending flyout to center to get the W for the Pride.
Following the game, Coach John Russo had this to say:
“Today had a different feeling than any other opening day I’ve been apart of. I feel like everyone involved from teams, umpires, scorekeepers and field crew were just truly grateful to be back playing baseball..”
In regards to Weissheier’s blast he said, “Rob had a great second game and was just missing all day. His leadership and confidence to do that with two strikes in the 7th is incredible. We all expect big hits from Rob late in games…”
And regarding Rue’s four-inning relief outing to save the day, “Rue throwing for the first time in his career in relief was extremely impressive. He learned today that the outs in the 9th are definitely different than the outs in the first. Really proud of him to close out the game for us,” he added.
The Pride will be back in action on Friday with a DH against La Salle in Philadelphia, PA.
