Baseball holds on to avoid sweep by Liberty

After dropping the first two games of the series, the Hofstra Pride baseball team rallied back to defeat Liberty University 10-5 on Sunday, March 17. With the win, the Pride end a six-game losing streak and move to 3-11 for the season.

Rob Weissheier led the Pride with three runs and two RBIs. Kevin O’Connor added a career-high three RBIs to the win, while Parker Quinn and Myles Mensah each contributed two hits of their own. The Pride began with Jack Jett on the mound, who allowed only one run on three hits in the first 4 ⅓ innings. 

Hofstra took an early lead against the Flames scoring two runs in the first inning. Vito Friscia led with a walk and a triple from Weissheier helped put Hofstra on the board. A single from Quinn then knocked in Weissheier, giving the Pride their second run of the game.

The second inning saw no scoring from either team, but Hofstra pulled ahead in the third even more, scoring two runs after Friscia doubled and scored off of a single from Weissheier. The fourth run came after a single from Quinn put runners on first and second base and a hit from O’Connor brought Weissheier home.

Logan Mathieu scored Liberty’s first run of the game in the fifth, as Jack Anderson came on to relieve Jett on the mound. Anderson pitched two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh as Vinnie Costello added another Hofstra run in the seventh, ending the inning in a score of 5-1.  

The Pride saw two more pitching changes in the eighth, first with Jimmy Joyce who was then relieved by Andrew Mundy. 

The Flames attempted to rally back in the eighth inning with four runs, making the score 6-5. With one out, Liberty had the bases loaded and scored twice on two balks from Joyce. Mundy then gave up two runs as Cam Locklear of Liberty brought home the third run of the inning and a walk from Drew Baughman with the bases loaded again brought home the fourth.

However, the Pride secured their win in the ninth inning with four more runs. Two come off of an O’Connor double and the last two from a Mensah single to defeat the Flames 10-5.

The Pride will take the field again on Wednesday, March 20, at Army West Point University. The first pitch is set for 3 p.m.

This article was originally published on www.thehofstrachronicle.com.

Image courtesy of Hofstra Athletics