Hempstead, NY - The Pride baseball team travels to Towson
for its final regular season Colonial Athletic Association road series. The
Pride will look further secure its second place position in the CAA standings
and seek the first 30-win season in program history.
Hofstra (29-18, 16-8 CAA) is coming off a 10-3 win at Albany
Wednesday evening in a game that saw the Pride offense collect 14 hits,
including three from Austin Nyman, Kenny Jackson and Danny Poma. Nick Kozlowski
went five solid innings to earn his first win, while relievers Cody Normand,
Andrew Barbarino, Gregg Sarra and Gregg Lettini combined to allow five hits and
one run over the final four innings.
The Pride boast one of the most potent offenses in the
nation, ranking second in batting at .340, first in hits (570) and fourth in
scoring. Hofstra has scored a team-record 390 runs thus far this season and
have 10 or more runs in each of the last three contests. Poma leads the way
with a .450 average (second in the nation) and a NCAA-best 70 runs. Jared Hammer, who has reached base in 53 consecutive games dating back to last season,
has a .401 average and a CAA-leading 60 RBIs (which is third in the nation).
The Pride has seven starters batting .310 or better and 11 players with 16 or
more RBIs.
Towson is 22-27 overall and 11-13 in the CAA. The Tigers
posted a 14-4 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore in their last contest on May 8.
Towson boasts one of the top pitchers in the league in Mike Trionfo, who is 7-3
with a 3.63 ERA. Dominic Fratantuonno leads the Tigers offense with a .309
average and has added seven doubles, six triples, three home runs and 22 RBIs. Andrew
Parker has a team-high six home runs and is tied with Brendan Butler for the
lead in RBIs with 28.
Joe Burg (4-0) will start game one of the series, Friday
afternoon, against Trionfo. John Tiedemann (6-3) will go on Saturday for the
Pride and will be opposed by Kyle Paul (2-3). Bryan Verbitsky (1-3) is slated
for the Sunday start for Hofstra, while Towson's starter has yet to be
determined.
Live statistics for the series can be accessed through
GoHofstra.com.
