Hempstead, NY - The Hofstra Baseball team will make its first Colonial Athletic Association Championship appearance in seven years Thursday when it meets third-seeded Delaware at 5 p.m. (revised time) at Eagle Field. The Pride is seeded second in the six-team field. 

Hofstra, which set the school record for wins in a season, enters the tournament with a 33-20 record and a 20-10 CAA mark. Hofstra fielded the most dominant offense in the CAA this season, leading the league in batting (.335), runs (431), doubles (138) and stolen bases (148).

The Pride is led by senior right fielder Danny Poma, who is batting .435 on the season with 31 doubles, seven home runs and 47 RBIs. He also has 26 steals and 76 runs. Poma leads the nation in hits, doubles and runs, and ranks second in the nation in batting. Junior first baseman Jared Hammer ranks second on the team and the CAA in batting at .383, and leads the team and conference with 64 RBIs. Junior Matt Ford (.379), senior Kevin Flynn (.350), junior Dalton Rouleau (.341) and sophomore Kenny Jackson (.340) all rank in the top 15 in the CAA in batting.

Junior John Tiedemann leads a Hofstra pitching staff with a 7-4 record, 62 strikeouts and a 4.83 ERA. He has held opponents to a .240 batting average, which ranks third in the conference. Freshman Dave Jesch and juniors Andrew Barbarino and Joe Burg are tied for second on the team with four victories. Sophomore Bryan Verbitsky has a team-high five saves.

Hofstra was 10-5 in the regular season against the tournament field, sweeping both Delaware and VCU. The Pride was 2-1 versus Towson and 1-2 against both George Mason and top-seeded UNCW.

The tournament returns to a six-team, double-elimination format for the first time since 2009 and features a new format that gives the top two seeds an opening round bye.

In Wednesday's opening game, fourth-seeded George Mason lost, 11-7, to #5 VCU, while Delaware edged #6 Towson, 8-7, in 12 innings. Due to a more than four-hour weather delay during the first game of the day, the scheduled game three between George Mason and Towson was rescheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m.

Top-seeded UNCW (35-20, 24-6 in CAA) takes the field against VCU at 1:30 p.m., followed by the Hofstra-Delaware game at 5 p.m. A pair of one-loss teams will meet in an elimination contest at 8:30 p.m.

Tournament action continues with three games on Friday and the CAA championship game is set for Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

All-session tickets are $35 (chairback reserved), $25 (adult general admission), and $15 (senior citizen, youth, veterans general admission). Single-day tickets are $15 (chairback reserved), $10 (adult general admission) and $5 (senior citizen, youth, veterans general admission). Students from participating institutions are admitted free with a valid student ID.