Hempstead, NY – Jimmy Yezzo went 3-3 with a home run and five RBIs to lead the Fightin' Blue Hens of Delaware to a 13-7 Colonial Athletic Association win over Hofstra Friday afternoon at University Field.
The Blue Hens opened the scoring in the second inning, pushing five unearned runs across the plate all with two outs. Ty Warrington got the rally started when he reached on a throwing error by David D'Errico. Brock Niggebrugge followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Joe Giacchino singled in two runs and went to second on a walk to Cameron Travalini. Yezzo then followed with a three-run shot to centerfield to make it a 5-0 game. The homer was his 10th of the year.
Hofstra got to within one in the third as the Pride loaded the bases on singles by Austin Nyman and Robbie Cafiero sandwiched around an error. Kenny Jackson followed with a grand slam to make the score 5-4 in favor of Delaware.
But Delaware answered in the fourth, scoring five more times to take a 10-4 lead. Nick Ferdinand provided the big blow, a three-run home run to left. The Blue Hens would tack on two more runs in the fifth as Yezzo delivered a two-run single that was chopped over the head of first baseman Jared Hammer for a 12-4 advantage.
The Pride got two runs back in the fifth on a two-run home run from Hammer and then picked up another run in the sixth on Kevin Brantley's two-out RBI single that drove in Chris Nardo, who led off the inning with a single.
D.J. Long and E.J. Stoltzfus led off the eighth inning with back to back doubles to add a run to Delaware's lead and close out the scoring.
D'Errico fell to 2-2 on the season after allowing eight runs (two earned) on five hits in 3 1/3 innings of work. Graham Tebbitt had a strong relief outing, allowing one run on three hits in three innings with four strikeouts.
Chad Kuhl went eight innings for Delaware, improving to 6-2 on the season. He allowed 10 hits and seven runs, but also struck out six batters.
In addition to Yezzo, Giacchino added three hits and two RBIs for Delaware while Niggebrugge had two hits and three runs scored.
Jackson, Matt Reistetter and Nyman each had two hits for the Pride.
The series continues Saturday at 1 p.m. as Joe Burg takes the hill for Hofstra looking for his fourth win of the season. Delaware will start Adam Davis (4-4).
