Final: Hofstra 5, UNCW 3 WP: John Rooney S: Chris Weiss pic.twitter.com/UkrMPnd1OU Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 23, 2018 Friday night baseball under the lights in the south. That is college baseball at its finest. Tonight it was an up-and-coming teams from the northeast, though, that stole the spotlight. The red-hot Hofstra Pride (10-4) defeated UNC-Wilmington (14-7) by the score of 5-3, with the go-ahead hit coming in the eighth inning by sophomore Rob Weissheier to score Teddy Cillis. In front of dozens of MLB scouts, Hofstra’s ace LHP John Rooney out dueled the reigning CAA Pitcher of the Year, Alex Royalty. Rooney went seven innings, allowing 3 ER on four hits, two walks with seven strikeouts to improve his program-record of career strikeouts to 206. Hofstra ...
This is a year where there is a higher-than-normal amount of players with professional caliber playing on Long Island. There might not be a first-round pick, but there will be plenty of Day 3 guys. To discuss them all, it will be broken into a multi-part series. Here is the first group. Jesse Berardi (Commack ’14, St. John’s ’18) You won’t find anyone that says a bad word about Berardi. He won the Carl Yastrzemski Award in 2014 and was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies. His makeup is off the charts and everyone adores how he respects the game and hustles at all times. He was regarded as the best defensive shortstop to come out of Long Island since Shawon Dunston. His bat has come along and all of a sudden he developed power which only enhances his value. Assuming...
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana Today was a rare Division-I vs Division-II matchup. Hofstra fended off LIU Post, 12-9, despite getting outhit by six.The Pioneers started their ace, Jake DeCarli, who continued to do what he has all season–he threw three no-hit innings while needing only 27 pitches. Had it been a conference game he obviously would’ve pitched deep into the game but he was lifted in order to preserve him for the meaningful conference games.Reliever James Long came on and struggled, he yielded four ER in one inning of work. Dalton Rouleau hit an RBI single to score Brad Witkowski. Later in the inning, Brian MacDonald smacked his third home run of the season to score Rouleau and Jake Fallon.In the fifth inning, Hofstra broke it pen further when Fallon hit an RBI single a...
Photo Credit: Hofstra Athletics It has not been a banner year for Hofstra to this point. But, when they get the offense going they are scary. They won 13-7 today on 14 hits against NJIT to improve to 14-22 on the season. The offense was led by the trio of Steven Foster, Brian MacDonald and Chris Weiss. Foster had a stat line that would make Jesus proud–he went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI. He hit his first home run and a double. MacDonald went 3-for-5 with four RBI and Weiss went 3-for-4, including a home run, with two RBI and two runs scored.Starter Chris Bonk went four innings, allowing four ER and was credited with his third win of the season. He was relieved by Luke Noone, who went two innings allowing one ER. Ryan Kieran came in, allowed two runs, and was remov...
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana We provided coverage of three games yesterday, but here is the results from the rest of the college programs on the island. Division-I: Hofstra shutout Manhattan 7-0, behind Adam Seibert and four relievers. Seibert started and went five innings, Adam Heidenfelder threw the sixth inning. Kevin Weissheier and his brother, Matt, both pitched one inning and Chris Weiss closed it out. Together, they allowed four hits and three walks while striking out 10. The offense got going early on Brad Witkowski’s RBI triple to drive in Steven Foster. In the third inning, Dalton Rouleau hit a sac fly to score Witkowski to make it 2-0. David Leiderman stayed red-hot, and increased it to 4-0 with a two-run single. In the seventh inning, Eric Ferguson scored on a wild pitch f...
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana In the battle of ‘516’ Division-I teams, the Hofstra Pride soared past NYIT for the ninth consecutive time by the score of 7-3 to improve. With the victory, the Pride improve to 10-16 on the season.The offense wasted no time in building a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Brian MacDonald to score Eric Ferguson.They broke it open in the fourth inning, Ferguson hit a sac fly to left field to score Brad Witkowski. Ryan Donovan hit a sac fly to score Dalton Rouleau and MacDonald hit another RBI single to increase the lead to 4-0.NYIT got one back in their half of the inning on a solo home run by Joe Sebastian. The Pride answered with a run-scoring single by David Leiderman and a double steal later in the inning, in which Leiderman stole home. Adam Seibert won...
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana As we mentioned in the scouting reports, Bowie Matteson is dominant when he spots his fastball. That was the case on Saturday in his first career start, when he went seven dominant innings, allowed six hits, struck out five and walked none. Chris Weiss came in for the save with a clean ninth inning.It was an old fashioned pitcher’s duel against Villanova’s Hunter Schryver. He went eight innings, struck out eight and allowed only one run while getting tagged with the tough-luck loss.The Pride’s lone run came in the third inning when freshman Steven Foster singled home Ryan Donovan to give the Pride the early lead. Sure enough, that run was enough.Foster, a 2014 graduate of Sachem North HS, is making his case to be named Baseball on the Island...
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana Division-I: Stony Brook topped Sacred Heart 8-4, you can read the game coverage here. NYIT edged LIU-Brooklyn 8-7. They did most of their damage in the fifth inning. Joe Daru walked with the bases loaded to tie the game at 4. Thomas Joannou followed suit by doing the same to give the Bears the lead. Josh Canabal added insurance with an RBI single and Nick Sebastian opened it up with a two-run double. LIU didn’t go down without a whimper, they put up two in the bottom of the ninth to make it close. Canabal, Sebastian and Anthony Martelli each compiled two hits. It was their third win of the season. Hofstra pulled off an upset at St. John’s with a 6-4 victory. They used a four-run second inning off Alex Katz to get all the offense they needed. Brad Wit...
Photo Credit: Vinny Messana When a player hits a go-ahead grand slam and it’s not even the most impressive feat of the game, you know you have a wild game on your hands. Hofstra won a 12-7 thriller over Delaware, in which Eric Ferguson went 5-for-5 and hit for the cycle. The Pride were actually trailing 4-1 in the fourth inning after Tyler Powell hit an RBI double off Chris Bonk. Things looked bleak as the Pride was staring at the prospect of being swept by a conference opponent.Everything turned around in the fifth inning when Dalton Rouleau cut the lead to 4-2 with RBI double. Steven Foster sliced the lead to one with a run scoring single. Delaware extended the lead to 5-3 when Joe Giacchino hit a solo home run to right field. The Pride changed the complexion of the game in the six...