John Rooney
Vito Friscia’s Dramatic Walk-Off HR Extends Hofstra Win Streak to 9
Vito Friscia on his walk-off HR to give Hofstra the dramatic 9-8 victory over Albany pic.twitter.com/4uJpcLxSBV — Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) March 17, 2018 When you’re hot, you’re hot! Junior designated hitter Vito Friscia smacked an opposite field, walk-off HR in the tenth inning to give Hofstra a dramatic 9-8 victory over Albany in 10 innings. Trailing 7-1 in the seventh inning, things were looking bleak for Hofstra if they had any hopes of extending their eight-game win streak. That was until a four-run seventh inning and two in the eighth tied the game up and made it a new ball game. Albany re-gained the lead in the top of the ninth, but once again Hofstra answered back in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single by Justin Smith to score Daniel Page. “I...
Hofstra Prioritizing Playing Without Fear
After finishing eighth in the CAA in 2017, the Hofstra Pride baseball team looks to put last season behind. The Pride finished with a 14-37 (7-17 CAA) record in 2017. Hofstra has not been to the CAA tournament since 2012. “We lost so many close games that we almost figured out how to lose,” said head coach John Russo. “And more importantly, we’d almost feel like we were going to lose in the dugout.” The Pride lost five players to graduation. One of those seniors is David Leiderman, the former Pride starting third baseman, who signed with the Miami Marlins organization and report to minor league camp in March. Leiderman finished his Hofstra career with a .266 average with 11 home runs and 88 RBI. Leiderman is the 16th Hofstra player to join the professional baseball ranks. The other seniors...
Fall Ball Series: Hofstra
We continued our Fall Ball Series at Hofstra yesterday, where the Pride hosted Queens College in a scrimmage. They looked good in yesterday’s scrimmage. They got on the board early and often and won by the scores of 12-1 and 9-3. While the results of the fall do not count, it is a positive sign to see a pitching staff throw strikes and fundamentally solid baseball. The Colonial Athletic Association is historically a difficult conference that featured four 30-win teams (Northeastern, UNC-Wilmington, William & Mary, Delaware) last season. The Pride struggled in 2017, but they are returning their top four leading hitters (Steven Foster, Vito Friscia, Mikey Reisner, Teddy Cillis) in addition to their top two power hitters (Friscia and Vinnie Costello) and will be hoping that l...
Hofstra Dominates in Season’s First Win
The Pride began their weekend at the Mardi Gras Invitational with a 10-3 win against Nicholls State. Hofstra tallied 18 hits to Nicholls’ three. Thanks in part to a masterful performance from starting pitcher John Rooney, he threw five no-hit innings in which he struck out six. When he left he had put his team in great position to win–as Hofstra was up 7-0. Hofstra wasted no time, first baseman Nick Bottari got them on the board with a two-run double in the game’s third at bat. They continued to pad their lead until the seventh inning, when Hofstra delivered a knock-out blow in the form of a three-run home run from shortstop Mikey Riesner. Nicholls came back to score three unearned runs in the eighth, but by that point it was all but over. Riesner led the team in RBIs wit...
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