Baseball Drops 8-3 Decision to Hofstra

(boxscore)

5/9/06 -- Long Island University traveled to Hofstra for the second time this season and were defeated by the Pride, 8-3, in collegiate baseball action on Tuesday afternoon.

Seniors Tim Doherty (Newark, Del.) and Matt Martino (Staten Island, N.Y.), and sophomore second baseman Dan Pirillo (Marlboro, N.Y.) each had two hits for the Blackbirds, who fell to 10-29-1 on the season. For Martino, his pair of singles extended his hitting streak to seven games.

The Pride opened the scoring in the first inning. A two-run double to center field by designated hitter Matt Kougasian was followed by a run-scoring single by Josh Stern to put Hofstra up, 3-0.

LIU threatened in the top of the second, as an error on the third baseman, a single by Doherty and a sacrifice bunt by Martino gave the team two runners in scoring position with only one out. As has been the case for much of the season, the Blackbirds could not convert on the opportunity and went scoreless in the frame.

Hofstra tacked on another run in the second to build its advantage to 4-0. Long Island finally got on the board an inning later, as a leadoff double by Pirillo and two ground outs manufactured a score and cut the deficit to three.

Another golden opportunity came in the next frame, but two hits and two walks manufactured no runs as the Blackbirds stranded three runners on base for the second time in the game. In the contest, LIU left 11 runners on base.

Hofstra scored the next three runs to build its advantage to 7-1 before an RBI single by sophomore Bryan Burke (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) scored Martino for LIU’s second run. Each team would score an additional run before the game was through. A run-scoring ground out by senior Sean Durkin (Damascus, Md.) accounted for the Blackbirds final tally in the ninth.

Junior Ryan Ekberg (Carmel, N.Y.) suffered his second loss of the season, allowing 10 hits and six earned runs over five innings of work. Durkin finished with two runs batted in while Pirillo scored a pair.

Hofstra second baseman Andy Campana finished the contest 3-for-5 with a pair of runs and two RBI.

Long Island continues its season on Wednesday, May 10 against St. John’s at 3:00 p.m.