LEXINGTON, Va. - Hofstra pounded out 18 hits and erupted for 13 first-inning runs en route to a 21-4 win over VMI in the third and final game of a weekend series with the Keydets at Patchin Field on Sunday. VMI, which dropped the final two games of the series after a 9-8 win in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader, fall to 1-5 on the season while Hofstra ran its record to 2-4.
Sophomore right-hander Will Devito (Hicksville, NY/Chaminade) picked up the win for the Pride to move to 1-1 on the season. DeVito allowed four runs, all earned, on 10 hits in 5.1 innings of work.
Sophomore left-hander Mike Anton (Clarksville, Md./River Hill) started for VMI and got into an early jam after allowing a leadoff single to senior center fielder Josh Stewart (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg Area) and back-to-back walks to junior third baseman Ricky Caputo (Miller Place, N.Y./Miller Place) and junior shortstop Josh Stern (Millwood, N.Y./Horace Greeley) which loaded the bases. That would be one of three times that Anton faced bases-loaded situations while facing eight batters in the top of the first.
Stewart scored the first run when junior first baseman Mike Walsh (Norfolk, Mass./King Philip Regional) walked. Sophomore second baseman Andy Campana (Piscataway, N.J./Piscataway) then knocked a two-run single scoring Caputo and Stern for a 3-0 lead. Sophomore designated hitter George Athanasopoulos (Manorville, N.Y./Eastport) followed by reaching on a fielding error by Anton to load the bases for a second time in the inning. Junior catcher Steve Oliveri (Huntington Station, N.Y./St. Anthony's) was up next and reached on a fielding error by the second baseman allowing both Campana and Walsh to score for a 5-0 lead. Freshman right fielder David Cole (Teaneck, N.J./Teaneck) then was hit by a pitch to load the bases for a third time in the frame.
Hofstra led 5-0 when Anton was pulled for junior right-hander Will Paulette (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher's) with no outs in the top of the first. Anton allowed eight runs, six of which were earned, on two hits while facing eight batters and took the loss to drop to 0-2 on the season.
Paulette came on and the first batter he faced was senior left fielder Steve Conley (Flushing, N.Y./St. Francis Prep). Conley reached on a fielder's choice in which Athanasopoulos scored the first of five unearned runs in the inning as the Pride took a 6-0 lead. Stewart then batted for the second time in the inning and belted a two-run double to left-center field scoring Conley (earned) Oliveri (unearned) for an 8-0 lead.
VMI got on the board with a single run in the bottom of the second as freshman catcher Stephen Parsons (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory) scored on a two-out single to right field by freshman left fielder Klint Reed (Chesterfield, Va./L.C. Bird).
Paulette worked two and one-third innings on the day and allowed seven runs, one earned, on seven hits. Paulette was one of seven pitchers who saw action in the game for the Keydets.
"Even though we were behind, I thought our kids played hard all day long," VMI head coach
Marlin Ikenberry said.
The Keydets resilient effort in the face of adversity continued to show as the game wore on. VMI scored once in the fifth and added two more in the sixth with one of those coming on a solo home run to right field by freshman designated hitter Jamie Davis (Lynchburg, Va./Amherst), his first collegiate home run. Davis finished 2-for-4.
VMI was also led by junior third baseman Kelly Sweppenhiser (Herndon, Pa./Line Mountain) who went 3-for-5 and sophomore first baseman Robert Crumpler (Suffolk, Va./Nansemond-Suffolk) who went 2-for-3.
Stewart was 4-for-7, knocked in a pair of runs, and scored three runs for Hofstra while Campana went 3-for-4, scored twice, and knocked in three runs. Caputo also went 3-for-5 and scored three runs while Walsh added three RBI in a balanced attack for the Pride.
The Keydets resume play on Tuesday, February 15 when they travel to Farmville, Va. to play Longwood University in a non-conference game scheduled for 1:30 pm.
