MT. PLEASANT, S.C. –The College of Charleston baseball team received a dominate pitching performance from
Nathan Ocker (Middletown, Pa.), and
Erven Roper (Easley, S.C.) went 3-for-4 with a double, as the Cougars fell to Hofstra by a score of 2-1 on Friday night in both team's Colonial Athletics Association opener.
Hofstra (6-14, 1-0 CAA) plated two runs on six hits – including a home run – while limiting College of Charleston (8-14, 0-1 CAA) to one run on seven base knocks. The Pride stranded four base runners in the contest, compared to 12 for the Cougars.
Roper paced the Cougar offense with three hits – including a double – and scored The College's lone run.
Luke Manzo (Marietta, Ga.) added a 1-for-2 effort with a pair of walks. Ocker took the ball in his first start of the season and delivered a superb performance, allowing one run on three hits and striking out nine in six innings of work.
Carter Love (Charlotte, N.C.) worked three frames, surrendering one run on three hits and striking out two while taking the loss.
Brad Witkowski led the Hofstra attack with a 2-for-4 night, while Mikey Riesner and Vito Friscia each drove in one run. Teddy Cillis surrendered one unearned run on six hits and struck out eight in six innings; Chris Weiss tossed three shutout frames and struck out five to earn the win.
Friscia put the Pride on the board in the second with a solo homer to right center to give Hofstra a 1-0 lead. The Cougars would answer in the fourth, when Roper led off with a double down the right field line and came around to score on an error to knot the score at 1-1.
Charleston would threaten to take the lead several times over the next three innings, including the sixth when McRae and Roper led off the frame with back-to-back singles before Cillis bounced back with three straight outs.
Hofstra broke through with the go-ahead run in the ninth, putting men on first and second with one out after David Leiderman and Nick Bottari reached on a single and an error. Riesner followed with a single through the right side to drive in Leiderman from second to put the Pride ahead, 2-1.
The Cougars put themselves in prime position to even the tally in the home half, drawing a leadoff walk through pinch-hitter
Riley Knudsen (Cabot, Ark.) before Manzo moved him over with a well-placed sacrifice bunt. McRae would draw a walk one batter later to put two on for Roper, before Weiss dropped a 1-2 pitch on the corner to quell the rally and seal the win.
Charleston and Hofstra will meet in game two of the weekend set on Saturday afternoon at Patriots Point. First pitch is set for 2:33 pm.
Jakob Frishmuth (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) will take the ball opposite Hofstra's Jorge Marrero.
