WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ – Monmouth Baseball fell to Hofstra in the Hawks' home opener Tuesday afternoon, 14-6. Pete Papcun (Brick, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) homered twice and drove in five runs for the Blue and White, while Vito Friscia drove in four for the Pride.

Hofstra struck for three runs in the first inning, getting a Teddy Cillis double to plate a run. MU answered immediately in the bottom half, as Papcun struck a three-run homer inside the left field foul pole following two consecutive walks to tie the game.

Austin Gauthier's two-run double in the second sparked a three-run frame for the Pride, but again MU answered. In the third, Papcun lined a triple into the gap, and Zach Schild (Lincroft, NJ/Middletown South) lifted a sacrifice fly to right to get the Hawks within a run at 6-5. Hofstra added a run in the fifth, and Papcun again got MU within a run with his second homer of the day, a solo shot in the seventh. At the conclusion of seven innings, HU led 7-6.

A six-run eighth broke the game open for Hofstra, totaling four hits and three walks in the frame. Friscia knocked a two-run single back through the middle, and Vinnie Costello hit a two-run double inside the left field line. Parker Quinn capped the inning with a two-run base hit to right to send the Pride on its way to a midweek victory.

NOTES AND QUOTES
"We just didn't play well today. It comes down to getting guys opportunities because we're going to need them moving forward and some of them were a little rusty and not sharp. We haven't pitched them much and it certainly showed today but we have to give them chances. We're going to need them at some point. Pete swung the bat well, we got behind early and just couldn't come back." – Dean Ehehalt

-Pete Papcun homered twice, the first Hawk to lift two home runs in a game since Tom Jakubowski last year on March 24, 2017 against Quinnipiac.
-Papcun's five RBI's are the most since he knocked in six at Canisius last April 1^st.
-Papcun overtook the team home run lead with his fourth of the season.
-Zach Schild collected a hit for his 16^th consecutive start.
-Ryan Lillie needed just eight pitches for a spotless sixth inning, and 27 total for two shutout frames.
-The seven pitchers was the most MU has used in a game this season.
-Kyle Norman, JD Andreessen, Matt Graber, Ryan Steckline, Max Goione, James Kelly and Evan Ferris appeared in their first home games as Hawks.
-The game marked Monmouth's first home game of the season.
-The game duration was 3 hours, 40 minutes, Monmouth's longest of the season.

NUMBERS CRUNCH
-Monmouth was outhit 12-8.
-Each team made just one error in the game.
-Hofstra improves to 11-7, while MU is now 5-14.
-Brad Camarda earned his second career win with two innings as the starter for Hofstra.
-Evan Ferris took his first career loss.
-Papcun drove in five of Monmouth's six runs.
-The teams combined to leave 19 runners on base.

UP NEXT
-Monmouth plays a MAAC series this weekend with Canisius, beginning on Friday at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN3.