The Dominican University baseball team moved back to .500 with a 5-3 win over the Wilkes University Colonels on Thursday evening in Fort Pierce, Florida. Making his first collegiate start, freshman
Seth Hoffman picked up his first career win while
Ryan Simak was on base five times and drove in a pair of runs.
Hoffman worked out of a jam in the top of the fourth, stranding runners at second and third with just one out, getting the Colonels one and two hitters in the order to ground out to third and fly out to left end the threat.
Dominican then responded with a three-run bottom of the fourth aided by three walks and three hits.
Brandon Diedrich started the inning with a single back through the box. After a sacrifice bunt,
Camron Stafford blooped a single to right to put runners at the corners.
Kevin Evans worked a walk to load the bases for Simak who singled through the right side.
Thomas Ross followed with a bases loaded walk and then, with two away,
Hayden Young walked on four pitches.
Hoffman responded with his first one-two-three frame in the top of the fifth before the Stars offense got back work, adding a run in the bottom of the fifth when Simak singled to center after Stafford and Evans worked back-to-back two-out walks, extending the Stars' lead to 4-0 after five.
Wilkes cut the deficit in half in the top of the sixth, starting the inning with an infield single before Vinnie Uzzi lined a triple to deep left. After a walk, pinch hitter Bryan Nifenecker rolled into a 1-6-3 double play, allowing Uzzi to score.
The Colonels continued to cut into the Dominican, plating a run in the seventh when Jack Fischer doubled to the gap in right-center and came around to score an out later when Brandon Reno singled through the right side of the infield.
Noah Loeffler, on in relief of Hoffman to start the seventh, managed to strand the tying and go ahead runs at second and third, getting a pop out before Uzzi lined to Evans in centerfield.
Loeffler then worked a one-two-three eighth before turning the game over to
Austin Michals in the ninth.
Dominican added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Simak led off the inning with a walk and later scored when
Frankie Sessa rolled a one-out single up the middle, scoring Simak from second.
In the ninth, Michals picked up his third save of the season, pitching around a pair of singles and stranding the tying run at second when he struck out Matt Reinert to end the game.
Hoffman lasted six innings and surrendered two runs on five hits and five walks in his first outing of the season before Loeffler came in for the seventh and eighth innings.
Dominican managed seven hits in the win. Simak was on base five times, going 2-for-2 with three walks in the Stars' leadoff spot. Sessa extended his on-base streak to eight, going 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI.
The Stars will be back at it tomorrow, taking on the Muskingum University Fighting Muskies in a 10:00 a.m. doubleheader at the Lawnwood Athletics Complex. Dominican will then put a bow on the 2019 spring trip on Saturday with a 10:00 a.m. first pitch against the Maritime College Privateers.
