Hofstra baseball responding to challenges

Since the Hofstra baseball team joined the Southern-based Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in 2002, the prospects of reaching the conference playoffs has always been a daunting challenge. The Pride only achieving this feat once, in 2005, and reaching the conference postseason will be even more of a task because the CAA decided to reduce its playoffs from six to four teams.

Despite being tested even more to make the CAA playoffs, second-year head coach Patrick Anderson is optimistic about the future of the program. "Our kids are really hungry to turn this program around," said Anderson, who was an assistant coach with Hofstra baseball from 1998-2001 before working as a hitting instructor in the Kansas City Royals organization prior to accepting the head coaching job with the Pride. "We've got to go pitch by pitch and game by game."

Hofstra baseball will not only be challenged in 2010 with the change in the CAA's playoff format but also by having a young team with 16 freshmen and six transfers. Only nine players returned from last season's team that went 11-32 in Anderson's first season. Among the returnees however are two of Hofstra's five .300 hitters last year in Matt Prokopowicz and Scott A'Hara as well as closer Jeff Guthridge, who tied for a team-best four wins in 2009.

After dropping 10 games to start the season against some strong competition, the Pride won four in a row over Fairfield in back-to-back doubleheaders last weekend and started to gain some confidence. 

Prokopowicz, who has switched from third base to second base for his senior campaign, led the Pride by hitting. .344 last season with 30 RBIs and three home runs. Anderson expects the Massapequa native to be playing professionally after he graduates from Hofstra in May. 

"He's one of those kids that comes out of the womb and hits," said Anderson of Prokopowicz, who was listed among "The College Baseball Blog’s Top 50 Players to Watch" last year and hit .416 as a freshman. "He is going to play professional baseball, there is no doubt in my mind."

Some of Hofstra’s key players in 2010 are from the South Shore including senior center fielder John Kenny, a Franklin Square native and Valley Stream North product who hit .288 with a .405 on base percentage last year. "He is one of our best athletes," said Anderson of Kenny, who was 16-for-21 in stolen-base attempts and recorded five outfield assists in 2009. "He's got a world full of talent." 

Another local player expected to be a key cog is East Meadow native Sean Monaghan, a pitcher who was captain of Nassau Community College team last year. Monaghan led Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale to a CHSAA league championship in 2007. Two Clarke High School graduates are also newcomers to the pitching staff in 2010 in John Schilt and Brett Schreiber. Schilt transfered from St. John's and Brett Schreiber from UMass-Boston.  

One exciting development for Hofstra’s baseball program this year is renovations being done to the Pride's home turf of University Field with a new grandstand and press box being installed. The new grandstand is scheduled to be officially dedicated on April 18 just prior to Hofstra's game against CAA rival Virginia Commonwealth. "It's just kind of a breath of fresh air," said Anderson of what University Field will look like once the renovations are complete. "The upgrade and the facelift is just going to help all the way around with the atmosphere."

Hofstra's next home game is April 6 against New York Tech at 3 p.m. The Pride's CAA home opener is scheduled for April 16 against Virginia Commonwealth at 3 p.m.