After Wednesday’s game against East Carolina was postponed, UNC Wilmington opened CAA play with a 5-3 loss to the Hofstra Pride on Friday night.

Alex Royalty was on the mound for UNCW (14-7, 0-1 CAA) to kick off the series. Royalty was able to go six innings deep, but a two-run home run off the bat of Vinnie Costello with two outs in the top of the sixth forced Royalty to end the day without a win on the mound. He finished with a season-high 10 strikeouts.

“You go out there having a day and it is one pitch at a time for us,” said Royalty. “That one pitch isn’t executed and things like that happen. When things like that happen and it evens up through the game and starts a whole new ballgame in the sixth inning, the game is up for grabs and we just lost a little bit of control.”

Mason Berne was the star for the Seahawk offense as he went 2-for-4 with two solo home runs. The home runs came in the bottom of the second and the bottom of the fourth. Zack Canada added an RBI single in the bottom of the third as well which is all the Seahawks were able to muster offensively.

“I believe that our approach could have been better today,” said Berne. “I think guys got a little pull happy and didn’t stick their nose on the ball.”

In the top of the eighth inning, the Pride’s Rob Weissheier added the go-ahead run with an RBI single off UNCW’s Austin Easter. This was the first run given up by Easter this season. Hofstra (10-4, 1-0 CAA) added another run of insurance in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI fielder’s choice from Mikey Riesner.

Stat of the Night: Royalty’s scoreless innings streak at Brooks Field of 20 innings ended after a Devon Jeffreys single in the second inning. Costello’s home run was also the first home run Royalty has given up this season.

Quote of the Night: “We didn’t do as good of a job as we need to do from an offensive standpoint. We had some opportunities with runners out there in three different innings and we just weren’t able to get another knock.”- UNCW coach Mark Scalf