TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University baseball team hosted Hofstra on Thursday afternoon in the first of three Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) games at Schuerholz Park this week.
 
Towson (12-14, 3-10 CAA) took an early one-run edge over Hofstra (9-15, 4-6 CAA) in the first before the Pride tied the game in the next frame. The Tigers added six runs in the third, fourth, fifth, coinciding with one Pride run in the fifth, to make it a 7-2 lead for the home team. Towson added two insurance runs in the eighth before Hofstra took its final at-bats. The Pride added four runs in the ninth, but came up three short of extending the game, giving the Tigers a 9-6 series-opening victory.
Key Stats:­­

• Towson starter Dutch DeProspero (2-3) earned the win after allowing two earned runs on four hits and one walk in 5.0 innings pitched.
• Hofstra start Chris Bedford (0-1) took the loss, allowing six earned runs on seven hits and four walks in 3.1 innings pitched. Bedford struck out two batters.

 
How it Happened:

• Keldrin Rodriguez walked with one out in the first inning and moved to second on Brian Heckelman's groundout. Max D'Alessandro dropped a single in front of the diving left fielder to plate the first run of the game for the Tigers.
• Gabriel Melara tied the game on a solo home run over the right field fence in the next frame, landing in the Pride's bullpen.
• The Tigers added three runs on four hits in the bottom of the third. K. Rodriguez singled, followed by Heckelman's double, to put two runners in scoring position. D'Alessandro hit a soft ground ball that stopped right on the first base line to drive in the first run of the frame. Frank Adamski Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to right to score K. Rodriguez. Nich Francuzenko followed with a double to left, giving Towson a three-run edge.
• Heckelman stretched the Black & Gold lead to five with a two-run homer over the left field fence.
• Hofstra added a run on two hits in the fifth, cutting the Tiger lead to 6-2.
• Josh Janove led off the bottom half with a double to left. After a sacrifice bunt moved him to third, Ethan Brand hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Janove.
• Towson pushed its lead to 9-2 in the eighth inning. Adamski Jr. hit an RBI triple to right center before Janove's single to right center plated Adamski Jr.
• The Pride added four runs on four hits in the ninth but fell three runs short of sending the game to the bottom half of the inning.

 
Inside the Numbers:

• The heart of the Towson order of Heckelman, D'Alessandro and Adamski Jr. finished the day batting .714 (10-for-14) with three extra base hits, six RBIs and five runs scored. All three posted at least three base hits in the game.
• DeProspero matched his longest outing this season after tossing 5.0 frames. He earned his first winning decision since his first start of the year on Feb. 14.

 
On Deck:
The Tigers and Pride resume their three-game series tomorrow at 3 p.m.