Walter Becomes Fourth Player in Blue Hen History to Eclipse 100 Ks in Season

Friday, May 10

Newark, Del.

7 p.m.

University of Delaware

20-29, 8-11

Hofstra

16-28-1, 8-11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Hofstra	0	0	0	4	0	0	1	0	0	5	6	0
Delaware	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	4	7	0

Photo by: Mark Campbell

Walter Becomes Fourth Player in Blue Hen History to Eclipse 100 Ks in Season

5/10/2019 10:51:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

The southpaw becomes the first Delaware arm to reach 100 strikeouts since 1991

NEWARK, Del. – In Friday night's series opener with Hofstra, junior starting pitcher Brandon Walter struck out his 100^th batter of the season in the fifth inning to become just the fourth player in Delaware baseball history to reach the 100 strikeouts milestone, but the Blue Hens fell 5-4 after a comeback effort fell short.

"Walter battled all night long and we're thrilled for him to reach that milestone," said head coach Jim Sherman. "Unfortunately, we just didn't do enough of the little things to win the game, but we get to turn around and do it again tomorrow."

Delaware (20-29, 8-11 CAA) jumped out to the early lead when leadoff man senior Kevin Mohollen jumped all over a 3-2 fastball and sent it over the left center field wall to put the Blue Hens up 1-0.

Walter would face the minimum through the first three innings as the Pride put two runners on, but both were erased on caught stealings. Hofstra (16-28-1, 8-11 CAA) would finally get to the Delaware starting, putting up a four-spot in the fourth inning to jump out to the 4-1 lead.

The southpaw would bounce right back, retiring the next five Hofstra batters in route to a quality start of 7.0 innings with six strikeouts and allowing five hits for all five of Hofstra's runs.

The difference would come in the seventh when the Pride got a two-out RBI double, but a nice relay from sophomore Jordan Hutchins to junior Vinny Vaccone to freshman Zach Lesher retired the runner at third to end the threat.

That would give the Blue Hens momentum in the bottom of the inning when junior Jack Goan would open the inning with a base hit and sophomore Zack Miller would double him home to left center.

Back-to-back free passes loaded the bases for Delaware and a hit by pitch would plate another run before Hutchins made it a one-run game with a sacrifice fly.

Junior Derek Wakeley worked back-to-back big innings out of the bullpen for the Blue Hens, working out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth and stranding two runners in the ninth to keep the game in reach.

Lesher opened the bottom of the last with a double down the left field line, but was retired at third on an attempted sacrifice bunt and the Blue Hens could not find a way to tie the game.

Lesher was 2-for-2 on the night, reaching base in all four trips to the plate with a pair of walks and Goan also put together a multi-hit night with a 2-for-4 performance.

Just five games remain on the docket in the regular season as the Blue Hens are now a game back of the playoff picture. The Hofstra series concludes with a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. before Charleston makes the trip north to Bob Hannah Stadium for the final series, May 16-18.