West Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford baseball team dropped a mid-week game to in-state rival Connecticut, 5-3, on Tuesday afternoon at the Hartford Baseball Field. The Hawks drop to 8-20 on the season, while the Huskies are now 16-18 overall.
Hartford's Bob Rogers picked up a loss in his first decision of the season, allowing the go ahead run in the sixth inning. Rogers allowed a lead off double to Pat Mahoney. Mahoney then moved to second on an infield groundout to the right side, before scoring on wild pitch. The Hawks used seven total pitchers, with Chris Greiner starting the game and going three complete innings. Greiner allowed a single run in the first inning and a pair of runs in the third inning, but finished with just two earned runs. Hartford pitching was unsuccessful in recording a strikeout on the afternoon.
Connecticut starter Erik Turgeon also went three innings and allowed only one hit. He finished the game with five strikeouts, while facing just nine batters. John Folino came in relief of Turgeon in the fourth inning and allowed the only Hartford runs. The Hawks first three batters reached safely with a lead off walk (Brady Stouffer) and back-to-back singles for Adam Bowser and Ben Sobocinski. All three would score the Hawks only runs, with Ryan Crowley and Erik Price recording the Hawks RBI. Stouffer scored on a botched pick off attempt at second base.
Doug Jennings, a rookie right hander, pitched two innings of relief for the Huskies and picked up his first collegiate win, now 1-1 overall. Jennings allowed three hits and finished with a strikeout. Matt Karl pitched the ninth inning for Connecticut and came away with his fifth save. Two other pitchers saw time for the Huskies, including David Erickson who struck out three of the four batters he faced.
The Hawks finished the game with eight hits, with Sobocinski leading the team in that category (two), the only player with multiple hits. Also recording hits for Hartford was Stouffer, Bowser, Bill Perry, Crowley, Price and Chris Hebert. Peter Fatse led Connecticut with two hits in three at bats, while recording an RBI and scoring two runs. Dennis Donovan also finished the game with two RBI.
The Hawks will be back in action this weekend, when they travel to Vermont for a four-game conference series with the Catamounts. The series is set to begin on Friday at 3:00 p.m.
