Burlington, VT - The University of Hartford baseball team dropped an America East double header at Vermont on Saturday. Pete Moraski pitched four perfect innings of baseball allowing just two walks and one hit but came up short with a 1-0 loss in the opening game, before the Vatamounts took home a 3-2 decision in the night cap. Hartford and Vermont will finish the four-game series with a single game on Sunday beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Moraski's only hit allowed cam in the sixth inning, and proved to be costly as it scored the only run of the game. Moraski led off the inning with a walk to Nick Gallipani. He advanced to second on a perfectly played sacrifice bunt from Brad Currier and reached third on a flight to right from Will Huntington. The hit came from lefty Bryan Rembisz, who had a great jump out of the box to beat out the Hawks throw from short stop, scoring the only RBI of the game.
Hartford finished the first game with three this, including one to lead off the seventh inning, but the Catamounts sniffed out the Hawks sacrifice attempt on the next at bat taking out the lead runner. Hartford was only able to get a runner on second once in the game and that came in the seventh on balk, but back-to-back strike outs for Rembisz closed out the contest and put the first game in the books. Rembisz finished the first game with seven strikeouts.
In the second game, the Hawks took an early lead with two runs in the first inning. Brady Stouffer led off the game with a single to right field, the first of four Hawks to reach safely in the inning on three hits. The first run came on a double down the left field line for Ben Sobocinski, scoring Greg Cinelli. Bill Perry then scored Sobocinski from second on the next at bat with a single to center field.
The Hawks threatened in the second inning with a lead off single to center from Chris Hebert. Despite Hebert's stolen base to take third, the Hawks were unsuccessful in scoring him. The Catamounts then began to chip into the lead with a single run in the third inning. Gallipani led off the inning with a strike out before, Nate Matusik reached on a single to short, advancing to second on a throwing error on the same play. He then scored when Huntington sent a single to left field on the next at bat.
The Catamounts then put two runs on the board in the fifth with a double down the left field line from Gallipani and a single to third from Matusik. Huntington then scored the first RBI of the inning on a sacrifice bunt before Rembisz sent a ball down the right field line for the day's only triple, scoring Matusik on the play. The Hawks threatened after Stouffer reached on a single to left in the seventh and then stole second, but Kyle Henry struck out Cinelli to secure the second victory.
Kyle Perry started the second game for Hartford and went four and a third innings allowing all three runs (two earned) on five hits. He also struck out two batters. Adam Flaherty came in relief in the fifth inning and allowed two hits but no runs.
Hartford and Vermont will complete the four-game series with a single nine-inning game on Sunday at Centennial Field in Burlington, VT at 12:00 p.m. Fans can follow the action line on line using livestats from HartfordHawks.com.
