Baltimore, MD - The University of Hartford baseball team had its biggest output of the season as they completed a four-game sweep of the UMBC Retrievers in both teams opening weekend of conference play. The Hawks improve to 7-16 overall and 4-0 in conference action, while the Retrievers are now 8-17 overall and 0-4 in America East action.
Chris Greiner picked up his first win of the season (1-4), going six and a third innings allowing just three hits, facing a total of 23 batters. He finished allowing just one run and struck out two batters, while walking one. Zach Stefka, Adam Flaherty and Marc Toomey all saw time in relief. Flaherty was charged with allowing the second UMBC run, while allowing two hits in an inning of action.
The Hawk bats were led by Bill Perry and David Grossman, who both finished with four RBI. Ryan Crowley added three RBI's, while Ben Sobocinski added a pair, with three other players each recording one. Eight different Hawks finished with a multi-hit outing, while each of the nine positions in the line-up had at least one hit. Erik Price finished with four hits to lead all players, while Sobocinski, Crowley and Grossman all added three hits.
The Hawks opened up their lead early with a single run in the second and four in the third, before a seven run seventh led to a lead the Retrievers would not be able to overcome. The Hawks first run of the game came by virtue of a lead off walk to Perry, who came around to score on a sacrifice fly to right field from Grossman for his first of four RBI. The second run of the game also came by virtue of a lead off walk, this time to Chris Hebert. His run was the first of four runs in the third inning.
Hartford would score at least one run in each of the next four innings, with the seventh inning the key to put the game in the win column with seven runs. Hartford opened the inning with three straight hits, a double and two singles, before the Retrievers worked the next two batters to fly outs. Hartford would then smack five-straight hits to end the inning, including a pair of two-run doubles from Perry and Grossman.
The Hawks will be back in action with five scheduled home contests, beginning with a mid-week match-up against Holy Cross at the Hartford Baseball Field on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. The Hawks will then welcome in Stony Brook for a four-game series beginning on Friday.
