Kingston, RI - The University of Hartford baseball team dropped the second of its mid-week games 5-3 to the Rhode Island Rams on Wednesday afternoon in Kingston, RI. Hartford's CJ Browne suffers his second loss of the season as the Hawks fall to 12-17 overall. Hartford returns to action on Saturday and Sunday with a three game series at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Hartford put the first notch in the scoreboard in the top of the first, making a leadoff double for Adam Bowser payoff. Bowser's double was his eighth of the season. He would take third on an infield ground out the on the second batter and scored on the third, a double to left center from Bill Perry.
The Rams evened the score in their half of the first inning, also making a leadoff hit count, this time it was the Hawks starting pitched, Marc Toomey, giving up a home run to the lead batter, Pete Mastors. Hartford would hit a lead off hit to start the second inning, but the Rams defense held the Hawks without another run until the fourth.
Hartford took a one-run lead with its single run in the fourth inning, all stemming from a leadoff walk to Brady Stouffer. Stouffer took second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a well placed sacrifice to center field. He then scored on a second sacrifice, this time to right field with Jason Freethey scoring the RBI.
The Rams then took their first lead of the game with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. After forcing the leadoff batter into a fly ball, Toomey gave up back-to-back hits, both of which would lead to runs. The first was a single from Mastors, followed by a double to center for Oliver Palmer, putting runners at second and third. Mastors would score on an infield groundout, with Shaun Hagey earning the RBI, while Zach Zaneski picked up Palmer's run, a run that would be unearned.
Hartford evened the score with a single run in the top of the seventh. The Hawks started the inning with Drew Sgro reaching on an error and advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt from Rodger Wilmot. Sgro took third on a wild pitch and scored on a single up the middle with two outs form Simon Kudernatsch.
The Rams regained the lead with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, the final two runs of the game. Hawks relief pitcher, Browne, allowed the first three batters to reach base, two on hits, one on a walk. Palmer led off the inning with a single to left field, but the Hawks picked him off the base paths on a steal attempt. Hagey then reached on a wwalk and then scored on the next batter, a double to center from Zabeski. Zaneski would then score on a single from Dan Rhault with two outs.
Toomey pitced the first four and two-third innings allowing three runs, two of them earned. He gave up six hits and walked four batters, while working two strikeouts. Browne allowed three hits and two earned runs on his three and one-third innings of work. He struck out two batters and walked one. At the plate, six different Hawks recorded hits, while Kudernatsch, Perry and Freethey all had RBI's.
