West Hartford, CT - The University of Hartford baseball team dropped a 6-4 decision to the University of Massachusetts Minutemen, the second-straight home loss for the Hawks. Hartford falls to 1-12 overall, while UMass improves to 6-9. Bob Rogers suffered the loss for Hartford in his first decision of the season.
The Minutemen put the first five runs on the board with single runs in the first and fourth and then three more in the fifth inning. Two first inning throwing errors on the Hawks catcher and pitcher proved costly, allowing a one-out walk from Matt Gedman to score off a single to center from Brian Baudinet two batters later.
The fourth inning run was unearned as another error allowed a lead off infield single to score during a double play three batters later. In the fifth, the Minutemen finished one batter short of batting the whole order. Rogers, the Hawks starting pitcher, struck out Adam Tempesta to start the inning before giving up back-to-back doubles to Baudinet and Mike Donato. Donato's knocked in the first run and he would then score on a double from Peter Copa with two outs. Rogers then walked the next batter and was pulled for Matt Govoni who allowed a single to right from the his first batter he faced, Kyle Multner, which scored the third run of the inning.
The Hawks offense led to two runs in the fifth, both coming with two outs. Drew Sgro and Cory Beahm began the offense with singles. Then with two outs, Ben Sobocinski loaded the bases by beating out an infield hit to short stop. The first run came as Mike Amendola was hit by a pitch, while Minutemen starter Garrett Butt walked Andy Drexel forcing in the second run. Jim Cassidy came out of the bullpen to finish out the inning for UMass.
Tempesta took one run back in the sixth inning when he sent a ball over the left field fence for his third home run of the season.
Hartford battled for single runs in the seventh and eighth. The run in the seventh proved to be an unearned run after Sobocinski was knocked in by a double from Drexel. Sobocinksi was only in scoring position because of a passed ball. In the eighth, a lead off walk from Simon Kudernatsch proved costly. Kudernatsch rounded the bases on a single from Rodger Wilmot and a walk to Jon Ricco, which loaded the bases. He was then able to score on an infield groundout during Beahm's at bat.
UMass closer, Gedman, cam in to pitch from short stop and shut the Hawks down in the ninth. He faced four batters, with one reaching on an error. Gedman earned his third save of the season, while Butt earned his first win as a starter.
The Hawks welcome two in-state rivals, Central Connecticut and Sacred Heart, to the Hartford Baseball Field this weekend. Central Connecticut will make the short trip to West Hartford on Friday at 3:00 p.m. and the Pioneers will come up I-91 on Saturday for a 12:00 p.m. double header.
