West Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford baseball team used a grandslam from Bobby Gorski in the eighth inning against Sacred Heart to guarantee its second-straight victory 8-4. The Pioneers rallied for an extra innings win in nine innings in the nightcap, 3-7. Hartford stands at 3-13 on the season.
In the opening game, the Pioneers put the first notch on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning, making a leadoff walk from Hawks starter Cory Beahm pay. Mike Drowne led off the game working the walk, after being behind 0-2 in the count. Drowne stole second before being driven home on a single to center from Tyler Santos. Santos was then driven home two batters later when Mike Olszyk hit a single to center in his first at bat.
Hartford answered back with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, both coming off the bat of Mike Amendola who sent his first home run of the season, a two run blast, over the left field fence scoring Jason Freethey who walked to lead off the game. The Pioneers had runners on second and third with one out but in the second inning but were unable to convert.
Sacred Heart broke the stalemate in the third with two runs, after again working runners at second and third with one out. Frank Bainer provided the RBI to score the first run, on a sacrifice fly. On the next at bat, Phil Tantillo singled to left, which allowed Mike Olszyk to score, who reached on a double. Following Tantillo's hit, Brendan Floyd came on to relieve Beahm and end the inning on a fly ball.
Pioneers starter Chris Barthel retired 15-of-16 batters following the home run from Amendola. He then gave up two infield singles in the bottom of the sixth, but worked out of trouble striking out two batters looking, Amendola and Ben Sobocinski. Floyd, despite getting into trouble in the sixth and seventh, held the Pioneers scoreless going into the bottom of the seventh.
Hartford had runners at second and third with one out in the seventh before Barthel struck out Andrew Siano, putting the Hawks on the line. Pinch hitter Matt Walker sent a high fly ball to shallow center field, which shortstop Tantillo lost control of, allowing Rodger Wilmot and Gorski who pinch hit and walked to start the inning.
After allowing a one-out single in the eighth inning, Pioneers starter Barthel was pulled for first baseman Olszyk, who was making his fifth appearance in relief. Olszyk then gave up singles to Sobocinski and Wilmot to load the bases. After a failed squeeze attempt during Gorski's at bat, the sophomore sent his second home run of the season over the left field fence for the first grand slam of his collegiate career. Gorski has provided the game-winning RBI's for two-straight games, both in extra innings.
In the nightcap, the Hawks struck first, scoring a single run in the bottom of the first. Kudernatsch began the offense with a one-out triple to left field. He scored on the next at bat, a single through the left side from Amendola. Hartford wouldn't hold the lead for long as Tantillo took the third pitch he saw over the left field fence for his first home run of the season.
Freethey gave Hartford its lead back in the bottom of the third with a leadoff home run to left field off Pioneers starter Jared Balbach. The Pioneers had the bases loaded with one out in the fifth, following two walks and a single to left field. Hawks starter Sobocinski worked his way out of the situation, forcing an infield fielder's choice groundout on the force out at home and then struck out Ryan Lynch looking to end the inning.
The Pioneers tied the game in the sixth on a leadoff home run from Robert Griffith. The Hawks had a one out single from Siano to lead off the bottom of the seventh, but Siano was caught off the bag at first on a line drive to right field from Freethey. Sacred Heart then scored the game-winning run on the third home run for the Pioneers in the game, this time from the designated hitter, Olszyk.
Amendola scored the fifth home run of the game, in six total runs, in the bottom of the eighth, sending his second of the day over the left center field fence with one out. After manufacturing the game-winning run in the top of the ninth, the Pioneers added three more to take a 7-3 advantage. MJ Shifano opened the inning with a single to center and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a walk put runners at first and second, reliever Bob Rogers forced a fielder's choice ground out, which put Shifano on third. Shifano scored the game-winning run on the next at bat, a single to left from Tyler Santos. Santos and Lynch then became two of three insurance runs as Jeff Heppner sent the Pioneers fourth home run of the game to left field.
The Hawks are scheduled to close out the weekend at in-state rival Quinnipiac on Sunday at 12:00 pm.
