West Hartford, CT ? The University of Hartford baseball team dropped a 12-1 home decision to the Rhode Island Rams on Wednesday afternoon at the Hartford Baseball Field. The game was the sixth in four days for Hartford, who falls to 6-20 on the season.
Freshman Myles Kelly suffered the first loss of his collegiate career. He started and pitched the first four innings allowing five runs, four of the earned, on seven hits. He also gave up four walks and struck out three batters. The Hawks used six total pitchers.
At the plate, Matt Walker recorded the only Hartford RBI, knocking in Ben Sobocinski. The Hawks finished with five total hits, all coming from different players. The Rams had 14 total hits in the game and were led by Dan Rhault, who finished 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI. Also adding three RBI was Tom Coulombe.
The Rams first run came in the first inning, as Pete Mastors walked to reach base as the leadoff batter. He took second on a single to left from Rhault and a double steal led to a throwing error on the catcher, which allowed Mastors to score.
Rhode Island added to padded its lead with three runs in the second on five hits, all singles. Jeff Cammans led off the inning with a bunt single to third base and took second on a one-out single to right from Milan Adams. Both advanced on the third hit of the game from Mastors, to left center. Oliver Palmer picked up the first RBI on his single through the left side, which scored Cammans. The third-straight hit for URI, from Dan Rhault, scored Milan Adams for the second run of the inning, while the third scored on a wild pitch.
The Hawks put their first run on the board in the second inning, making a one-out double to left center from Sobocinski pay off as Walker's single to center field allowed him to score with two outs.
A single run in the fourth was made possible on a throwing error at shortstop for Hartford, allowing Palmer to reach base, he was the first batter of the inning. That same error allowed him to reach second and he took third on a fly ball to center. Coulombe then recorded his first RBI of the game, scoring pinch runner Sam VandenHeuvel on an infield groundout.
The Rams added five insurance runs in the fifth inning and a single run in the seventh off one-swing of the bat, a home run to left field for Coulombe, taking an 11-1 lead. Rhault had the big hit in the fifth, knocking in two runs on a double to left. VandenHeuvel, Coulombe and Adam Derner all had RBI's for URI in the fifth. The Rams also added one more run in the eighth, which began with a double to left from Zoey Angulo. He scored three batters later on a routine groundout for Mastors, after taking third on a walk.
Hartford returns to action this weekend when they welcome the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders for a three game series. The Hawks and Highlanders will play a doubleheader on Saturday, beginning at 12:00 p.m., and a single game on Sunday, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
