Vestal, NY ? The University of Hartford baseball team was swept in two games against the Binghamton Bearcats in the America East opening series for both teams on Sunday afternoon. The Hawks fall to 4-15 on the season and are 0-2 in conference play.
The Bearcats picked up a 5-4 victory in the first game, scoring all five runs in the fifth inning of the seven inning game. The Hawks put their four runs on the board first with a single run in the second and three more in the third.
The first run came by way of a throwing error, which allowed Ben Sobocinski to reach base as the leadoff batter in the second. He advanced to second on a hit and then stole third, scoring on an infield RBI single from Jason Freethey. Sobocinski provided the muscle for the Hawks second run as Simon Kudernatsch scored on his double to center field. Sobocinski and Mike Amendola were then the third and fourth runs for Hartford, scoring on a single to center from Bobby Gorski.
After walking in the first Binghamton run, Sobocinski was pulled from his first conference start for Bob Rogers who closed out the game. With the bases loaded, Corey Taylor sent two runs across the plate on a double to right field. Taylor then became the game winning run, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Joe Charron.
Rogers suffered his third loss of the season, giving up just one run, which turned out to be the deciding run. He allowed two hits and struck out one batter. Sobocinski, who made his fifth start of the season, lasted 4.1 innings and allowed four earned runs on four hits with three walks and a strikeout. Murphy Smith picked up the first game win for Binghamton. He pitched the complete game allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits, while striking out 10 batters.
In the second game, Hawks starter Weston Szymanski gave up six earned runs on nine hits and two walks in 3.1 innings, a lead the Hawks would never recover from. The Bearcats had a quality start from James Guilietti who allowed only four hits in six innings of work and earning his second victory of the season. Three pitchers came out of the bullpen for the Bearcats, while the hawks used four relief pitchers. Brendan Floyd was credited with the final seven runs from Binghamton.
Binghamton scored four runs in the third and two more in the fourth, but put the game out of reach with a seven run fifth inning. The Hawks were led in the game by Matt Walker who finished 2-for-4 at the plate. His two hits were part of just five total hits for Hartford. The Bearcats finished with 21 total hits in the game, led by Taylor who finished 4-for-6 with four RBI and three runs scored.
Hartford and Binghamton were scheduled to make up Saturday's rain cancelled game on Monday, but due to an impending storm the final two games of the series have been cancelled. The Hawks will play a single mid-week game on Wednesday, welcoming Holy Cross to the Hartford Baseball Field for a 3:00 p.m. start.
