Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - Andrew Siano hit a three-run triple in the tenth inning of the first game of Hartford baseball's doubleheader with Yale, giving the Hawks a walkoff 8-7 victory. The Bulldogs rebounded for a 12-7 victory in Game Two. In the first game, Mike Thatcher earned the victory with three innings of relief. Matt Smith took the loss for Yale. Steve Sobocinski started and took the loss in Game Two, while Pat Ludwig was Yale's victor.

Hartford held a lead for much of the first game. Matt Walker doubled in the second inning, moving to third on a balk by Yale starter Christopher O'Hare. Rodger Wilmot drove him in with a grounder to shortstop. 

In the third, Siano led off by being hit by a pitch. Simon Kudernatsch followed with a perfectly-placed bunt single, and Mike Amendola stroked a sharply-hit ball to third. It was a tough play for Yale's Andy Megee, and even a perfect throw would not have beaten Amendola to first. But Megee's throw sailed wide, allowing Siano to scamper home and Kudernatsch to move up to third. As Amendola was thrown out trying to steal second, Kudernatsch took the opportunity to speed home, giving the Hawks a 3-0 lead.

Starting pitcher Chris Greiner would make that lead hold up into the sixth inning of the game that was originally scheduled to go just seven innings. In the sixth, though, Yale got on the scoreboard thanks to a Zach Tobolowsky two-run homer. With two outs in the seventh inning, Trey Rallis touched Greiner for an RBI single up the middle, tying the score and sending the game to extra innings.

Relieving Greiner, Mike Thatcher shut the Bulldogs down in the eighth and ninth innings. The tenth, however, saw power-hitting first baseman Trygg Larsson-Danforth single and Ryan Brenner walk ahead of left fielder Andrew Moore. Moore cashed in both runners launching a three-run homer high off the netting in left center field. Cam Squires would add an RBI triple before the inning ended, leaving Yale in front, 7-3.

As has been the case several times already this season, Hartford did not go quietly. Andy Drexel led off the bottom of the tenth with a double, and after Mark Sargente pinch ran for him, pinch hitter Jared Canney laced  a single down the right field line to plate the first Hawk run of the inning. Wilmot then walked, prompting Yale to bring in Matt Smith to relieve Greg Lyons on the mound. Smith fared no better, as he walked pinch hitter Mike Aldrich to load the bases and did the same to Victor Santana, forcing in the second run of the inning.

After a pop out, up stepped the Hawks' leadoff hitter, Siano. The sophomore had gone hitless since a leadoff single in the first inning, but he came through when it mattered most. Siano found a pitch he liked and launched a drive over the head of the center fielder. With a lot of speed on the bases, the relay throw from the outfield was not even close as Santana scored the winning run, sending the Hartford bench out onto the field in celebration of an 8-7 come-from-behind win.

The teams were back on the field just thirty minutes later. Yale got on the board first with two in the first inning, but again, Hartford battled back. Naturally, Siano was right in the middle of things as his single in the third inning led to a two-run rally that tied the game. Kudernatsch ripped a triple that plated the first Hartford run, and the speedy shortstop scored on a passed ball to knot the score at two.

The Hawks took a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning. Siano smoked a one-out double to center field, moving up ninety feet on Kudernatsch's sharply hit single. Amendola scored Siano with a single poked through the left side, and after a groundout, Bobby Gorski sliced a single to right which scored both Kudernatsch and Amendola.

After five strong innings, Steve Sobocinski ceded a one-out walk, a single, and saw a ball squirt through the infield on a run-scoring error before Ryan Brenner ended Sobocinski's day with an RBI single. Moore then greeted reliever Bob Rogers with his second three-run homer of the day. Two of the runs were charged to Sobocinski.

Hartford responded with a run in the bottom of the sixth, but the Bulldogs then added five more insurance runs in the top of the seventh, sealing the victory.

The two teams will square off for another doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for noon at Fiondella Field.