GAME ONE BOX SCORE
GAME TWO BOX SCORE

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Offense was at a premium for the Hartford baseball team on Saturday when it lost both ends of a doubleheader to Yale, 4-0 and 14-0. In the first game of Sunday's twin bill at Yale, the Hawks had no trouble putting up crooked numbers, but ultimately could not hang on as the Bulldogs came back for a 15-14, 11-inning victory. The second game also went to Yale, this time by a 17-1 count in seven innings.

Hartford held a 12-5 lead after four innings, but Yale scored seven runs in the fifth off starter Alex Gouin and Brian Rice to even things up. Vincent Fiore took the loss for Hartford in the first game despite pitching well in relief, allowing just five hits and one earned run over 4.2 innings of work.

Tyler Corsi started and was tagged with the loss in Game Two.

Junior Simon Kudernatsch, who had gotten off to a slow start in 2011 after returning from a season-ending broken hand last year, broke out in a big way in the first game, going 4-for-5 with five RBIs and three runs scored. He finished a triple shy of the cycle. Freshmen Mark Sorbara and James Alfonso slammed back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning, the first collegiate homers for each of them.

The Hawks broke out on top quickly, scoring four times in the first inning. Leading off, freshman Ryan Lukach singled to center. The next two batters, Sorbara and Alfonso, were each hit by pitches to load the bases.

After a strikeout, senior Matt Walker hit a grounder to second base which plated Lukach. Yale second baseman Gant Elmore tried to start a double play, but threw the ball away trying to get Alfonso at second, so everyone was safe. Kudernatsch followed with another grounder to Elmore, who this time got Walker at second. Kudernatsch beat the relay throw to first, though, scoring Sorbara. Chris Suchy then singled home Alfonso, and Jason Freethey's line drive single to center scored Kudernatsch.

In the third, Hartford extended its lead when freshman Brian Hunter led off with a single and came around to score on Kudernatsch's double to deep left field. That drove Yale starter Eric Shultz from the game, and reliever Greg Lyons promptly walked Freethey, Brian Estevez and Lukach to drive home another run.

Yale would not back down, scoring five times in the bottom of the third inning to pull back within a run. But in the top of the fourth, the Hawks had an answer.

The inning started innocently, with Alfonso drawing a walk and Hunter laying down a sacrifice bunt to push him up to second base. Then, the hit barrage started, as the next six Hartford batters reached safely. Walker singled, followed by a three-run blast to right by Kudernatsch. Pinch hitter Rodger Wilmot followed with a double to right, and promptly scored when Freethey laced a double to deep center. Estevez ripped a single to right too hard for Freethey to come around and score, but Lukach took care of that when his single brought not only Freethey home, but allowed Estevez to come around and score the sixth run of the inning. Will Stratton, the fourth Yale pitcher of the game and third of the inning, finally retired the next two Hartford batters to end the damage.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, they could not hold the lead, as three errors contributed to a seven-run fifth inning for the Bulldogs. With the score tied, Hartford bounced back with Sorbara and Alfonso's back-to-back homers in the sixth, but Andrew Moore fired back with a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth.

Neither team could push another run across for the next four innings of what was originally scheduled to be a seven-inning contest. Fiore, who entered in the seventh inning, worked his way out of trouble in the seventh and kept the Bulldogs at bay after that, only allowing run runner past first base after the seventh inning.

In the eleventh, though, Yale took advantage of another Hartford error to score the game-winning run. Andy Megee led off with a single to left field. Cam Squires put down a sacrifice bunt trying to push him to second, but Megee wound up on third when Fiore misfired his throw off the bunt play. Matt Schmidt then lofted a fly ball to center field, deep enough to score Megee from home.

Yale jumped out early in the second game, now a seven-inning contest after the first game went to extra innings. The Bulldogs scored once in the first on Josh Scharff's home run, then added three in the second and another run in the third. Meanwhile, the Hawks managed just three hits off Yale starter Brook Hart over the first five innings, getting just two runners to second base.

Yale broke the game open in the sixth inning, scoring 12 times off three different Hartford pitchers. Cale Hanson topped the inning off with a two-out, three-run home run to push the Bulldogs' lead to 17-0.

Hartford got a run back in the seventh when Walker doubled and Wilmot tripled, but the damage had been done and the Hawks fell, 17-1.

The Hawks will return to action on Tuesday afternoon when they host local rival Connecticut at Fiondella Field. The Hawks and Huskies will play a single game, scheduled to get underway at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 860-768-HAWK or by visiting the Malcolm and Brenda Berman Athletics Box Office at the Reich Family Pavilion.