BOX SCORE

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. - The search for the first win of the season for the Hartford baseball team will have to wait a little longer. The Hawks built leads of 2-0 and 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon at Central Connecticut, but the Blue Devils got a ninth-inning run to tie the score and the teams finished tied, 3-3, as darkness descended on the Balf Savin Baseball Field late in the afternoon.

Freshman catcher James Alfonso had two hits and drove in a run for the Hawks. Freshman Ryan Lukach started on the mound, giving up two hits and one earned run in his first career start.

Hartford (0-4-1) got on the board first, plating two runs in the third inning. Freshman Alex Gouin led off with a single back through the middle, then took second on a sacrifice bunt by freshman Mark Sorbara. After a groundout pushed Gouin to third, junior Simon Kudernatsch put the Hawks up 1-0 with his single to left field. Kudernatsch promptly stole second and scored when junior Victor Santana laced a single up the middle. Santana would advance around to third on Alfonso's first hit of the game, but the inning ended a batter later and the runners were stranded.

The Blue Devils (0-2-1) answered with single runs in the fourth and fifth, and the score remained knotted at two until the eighth inning.

In the eighth, Kudernatsch got things started with a leadoff walk. Another sacrifice bunt, this one by Santana, pushed the shortstop into scoring position, and Alfonso followed by converting the opportunity. His single to center field sent Kudernatsch around to score, giving the Hawks a 3-2 lead.

After a scoreless bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth, the Hawks sent senior Vincent Fiore to the mound to close things out. Fiore started the inning off with a base-on-balls, but appeared poised to close things down when he got a sac bunt for the first out and a ground out for the second. Then, with Tyler Caserta at the plate, Fiore induced what appeared to be a game-ending grounder to Kudernatsch, but the junior mishandled the ball and everyone was safe. The Blue Devils had tied the game, and nearly won it when Fiore's wild pitch a batter later sent Caserta from second to third. Caserta tried to score, but was thrown out at the plate by Alfonso, with Fiore applying the tag.

With the drama of the ninth inning behind them, the Hawks regrouped in the extra frames. They put men on base in both innings, and although Brian Rice and Andrew Mannello allowed the Blue Devils to do the same, they did not break as Central could not push a run across. In the eleventh, freshman Brian Hunter drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a passed ball and moved around to third when senior Rodger Wilmot beat out an infield single. That was as far as he would get, however, as Matt Walker grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

The game Wednesday was supposed to be the home opener for the Hawks, but had to be moved to Central due to unplayable conditions at Fiondella Field. That leaves the Hawks on the road until March 23, when they will host Massachusetts. In the meantime, Hartford will now embark on an eight-game road swing through the Mid-Atlantic over the student athletes' spring break. Hartford will visit Radford for three games, Virginia Tech for two and Delaware State for three more before returning home to welcome in the Minutemen.