ALBANY, N.Y. – The University of Hartford fell in a pair of games to league foe Albany on Saturday afternoon on Albany Field. The Great Danes took the opening game of the doubleheader by a 7-0 final and went on to defeat the Hawks in five innings with a score of 8-0 in the nightcap.

Hartford falls to 0-5 in America East play with an overall record of 3-16 while Albany, which allowed just two hits over 12 innings, improves to 8-16 on the season.

Albany jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and went on to add six more, a pair in the fourth and four in the fifth, to earn the 7-0 win in Game One. Brittany Schweiger went the distance to garner the victory inside of the circle allowing just one hit and fanning 10 batters. Siera Sheehan, a junior, allowed seven earned runs in six innings. She finished with one strikeout.

Down just one run in its second go-around at the plate, Hartford saw a chance at putting the equalizer up on the scoreboard. Third baseman Nicole Springer fired a double through the left side to open the at-bats, and reached second on an infield groundout by rookie Chelsey Mooney. Melani Maxwell, a sophomore, filled the vacant spot at first by working a walk off of Schweiger however the Hawks could not advance a runner past second as the Albany hurler struck out back-to-back batters to get out of the jam.

In Game Two, Brittany MacFawn hurled a one hitter inside of the circle for Albany and allowed just three base runners, to earn the win. Rookie Kaitlyn Meade earned the start for Hartford, allowing eight runs – seven earned – on 13 hits while striking out one batter.

For the Hawks, first baseman Mooney connected for the only hit of the outing when she laced one down the middle of the infield with two down in the top of the fifth.

After Walraven singled in the bottom of the fourth with one out, the Great Danes broke the scoreless deadlock when Gina Mason, with two batters retired, knocked a long ball over the outfield wall to take the 2-0 advantage. Albany went on to plate one more run as Apostolina  reached base on a single and covered the base paths when Melissa Hemdon connected for a double to left field. Meade got out of the jam without any more damage when she forced Jessica  Bergin into a line out to second baseman Amber Andrews.

Albany pushed its lead to 8-0 in the bottom of the fifth using four hits and cashing in on one Hartford miscue to add five more runs on the scoreboard.

Hartford and Albany wrap up the three-game series on Sunday, April 3. First pitch is slated to be thrown at 12 noon.