BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - There has to be some encouragement taken by the Hartford baseball team on Saturday as the Hawks got two excellent pitching performances against one of the more potent offenses in the America East. Hartford allowed just four combined runs in a doubleheader at Binghamton, but could not get clutch hits when they needed them as they fell in both games, 3-2 and 1-0. Both games, which were set to go seven innings, were decided in the ninth.

Freshman Hunter Englehart pitched the best game of his young career, going 7.0 innings in Game Two, allowing just four hits and no runs while striking out two. Alex Gouin gave up two runs in 4.1 innings during his start in Game One. Relievers Brian Rice and Vincent Fiore took the losses, although both pitched well.

Early on, observers would not have guessed that Hartford would have such difficulty getting key hits. Victor Santana led off Game One with a double to left, and Brian Hunter put runners on the corners with his hard line drive single. Matt Walker then ripped the first of two doubles for him in the game down the left field line, plating Santana with Hartford's first run. Ryan Lukach followed with a sacrifice fly to bring Hunter home.

Little did the Hawks know that those two runs would be their only tallies of the doubleheader.

Binghamton came back with runs in the second and fourth to tie the score. Gouin worked out of further trouble in both innings, but when he walked back-to-back batters with one out in the fifth, head coach Jeff Calcaterra went to the bullpen for Rice.

The move proved effective, as Rice worked out of the jam and kept the Bearcats off the scoreboard for the next three frames. A runner reached second base in each inning, but the sophomore continued to work his way out of trouble.

In the ninth, Rice's luck ran out as Binghamton ripped consecutive doubles with two outs to plate their third run and claim the first game. Hartford, which had mounted a threat in the sixth when Walker's second double put runners at second and third with one out, could not manage a baserunner in any other inning after the second.

Those struggles would continue in Game Two. The Hawks would put a runner aboard in each of the first three innings, with all three of Hartford's hits in the game coming in the second inning. Consecutive singles from Lukach, Chris Suchy and Jason Freethey loaded the bases in that frame, but Brendan Behm grounded into a 1-2-3 double play to get the first two outs of the inning, and Mark Sorbara popped up foul to end the threat.

Englehart did not allow the Bearcats to do much more, allowing just four hits over seven innings. The freshman allowed just one walk to Binghamton's top hitter, Dave Ciocchi, and retired the dangerous Corey Taylor all three times he faced him.

Fiore came on for Englehart in the eighth, retiring the Bearcats in order. In the ninth, however, Binghamton got a one-out double from Peter Bregartner, and Jeff Skelhorne-Gross brought him home with a single to right field. The Bearcats had their second win of the day despite scoring just four runs.

Hartford and Binghamton will play another doubleheader on Sunday. First pitch from Varsity Field on the campus of the University of Binghamton is set for noon.