GAME 1 BOX SCORE
GAME 2 BOX SCORE
Albany, N.Y. - The University of Hartford baseball team dropped a pair of games to Albany in the first day of a two-day series with the Great Danes on Saturday afternoon. The Great Danes worked a 6-0 shutout in the first game, while they managed a walk-off home run to win the nightcap. The Hawks and Great Danes will play the final game of the series on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
In the opener, the Great Danes (9-15, 2-0 America East) needed just eight hits to rack up six runs, while the Hawks (2-22-1, 0-2 America East) were unable to muster any runs with five total hits. The Great Danes struck early as they took advantage on a Hartford error on the first batter in the bottom half of the inning. Junior Nolan Gaige found himself as the first runner of the game and eventually the first run of the game as he came around to score on a single up the middle from teammate Brian Bullard.
That run would prove to be the only one needed for the Great Danes despite them adding single runs in the fourth and fifth and putting the game out of reach with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, leaving the Hawks just three outs to try and match the six run deficit.
The Great Danes second run of the game came on a solo shot to right field for senior Kyle Crean. The single run in the fifth inning was again thanks to a Hawks error, this time with sophomore Jeff Welsh reaching on the miscue. Welsh would steal second before scoring from 180 feet away on a single up the middle from Peter DiResta.
The three insurance runs for Albany in the bottom half of the sixth came on a pair of extra base blasts for Rob Cervini and Gaige. Cervini smacked a double to center field, which scored Josh Netheway, who reached on a single up the middle. Gaige and Ralph Rizzo, who reached base on a walk, were forced in on a triple from Gaige.
The Hawks five hits all came from different players, with junior Simon Kudernatsch smacking the only extra base hit for the visitors. Kudernatsch sent his fifth double of the season into center field with two outs in the top of the sixth inning and was left stranded. Joining Kudernatsch in the hits column was Matt Walker, Ryan Lukach, Mike Aldrich and Mark Sorbara. Junior left-hander Mike Thatcher took the loss in game one. Thatcher pitched five and one-third innings and was charged with five of the six runs, with three of them earned. Lukach came on in relief of Thatcher and allowed one run on one hit in two-thirds innings of work.
In the nightcap, the Hawks struck first and managed a 5-0 lead before the Great Danes offense snapped back with five runs in the seventh and the winning RBI's coming on a two-run walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning from pinch hitter Mike Tirri.
Two hits in the top of the first for Hartford led to the Hawks first run of the day, with Lukach recording the RBI. His single up the middle allowed Sorbara to score after he reached on an infield single and took second on a hit batter.
The Hawks added two runs in the third and two more in the sixth inning to take the 5-0 lead. The first run in the second inning came with two hits in just two at bats as Sorbara doubled to center field and came around to score on the next at bat as Kudernatsch drove in the run with a single to the same field. Walker would record the second RBI of the inning when he knocked in Kudernatsch on a one out single down the left field line.
Sorbara would scratch his third hit of the game in the sixth inning, this hit accounting for the Hawks final two runs as he blasted a two-out two-run bomb to right field, his second long ball of the season, tying Walker and Alex Gouin for the team lead in that category.
Gouin, who started the game on the mound for Hartford, would allow two earned runs without garnering an out in the bottom of the seventh before being pulled for the relief of senior Vincent Fiore. Gouin walked the leadoff batter in the inning and then a double to Gaige putting two runners in scoring position before giving way to Fiore. The first batter Fiore faced, Crean, knocked in both runs on a single.
The next three runs, which managed to tie the game, were charged to Fiore as he would allow two hits and the three runs without securing an out. DiResta, Nethaway and Greg Muller would all pick up RBI's in the inning for the Great Danes.
After going down in four batters in the eighth, the Hawks would have two runners in scoring position in the top of the ninth but were unable to manage a go-ahead run. In the bottom half of the inning, freshman reliever Hunter Englehart, allowed the second batter of the inning to reach on a double down the left field line. He sandwiched that runner with a pair of infield outs, but the pinch hitting of Tirri proved to powerful as she sent a long ball over the right field fence in his only at bat of the day.
