BOX SCORE
Worcester, Mass. – The Hartford baseball team dropped its only mid-week tune-up before opening league play this weekend 8-2 at Holy Cross on Tuesday. Hartford (7-19 overall) was led by centerfielder Rob Meerman who finished 2-of-3 at the plate. Holy Cross improves to 15-11 with the victory.
Meerman was one of eight players to record a hit against the Crusaders, as the Hawks finished with nine hits total. Sophomore James Alfonso and senior Chris Suchy each finished with an RBI for the Hawks, while both were 1-of-4 at the plate. Steven Tkowski led the Crusaders with two hits in three at bats while driving in five runs. Three of his RBI's came on a base clearing double in the sixth inning, his second of two doubles in the game.
Sophomore Zach Ferris suffered his third loss (0-3) of the season, pitching 1.2 innings of relief. Ferris came in replacing Brian Hunter who started the game and lasted four innings. Hunter allowed one earned run on three hits while striking out four batters. Ferris allowed seven runs, six earned, on three hits and walked five batters. In total, the Hawks pitching staff gave up eight walks. Austin Barnes and Charlie Moran also saw relief time for the Hawks, both without allowing a run and each recording a pair of strikeouts.
The Hawks put single runs on the board in the fourth and fifth inning, taking one run advantages in both instances. Senior Simon Kudernatsch was the first Hawk to cross the plate, scoring on a single up the middle from Suchy in the fourth. Alfonso's RBI came in the fifth inning as he drove in Meerman who reached on a leadoff single. Meerman advanced to second on a sacrifice and scored from second on Alfonso's single, which was one of three total in the inning.
The Crusaders answered each of those runs with their own, scoring a single run in the fourth inning and taking the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Tkowski provided the RBI that scored the game winning run, sacrificing himself to allow Alex Maldonado to score after reaching by way of a Hawks error.
Holy Cross put the game out of reach with five runs in the sixth inning, the final three of which came courtesy of the base clearing double from Tkowski. Holy Cross used just two hits to score their five runs in the sixth inning, as the Hawks pitching staff allowed four straight walks to the heart of the Crusaders lineup.
Hartford returns to West Hartford to open league play this weekend when the Albany Great Danes visit Fiondella field for a three game series. The Hawks and Great Danes are scheduled to open the series with a doubleheader on Saturday (April 7) with the first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The home portion of the series with Albany will conclude with a single game on Sunday, also at 1:00 p.m.
