BOX SCORE GAME 1
BOX SCORE GAME 2
West Hartford, Conn. – The Hartford baseball team dropped a pair of games to Maine on Saturday, 6-3, 7-1, both victories for the Black Bears made possible by a pair of three-run home runs from Michael Fransoso. Hartford and Maine will close out the three-game set on Sunday with a 1:00 p.m. start. Prior to Sunday's game, the Hawks will honor five senior members of the team.
On the afternoon, Hartford was led by senior's Alex Bulger and Simon Kudernatsch who each finished with three hits. Kudernatsch split his hits over both games, extending his hitting streak to 11 straight games. Bulger led the way in game one going 3-for-3 at the plate, including driving in the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Bulger, Brian Hunter and Andy Drexel all drove in runs for the Hawks, while James Alfonso was the only other Hawk to finish with more than one hit on the day with two. Overall, the Hawks scattered 12 hits over the doubleheader.
On the mound, Austin Barnes and Hunter Englehart were tagged with the losses. Barnes pitched 1.2 innings of relief in game one and allowed the final three runs to Maine, all of which came on one swing of the bat from Fransoso. Englehart started game two and pitched three innings allowing four earned runs on six hits. Hunter started game one for the Hawks, pitching 6.1 innings allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits. Hunter led all six pitchers who saw time on the hill with four strikeouts.
Hartford struck first in game one scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning using two hits and a fielding miscue in the outfield to take the early advantage. With two outs, Kudernatsch started the Hawks offense with an infield single and put himself in scoring position when he stole second. Drexel followed that up with a single through the right side that was mishandled by the center fielder and allowed to role all the way to the fence. Kudernatsch scored easily and the error allowed Drexel to round the bases and score standing up.
The Black Bears cut the lead in half in the fifth inning after Fransoso worked a one out walk and stole second to put a runner in scoring position. He was able to score when Tyler Patzalek sailed a double into left center with two outs before Patzalek was left stranded on second.
Maine took their first lead in game one with two runs in the sixth inning using two hits and an error to their advantage. Alex Calbick led off the inning with a single to center field and became the second runner of the inning when Bulger mishandled a ball at first base. The pair was then vaulted into scoring position on a sacrifice from Justin Leisenheimmer before being able to score on a single to center field off the bat of Troy Black.
The Hawks then used two doubles in the seventh to tie the game and force an extra frame. Alfonso led off the stanza with his second double of the game, this time to left center. He then took third on an infield groundout from Chris Suchy and was able to score on the second double of the inning, this one from Bulger. The Hawks then had two chances at scoring the go ahead run, but the insertion of Maine closer Mike Connolly but proved too much for Hartford to handle as he would end up retiring five straight batters all five at the top of the Hawks order.
Fransoso provided the only hit that mattered in the top of the eighth despite seven total batters seeing a chance at the plate and four total hits in the inning. Fransoso's hit was his first of the game and it cleared the right field fence in a hurry for the game-winning runs, scoring Sam Balzano and Black who reach on a walk and fielder's choice, respectively.
In game two, the Black Bears struck first with a single run in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth to take a 6-0 advantage, their largest of the contest. Colin Gay provided the game winning RBI when he drove in Black in the third inning with the third straight single to lead off the stanza. Fransoso's three run home run in game two provided the three runs in the fourth inning as he sailed his second long ball of the day once again over the right field fence, this time driving in Ian Leisenheimmer and Brian Doran.
The Hawks lone run came in the fourth inning with Kudernatsch and Hunter combining for the offense. Kudernatsch started things off with a one out single to left center and was able to score from first on a two out double down the right field line from Hunter. The Black Bears added one more run in the seventh, leading to the 7-1 final score.
