BOX SCORE GAME 1
BOX SCORE GAME 2
West Hartford, Conn. – The Hartford baseball team completed its series victory over UMBC with a pair of wins on Sunday against the Retrievers, 3-2 in game one and 16-9 in game two. For the second straight day, senior Simon Kudernatsch combined to hit more than .700 over the two games connecting on 5-of-7 and driving in four runs on Sunday.
Kudernatsch was one of four players to hit .500 or better in the doubleheader followed by rookie Trey Stover who finished 5-of-8 while driving in three runs including two on his second home run of the season. Rob Meerman and James Alfonso rounded out the leading hitters with Meerman going 4-of-7 and Alfonso 3-of-6 over the two-game stretch. Kudernatsch and Stover and senior Andy Drexel finished the day with a perfect 1.000 slugging percentage as Drexel finished 3-of-7 with two doubles and a triple.
Overall, the Hawks hit .426 against UMBC on Sunday with 26 total hits in 61 at bats. Seven different players finished with two or more hits over the two-game stretch, while all nine of the Hawks starters was successful at the plate at least once. In addition to that, eight of the Hawks starters finished with RBIs, with all eight driving in at least two runs on the afternoon.
On the hill, the Hawks starters picked up the victories as Brian Hunter earned the victory with a complete game in the opener and Zach Ferris pitched four scoreless innings in the second game for his first victory of the season. Hunter finished the afternoon with two runs allowed on four hits in eight innings of work, while striking out seven batters. Ferris allowed just two hits and struck out two batters, while Ryan Carter pitched a one inning of relief and gave up one hit.
Freddy Andujar pitched the final two innings in game two and was responsible for all nine of the Retrievers runs on six hits. Five of those runs were earned while he also walked three batters and struck out one.
In the opening game, the Retrievers struck first sending six batters to the plate in the opening inning. Curtis Schickner earned a free pass to reach base before being lifted for a pinch runner, D.J. Smith, who became the eventual first run of the afternoon, scoring on a single to center field off the bat of Anthony Gatto.
Hartford answered by tying the game in the bottom of the first after Stover welcomes UMBC starter Shane Vlasic to West Hartford with a leadoff single. Stover was able to round the bases on the same play after a throwing error and scored easily on a sacrifice fly to right field from Brian Estevez. The Hawks then took a one run lead in with a single run in the fourth inning, all starting with a one out triple to left field for Drexel. He would score two batters later when Alfonso doubled to left center with two outs.
UMBC managed to tie the game in the next half inning using a one-out walk to their advantage. Following a second walk that put two runners on the base paths, Rob McCabe was able to score from second on a single to center field with Brian Klukowicz collecting the RBI.
After being retired in order in the bottom of the seventh and the Retrievers forcing extra innings, the Hawks capitalized in the bottom of the eighth after Stover led off the inning with a single down the left field line. Estevez sacrificed himself to push Stover into scoring position where he was able to score on a single to left center field from Kudernatsch for the walk-off victory.
In the second game, the Hawks struck often and early putting two runs on the board in the first, second and third innings before blowing the game open with a seven run fourth inning giving the Hawks a 13-0 advantage. Stover's two-run home run came with two outs in the second inning for Hartford, driving in Alex Bulger who led off the inning with a double to left.
Sending 11 batters to the plate in the fourth, the Hawks scattered five hits, two of which were doubles, and took advantage of three free passes, a walk and two hit batters, to score the weekend's largest single inning output. Pat Knauth and Meerman finished the inning with two RBI a piece as Meerman managed two hits in the stanza a single to lead things off and a two-run double.
The Hawks added three more runs in the sixth inning after giving up their first runs of the game, five in the top half of the sixth. Smith mustered a pair of RBI in the sixth inning, while Gatto collected two in the seventh inning, part of a four run come-back attempt for the visitors. Gatto's two hits came on a double to right center, the third of three-straight hits for UMBC.
The Hawks will return to the diamond for a three-game series next weekend when they welcome the Maine Black Bears to West Hartford completing what will be a six-game season long series against the conference foe. The Black Bears swept the first three games back on April 14 & 15 in Orono. The Hawks and Black Bears are scheduled for a Saturday afternoon doubleheader starting at 12:00 p.m. before closing out the series with a single-game Sunday matinee at 1:00 p.m.
