HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Hartford baseball team dropped a pair of game on Saturday at James Madison, 10-2 in game one and 6-2 in the night cap. Leading Hartford through both games was center fielder Chris DelDebbio who finished 3-of-5 with a run scored. Hartford falls to 0-7 on the season while the Dukes are 5-6.

Four Hawks finished with two hits in the doubleheader with fell classmate Billy Walker and sophomore's Trey Stover, Ryan Luckach and Brady Sheetz all recording two hits. For the doubleheader, Hartford hit .302 against James Madison's pitching staff, mustering 13 hits over 16 innings.

Hartford got on the board first in the early game with a single run in the top of the first inning thanks to a pair of James Madison errors. The first error allowed leadoff batter Adam Touhey to reach on the first at bat with a miscue at short stop. The second error allowed Touhey to score after taking second on sacrifice bunt from Stover. Touhey was able to score from second on a single to second base from Sheetz, taking advantage of a throwing error on the second baseman.

The Dukes evened the score in the bottom half of the inning, starting a streak of scoring at least one run in each of their offensive half innings. In the bottom of the first, James Madison capitalized on a leadoff walk to Johnny Bladel as he scored on a double down the left field line from Connor Brown.

James Madison added two runs in the second and third innings, the first two of which came courtesy of the first home run of the series, a two run bomb from Bobby San Marino. In the third, the Duke first run came courtesy of a Hartford error, while Tyler Duke sacrificed himself for the RBI, scoring Chad Carroll who reached on a infield hit.

The home team added single runs in the fourth and fifth before breaking the game open with three runs in the sixth inning. Hartford added its second run in the fifth inning thanks to two hits in the inning from Stover and Walked, the second of which was a single to left field which drove in Stover who also single to left to open up the inning.

Sophomore  Sean Newcomb suffered the decision in the opening game, allowing five runs, three earned, on five hits in just three innings of work. Newcomb finished with five strike outs, a Hartford high for the day, while allowing three walks. Rookie's Jacob Mellin and Sam McKay also saw time on the hill in relief of Newcomb.

In the nightcap, the Duke scored the first run of the game in the second inning, courtesy of a long ball from Casey Goss with one out. Hartford evened the score in the top half of the fourth after Sheetz led off the inning with a double down the left field line, his second two bagger of the series. Second baseman Brian Estevez sacrifice his first at bat of the game, which allowed Sheetz to score after taking third on a sacrifice bunt from Brian Hunter.

James Madison answered the Hawks first run of the game by scoring five runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-1 advantage. The Dukes finished with six hits in the inning, two of which drove in a pair of runs each, doubles from Nick Merullo and McFarland.

Hartford added one more run in the fifth inning after DelDebbio led off the top half of the stanza with a double down the left field line, his first two baser of the season. He took third on a wild pitch and scored as classmate Nick Dummar sacrificed himself for the Hawks run.

Freshman Kyle Gauthier suffered the defeat in his first appearance as a starter. He finished 3.1 innings of work allowing six runs, all earned, on seven hits.

Hartford and James Madison will close out the four-game series with a single game on Sunday afternoon with the first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park.