HAMDEN, Conn. – The Hartford baseball team posted an 8-5 victory over Nutmeg State rival Quinnipiac in the first of back-to-back mid-week games on Tuesday at the QU Baseball Field. The Hawks (11-21) finished the game with a pair of home runs coming from catcher James Alfonso and right fielder Ryan Lukach.

Overall, seven Hawks finished with at least on RBI with first baseman Brady Sheetz leading the team with two. Hartford finished with 10 hits and drew four walks, scoring eight runs off of that offense. The Bobcats finished with 15 hits but managed just five runs. Lukach and designated hitter Pat Knauth finished with a game-high three hits in five at bats. Trey Stover, Aaron Wilson, Stover and Alfonso all finished with one hit a piece.

On the hill, freshman Sam McKay scored his third victory as a Hawk finishing six innings of work with three runs allowed, all earned, on 10 hits. Austin Barnes, Justin Robarge and Jeremy Charles all pitched one inning in relief of McKay with Chrarles earning his fourth save as a Hartford Hawk. Robarge and Charles each finished without allowing a run on one hit.

Hartford began the offense in the second inning scoring five runs taking an early edge. The Hawks would send 10 batters to the plate in the inning, finishing with just two hits but drawing five free passes on four walks and a hit batter. Alfonso was the first base runner of the inning working a one out walk which started a string of seven straight batters who reached safely. Knauth followed Alfonso with his first hit of the game, a single up the middle which scored Alfonso for the game's first run after he advanced on a passed ball.

Adam Touhey, Wilson, Stover and Brian Estevez would all follow Knauth with free passes. Touhey was hit by a pitched before the next three all worked walks, the last two of which drove in Knauth and Estevez. Estevez would be the final batter to face Bobcats starter Kevin Sustad who suffered his first loss of the year. Ryan Walsh took over for Sustad but gave up a double to his first batter, Sheetz, which drove in the final two runs of the inning.

Alfonso continued the offense in the third, extending the Hawks lead to 6-0, with a leadoff home run to left center. The long ball for Alfonso was the first of the season for the junior catcher.

Quinnipiac broke the Hartford shutout in the fourth inning with a home run of their own, the first of two in the game for short stop Scott Donaghue. His home run scored Vincent Guglietti and Chris Migani who each singled to reach base.

Hartford added their seventh and eight runs in the final two innings with an RBI from Wilson and a home run from Lukach. Wilson's RBI, which came on the second of two doubles in the inning drove in Knauth who also doubled for his second hit of the game. Lukach's home run over the right field fence led off the ninth inning and was his team leading third of the season.

Both of the Bobcats final two runs came in the eighth inning as they Migani and Donaghue went back-to-back with the second and third home runs of the game for the home team. Migani sent his over the fence in left center field, while Donaghue's second long ball of the game went down the left field line. Both home runs came off of Barnes.

The Hawks return to the diamond on Wednesday when they travel to UMass for a 3:00 p.m. first pitch at Earl Lorden Field in Amherst, Mass.