FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Hartford baseball team picked up its fourth straight victory on Tuesday at in-state rival Sacred Heart 8-4. The Hawks were led by right fielder Ryan Lukach who finished 1-for-4 with two RBI. Hartford improves to 9-19 overall, while Sacred Heart falls to 11-15 in 2013.

The Hawks finished with eight total hits all coming from different players, compared to Sacred Heart who finished with six. On the hill, freshman Sam McKay earned the second win of his career with a five innings performance. He allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits and struck out four.

Austin Barnes, Justin Robarge and Jeremy Charles all saw relief time on the mound and finished their work scoreless and none gave up a hit. Alex Gouin also pitched 1.2 innings of middle relief and was tagged with two runs, one earned, on two hits. He also walked two and struck out two. Overall, the Hawks pitching staff struck out seven.

Hartford struck first on Tuesday scoring four runs in the top of the second inning and never looked back from that lead. Two Hawks finished the inning with hits, a leadoff single to left center from Chris DelDebbio and a double to right field from third baseman Aaron Wilson. DelDebbio would become the first run in the inning as he was knocked home thanks to Wilson's two-bagger after advancing to second when Adam Touhey was hit by a pitch.

Touhey and Wilson would score the second and third runs, both able to score on the first of back-to-back errors at third base which allowed Brian Estevez and Brady Sheetz to reach safely. Estevez was able to score on the error on Sheetz's at bat.

The Pioneers cut Hartford's lead in half in their half of the fourth inning thanks to a pair of hits and a Hawks error. Right fielder Rocco Gondek would start the offense off with a one-out single through the left side. Third baseman Jesus Medina followed that by reaching on an error at short stop, which put a pair of runners on base, the lead of which was in scoring position. Gondek was able to score the first run on a single to right field from Victory Sorrento, the first baseman. Left fielder Jonathan Servilla would record the final RBI when he grounded out to short.

The Hawks added one more run in the seventh following a pitching change for the Pioneers that saw Medina come in to pitch an inning from third. He would give up an infield single to the first batter he faced, Estevez. After being sacrificed to second on a bunt from Sheetz, Estevez scored from second on the second of three hits in the inning, a single up the middle for Lukach.

The Pioneers added two more run in the seventh, making it a one run game heading into the eighth. Matt Charmello led off the inning as a pinch hitter and reached on an error at third before becoming the third Sacred Heart run. After advancing 180 feet on a double to center from Sorrento, Media scored on a sacrifice off the bat of Billy McDonough. Sorrento scored the final Sacred Heart run after advancing on the sacrifice fly and then crossing the plate on a wild pitch.

Hartford secured its victory with three insurance runs in the eighth. Knauth began the top half of the inning with a triple to center off reliever Dave Boisture, before scoring the first run on a wild pitch. Boisture would then walk the next three batters to load the bases and after striking out Sheetz walked in the second run with a free pass to James Alfonso and then hit Lukach scoring the final run.

The Hawks return to action this coming weekend when the Hawks travel to Stony Brook for its first league series on the road. The Hawks and Seawolves will open the three-game series with a 12:00 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.