Box Score JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The University of Hartford baseball team dropped the middle game of a three game set with the East Tennessee State Buccaneers 5-3 on Saturday afternoon in Johnson City. The Hawks (2-6 overall) were led by sophomore outfielder Chris DelDebbio who finished 2-of-4 at the plate, including the team's first home run of the year, while driving in a pair of runs.
Joining DelDebbio in leading the Hawks at the plate was shortstop Trey Stover and catcher Billy Walker who each matched DelDebbio with a pair of hits in four at bats. One of Stover's hits went for extra bases, one of two doubles in the game for the visitors. Second baseman Aaron Wilson finished with one hit on the afternoon, driving the Hawks third run.
On the mound, senior right hander Brian Hunter suffered the loss, his third in three appearances. Hunter pitched six complete inning and allowed four of the five ETSU runs, all earned, on eight hits. He also struck out six. Jacob Mellin and Ryan Carter each pitched a single inning of relief with Mellin getting tagged for the fifth Buccaneers run which came in the seventh.
Hartford would need to work from behind the length of the game as the Buccaneers put their first notch on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning. They would add two runs in the third and another single run in the fifth before the Hawks broke the shutout with a pair of runs in the seventh.
The first of those runs came with one swing of the bat as DelDebbio sent the first long ball of the year over the left field fence. Wilson's RBI would provide the second run of the inning as he drove in Brian Estevez with a ground-rule double to straight away center field. Estevez originally reached on a two-out single and advanced into scoring position thanks to an error in centerfield.
After ETSU took one of those runs back in its half of the seventh, Hartford responded with their third run in the top of the eighth. Pinch hitter Joe Roberti and Walker would set up the scoring opportunity with back-to-back singles, Roberti's to right field and Walker's splitting the infield down the center. A pass ball would allow both to advance, putting Roberti 90 feet away where he was able to score on a fly ball to right field off the bat of DelDebbio.
The Hawks and Buccaneers will close out the series on Sunday afternoon with a single game scheduled for a 1 p.m. first pitch. The Hawks are scheduled to throw sophomore right hander Brian Murphy while East Tennessee will start senior righty Logan Rice who enters the weekend with a 4.66 earned run average.Â
