THE BASICS:

RESULT: Hartford 23, UMass Lowell 6
LOCATION: Fiondella Field (West Hartford, Conn.)
RECORDS: Hartford (31-14, 11-7), UMass Lowell (18-28, 5-17)
WP: Murphy (7-2); LP: Xirinachs (1-8)

PHOTO GALLERY
 
THE LEAD:
The Hartford baseball team matched the school record with its 31^st win of the season, as the Hawks bats exploded for its most runs since 1996 to take the series opener with UMass Lowell in resounding fashion, 23-6. All 12 players who batted for Hartford recorded a hit, including four hits for David MacKinnon and three each for T.J. Ward and Erik Ostberg.
 
Offensive highlights included:
• MacKinnon (4-for-5, 2 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 5 R – broke his own school single-season record for hits with 69)
• Ostberg (3-for-3, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 4 R)
• Ward (3-for-5, 2B, HR, 7 RBI, R)
• Chris DelDebbio (1-for-4, 3 BB, 5 R)
 
Brian Murphy picked up the win for the Hawks, allowing six hits and three walks in five innings, while the Hartford bullpen combined to allow just one run in four innings of work. Sebastian DiMauro allowed only a walk in his two scoreless frames, while Seth Pinkerton added a shutout inning of his own. Steve Xirinachs was carded with the loss for the River Hawks.
 
Hartford matched the 2014 team (31-24) for the school's highest win total, while registering the third most runs in school history (29 vs. CW Post on April 23, 1996; 24 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson on May 23, 1988). The Hawks have now scored 300 runs this season, a school record.
 
HOW THEY SCORED:
• UML manufactured a run in the top of the first with a double, groundout and sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
• Hartford came right back in the bottom with three runs, the first when MacKinnon doubled home Aaron Wilson, who walked, to make it 1-1.
• Hartford added two more runs in the first, one on a double play and a second on a wild pitch, to make it 3-1.
• In the bottom of the third, Ostberg added to that with a double to left center that scored MacKinnon and Chris DelDebbio for a 5-1 advantage.
• Chris Sullivan followed that up with a single through the drawn-in infield to plate Ostberg for a 6-1 lead.
• The Hawks plated three more in the bottom of the fourth on RBI singles by Ostberg, Ben Bengtson and T.J. Ward to push it to 9-1.
• The River Hawks responded with a crooked number in the fifth, plating four runs on five hits to cut the lead to 9-5.
• Hartford responded with a five-spot in the bottom of the fifth on three hits, with two runs coming home on bases-loaded walks and three coming in on Ward's bases-clearing double.
• The Hawks added two in the bottom of the sixth on solo home runs by MacKinnon and Ostberg.
• The seventh started with Ashton Bardzell's solo home run, and the Hawks added six more, two on a Cam Belliveau triple and three on Ward's home run to left, to make it 23-5.
• UML scored a run in the top of the ninth on an RBI groundout.

UP NEXT:
Hartford and UML will square off for a doubleheader on Saturday at noon. The Hawks will celebrate Senior Day prior to game one of the twinbill, honoring their nine seniors. Live stats for both games will be available on HartfordHawks.com and video will be available for game two of the day.