THE BASICS:
 
RESULT:  Hartford 8, Bryant 7
LOCATION: Fiondella Field (West Hartford, Conn.)
RECORDS:  Hartford (2-9, 0-0 America East), Bryant (3-14, 0-0 NEC)
WP: John LaRossa (1-1) LP: Logan Lessard (1-1)
 

THE LEAD: 
The University of Hartford baseball team enjoyed its long-awaited home opener on Tuesday, earning an 8-7 victory against Bryant at Fiondella Field. They had to work for it, though.
 
With the score knotted at 7-7, right fielder Nick Campana led off the bottom of the ninth with a triple to right-center and the Bulldogs opted to load the bases with back-to-back walks to first baseman David MacKinnon and catcher Erik Ostberg. Shortstop Ben Bengston then came up and clinched the victory with a walk-off single to the gap in left center.
 
Campana, MacKinnon and Bengtson each finished with two hits on the day and third baseman TJ Ward drove in a pair of runs to help lead the Hawks' offense. Center Fielder Nick Angelini notched three hits for the Bulldogs.
 
Freshman Thomas Feehan got the start for the Hawks, allowing three runs in three innings. Brian Stepniak came out of the bullpen to toss three solid innings before turning the ball over to Pinkerton in the seventh. Pinkerton cruised for two innings but hit a rough patch in the ninth, and John LaRossa (1-1) had to face just one batter to pick up the victory. Logan Lessard (0-2), the Bulldogs' top reliever, took the loss.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Bulldog's plated the game's first run in the top of the first when Cole Fabio led off with a single and eventually came around to score on a fielder's choice off the bat of Jimmy Titus.
• Hartford broke through for three of runs in the bottom half of the inning. David MacKinnon reached on a fielder's choice, Erik Ostberg walked and both scored on a two-run single by TJ Ward. Shortstop Ben Bengtson later stole home with two outs when the Bulldogs attempted to pick Ward off of first base.
• Bryant evened things up in the third. The Bulldogs made it 3-2 when Mickey Gasper worked a leadoff walk and Titus came through with an RBI double to left center. Titus tied the game at 3-3 when he scored off a single from Tyler Panno.
• The Hawks regained the lead with a pair of unearned runs in the fifth. MacKinnon got things going with a single, advanced to third on a double from Ostberg and scored on an error during the play. Ostberg also advanced to third on the error and scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat, giving Hartford a 5-3 edge.
• Gasper led off the seventh with a solo home run to right field, cutting Bryant's deficit to 5-4.
• Hartford tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth. Center fielder Ashton Bardzell reached on an error to lead things off and took second on a sacrifice bunt by Ward. With first base open the Bulldogs opted to intentionally walk Chris Sullivan, but both Bardzell and Sullivan scored when a pickoff attempt at second turned into a pair of errors by Bryant's defense.
• The Bulldogs made things interesting in the ninth. Nick Angelini lifted a leadoff triple to left and scored on a passed ball, making it 7-5. From there Hawks reliever Seth Pinkerton got two quick outs before back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases. John LaRossa came out of the bullpen to face Jacob Marotta, who lined a game-tying two-run single through the left side to even the score at 7-7.
• Nick Campana opened the bottom of the ninth with a triple to right-center, setting up a pair of intentional walks to MacKinnon and Ostberg. With no outs and the bases loaded, Bengtson crushed the first pitch he saw to left-center, plating MacKinnon as the game-winning run.

 
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• MacKinnon and Bengston both recorded their second consecutive multi-hit games
• After logging seven hits through the Hawks' first seven games, Bengtson has eight hits in the team's past four contests.
• Freshman designated hitter Bryce Walker made his first career start and came through with his first career hit.
• The Bulldogs committed five errors while the Hawks were perfect on defense.

 
 
NEXT UP:
Following their brief one-game homestand against Bryant, the Hawks will be back on the road this weekend for a three-game series against Stony Brook on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at noon and will serve as the America East Conference opener for both squads. Sunday's finale is also slated for a noon start.
 
The Hawks are 15-47 all-time against Stony Brook and 4-6 in their last 10 meetings, including last year's season-ending loss in the America East tournament.