THE BASICS:
 
RESULT:  Game 1 — Hartford 16, UMBC 7; Game 2 — UMBC 7, Hartford 3
LOCATION: Fiondella Field (West Hartford, Conn.)
RECORDS:  Hartford (11-17, 3-5 America East), UMBC (10-16, 4-4 AE)
GAME 1 — W: Brian Stepniak (1-2) L: Joe Vanderplas (3-3)
GAME 2 — W: Michael Austin (2-1) L: Billy DeVito (2-2)

THE LEAD: 
The University of Hartford baseball team (11-17, 3-5 AE) split Saturday's America East doubleheader against UMBC (10-16, 4-4 AE) at Fiondella Field. The Hawks hammered UMBC, 16-7, in the opener before falling, 7-3, in game two.
 
Hartford center fielder Ashton Bardzell turned in a stellar performance in game one, hitting for the cycle for the first time in his career. Bardzell finished 4-for-5 in the game and led all Hawks with four hits on the day. Shortstop Ben Bengtson, third baseman TJ Ward, first baseman David MacKinnon and designated hitter Jackson Olson all had three hits on the day for Hartford. Olson also connected for his first career home run during the Hawks game one victory.
 
 
GAME 1
The Hawks exploded for 16 runs on 17 hits in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader. Combined with Wednesday's 18-16 victory against Marist, it gave Hartford 34 runs on 36 hits in its past two games. The Hawks also connected for six doubles, two triples and two home runs in game one against UMBC.
 
Bardzell's cycle highlight the offensive onslaught for the Hawks, as he doubled in the first, singled in the fourth, tripled in the fifth and homered to left field in the sixth. Bardzell finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored and four driven in to lead the Hawks. Ward and Bengtson also had three hits for Hartford, while right fielder Nick Campana added a pair.
 
After scoring one run through the first three innings, the Hawks averaged three runs per inning during the final five frames. Starting pitcher Brian Stepniak (1-2) earned his first win of the 2017 season, allowing four runs in six innings. The win was the Hawks fourth in a row and sixth in their last eight games.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (Game 1):

• Campana led off Hartford's half of the first with a double down the left field line and scored on a near-identical double by Bardzell.
• The Retrievers tied the game at 1-1 in the second inning with a leadoff homer by Jamie Switalski. Third baseman Christian Torres made it 2-1 with a two-out RBI single to center, scoring right fielder Collin Stack.
• Bardzell singled, Bengtson doubled and both came in to score on a two-run double by third baseman TJ Ward to put the Hawks up 3-2 in the fourth. Designated hitter Bryce Walker made it 4-2 with a single through the left side.
• Mitchell Carroll cut the UMBC deficit to 4-3 in the fifth with an RBI single to left, scoring third baseman Christian Torres.
• Hartford scored three runs in the fifth inning. Campana led off with a triple to right field and scored on a wild pitch and Bardzell followed with a one-out triple to right-center. Bardzell scored on a bunt single from Ward, who came all the way around on a two-out RBI double by left fielder Chris Sullivan, making it 7-3.
• UMBC got one run back in the sixth on an RBI single by Torres.
• Bardzell completed his first career cycle with a three-run home run to left field in the sixth inning to extend Hartford's lead to 10-4. Bengtson singled, stole second and eventually scored on a pair of wild pitches to make it 11-4.
• MacKinnon drove in two more runs for Hartford with a two-out single in the seventh.
• Bengtson and Ward each singled in the eighth, setting the table for freshman Jackson Olson, who ripped a pinch-hit three-run homer to left to extend Hartford's lead to 16-4. It was Olson's first career home run.
• The Retrievers plated three runs in the ninth as reliever David Drouin, who was perfect in the seventh and eighth, struggled with his control. Drouin hit two batters and walked two more, forcing in a run, before Justin Cashman came on to close it out. Connor Hax picked up an RBI single off Cashman and Zack Bright lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score UMBC's final run.

 
GAME 2
Trailing 3-2 heading into the sixth inning, the Hawks battled back to tie the game when Olson smacked an RBI triple to left-center, scoring Ward. Hartford had two chances to plate Olson, but left him stranded on third to end the inning.
 
UMBC made the Hawks pay in the top of the seventh. Reliever Billy DeVito, who hadn't allowed a run through two innings of work, suffered a string of bad luck as the Retrievers strung together four runs on six infield hits. UMBC consistently found the soft spots in Hartford's defensive alignment and the Hawks were unable to get out of the inning. UMBC reliever Michael Austin, who allowed just one run in 3.1 innings, worked around a MacKinnon single to wrap up the game and earn the victory.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (Game 2):

• MacKinnon singled to left and Bengtson ripped an RBI triple to deep center field to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Olson made it 2-0 with a double down the left field line
• Catcher Hunter Dolshun connected for a two-run home run to left field, tying to game at 2-2 in the fifth. Jamie Switalski doubled, advanced on a single by Dalton Stewart and scored on an infield single from Collin Stack to put the Retrievers ahead 3-2.
• Hartford tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth when Ward singled and scored on a one-out triple by Olson, who finished just a single short of hitting for the cycle during the doubleheader.
• UMBC broke the game open with four runs in the seventh. The Retrievers did their damage on a series of six hits by the Retrievers, none of which left the infield. Bright, Carroll and Switalski each had RBI singles in the frame.

 
 
NEXT UP:
The Hawks and Retrievers will wrap up their weekend series on Saturday, with the finale scheduled for a noon first pitch. Hartford's Nathan Florence (0-1, 7.31 ERA) is scheduled to get the start against UMBC's Mitchell Wilson (2-1, 7.36 ERA). Live stats will be available at HartfordHawks.com and Twitter updates will be provided by @HartfordBASE.