THE BASICS:
 
RESULT:  Hartford 6, Stony Brook 5
LOCATION: Fiondella Field (West Hartford, Conn.)
RECORDS:  Hartford (14-19, 6-6 America East), Stony Brook (17-19, 5-7 AE)
W:  Seth Pinkerton (1-1) L: Cole Creighton (0-3)
 
 
THE LEAD: 
The University of Hartford Baseball team needed a hero and, for the second straight day,  junior shortstop Ben Bengtson was happy to don the cape.  With the score knotted at 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Bengtson, who already had two hits on the day, crushed a solo home run to left field off Stony Brook relief pitcher Cole Creighton to give the Hawks (14-19, 6-6 America East) a 6-5 walk-off win at Fiondella Field. It was Bengtson's second consecutive walk-off winner, having clinched the second game of Saturday's doubleheader with a game-winning RBI single in the 10^th inning.
 
The Hawks offense was quiet early, struggling to get anything going off Stony Brook starter Bret Clarke, who allowed just one run on three hits in seven innings.  Hartford jumped all over the Seawolves' relievers though, tying the game at 5-5 with a four-run rally in the seventh.
 
Where Stony Brook's bullpen faltered, Hartford's excelled. Alex Moconyi, Drew Farkas, David Drouin and Seth Pinkerton combined for 3.2 innings of shutout ball, surrendering just one hit during that stretch. Pinkerton worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his first win of the season and the second of his career.
 
With Sunday's win, the Hawks concluded their first series sweep of the year and climbed into fourth place in the America East Conference standings. Hartford is tied for third place in the loss column alongside UMass Lowell (20-16, 8-6 AE) and one loss behind second-place UMBC (13-17, 7-5 AE). Binghamton leads the conference with 20-7 overall record and 9-2 showing in conference play.
 
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Hartford used a little small-ball to manufacture the first run of the game. Catcher Bryce Ramsay worked a leadoff walk, advanced on a sac bunt by Dalton Ruch and scored when first baseman David MacKinnon lined a single to left-center to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead in the third.
• The Seawolves finally got to starting pitcher Connor Lewis in the fifth. Lewis hit second baseman Jeremy Giles to open the frame and Giles eventually tied the game at 1-1 on a double down the left field line by center fielder Tobey Handley. Right fielder Dylan Resk put Stony Brook ahead, 3-1, with a two-out two-run homer to left-center later in the inning.
• Catcher David Real gave the Seawolves a 4-1 lead with an RBI double to left field in the sixth. Real made it 5-1 when he scored on an two-out single by Handley.
• The Hawks strung together a four-run rally against Stony Brook's bullpen in the seventh.  Right fielder Nick Campana drew a leadoff walk, advanced on a single by MacKinnon and scored on single to right field from Ashton Bardzell. Bengtson cut the Seawolves' lead to 5-3 with an RBI single to center and Bardzell made it 5-4 when he scored on an error. Left fielder Chris Sullivan drove in the final run of the frame with a two-out double to left-center, plating Bengtson and tying the game at 5-5.
• Bengtson broke the draw in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the ninth, smacking a one-out solo homer over the fence in left field.

 
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Bengtson finished 3-for-4 on the day with two runs and two RBI. MacKinnon also logged a multi-hit game for the Hawks.
• With his two hits, MacKinnon upped his average to .357 on the season, tied with Bardzell for the lead among Hartford's active players.
• MacKinnon has hit safely in 23 of Hartford's past 24 games. Since his 20-game hitting streak was broken against UMBC on April 15, MacKinnon has multiple hits in each of the Hawks past three contests.
• With hits in 10 consecutive games, Bengtson owns Hartford's longest active streak.
• Pinkerton lowered his ERA to a team-best 3.97. He has allowed one run in his past five outings.

 
 
NEXT UP:
The Hawks will visit Quinnipiac on Tuesday, April  25, at 3 p.m. It will mark the second meeting between the Hawks and Bobcats this season. Hartford won the first matchup, 6-4, as the two teams helped open Dunkin' Donuts Park on April 11. Billy DeVito earned the win for the Hawks, while Andrew Workman took the loss for Quinnipiac. Left fielder Chris Sullivan helped lead Hartford's offense in that game, finishing 2-for-3 with three RBI. Quinnipiac (13-23, 6-8 MAAC) has gone 3-4 since then.