THE BASICS:
 
RESULTS:  CCSU 11, Hartford 10
LOCATION:  Fiondella Field (West Hartford, Conn.)
RECORDS:  Hartford (20-25, 8-10 America East), CCSU (29-20, 17-7 NEC)
W:  Tom Curtin (2-0) L: Seth Pinkerton (2-3) S: Nick Plachno (3)
 
 
THE LEAD: 
The University of Hartford baseball team fell, 11-10, to Central Connecticut in its home finale at Fiondella Field on Wednesday afternoon. After trailing for most of the game, the Blue Devils rallied for three runs in the final two innings, pushing across the game-winning run in the top of the ninth of Hawks closer Seth Pinkerton.
 
The Hawks raced out to a 5-1 lead in the first inning on the strength of back-to-back home runs from center fielder Ashton Bardzell and left fielder Chris Sullivan, but Hartford's bullpen couldn't pin down CCSU, which racked up 20 hits on the day. Blue Devils second baseman Ryan Costello connected for a pair of home runs to help keep CCSU within striking distance and left fielder Chris Kanios added four hits for Central.
 
Hartford first baseman David MacKinnon, playing the final home game of his career, also notched four hits for the Hawks. Sullivan, right fielder Nick Campana and designated hitter Trevor Thompson each had two hits for Hartford.
 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• CCSU took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a two-out solo home run by Costello.
• The Hawks answered right back with a five-run rally in the bottom of the first. The first two batters reached safely before MacKinnon tied the game at 1-1 with a single through the right side. Bardzell followed with a three-run home run and Sullivan connected for a solo homer to left center, making it 5-1, before Central recorded its first out.
• The Blue Devils got two back in the second, with catcher Dylan Maher and first baseman Ken Wright each picking up an RBI.
• Kanios tripled and scored in the third to cut CCSU's deficit to 5-4.
• Hartford added two more on a pair of sacrifices in the bottom of the third. The Hawks made it 7-4 on a sac bunt from Dalton Ruch, scoring Thompson, and Zachary Ardito plated Jackson Olson with a sac fly to center.
• Costello hit his second home run of the afternoon in the fourth inning to make it 7-5.
• CCSU tied the game at 7-7 with a pair of runs in the sixth inning. Third baseman Buddy Dewaine drove in both with two-out bases loaded single.
• The Hawks regained the lead quickly, scoring two in the bottom of the sixth. Campana singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch, while MacKinnon singled and came home on a sac fly by Bardzell to give Hartford a 9-7 edge.
• Kanios singled and scored on a single by Maher to make it 9-8 in the seventh.
• Central pulled ahead 10-9 with two runs in the eighth. Kanios and right fielder Franklin Jennings each had RBI singles in the frame.
• Hartford drew even at 10-10 in the eighth when Ruch doubled and scored on a sac fly by Campana.
• The Blue Devils broke through for the game-winning run in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by center fielder Tyler Coleman.

 
 
BY THE NUMBERS:

• Bardzell's home run was his ninth of the season.
• Bardzell tied his career-best with four RBI. It was the third time this season and fifth time in his career that he had driven in four runs.
• Sullivan's homer was his sixth, tying him with injured catcher Erik Ostberg for the No. 2 spot on the team.
• MacKinnon logged his team-best 22^nd multi-hit game this season, upping his average to .351 on the year. The four hits tied a career-high, which he had previously achieved five times, most recently on April 12 against Marist.
• Thompson made his second consecutive start and recorded his second straight two-hit game for the Hawks.
• Wednesday's game marked the 10^th time this season that the Hawks have scored at least 10 runs. Hartford is 4-6 in those games.
• The Hawks' 13 hits were the seventh-highest single-game total this season.

 
 
NEXT UP:
Hartford will play their final America East Conference series of the season when they visit Binghamton for a three-game set this weekend. The teams will meet for a doubleheader on Friday, beginning at noon. Saturday's finale will also start at noon.
 
This will mark the first matchup of the season between the Hawks and Bearcats. Binghamton holds a 45-13 edge in the all-time series, including the past six in a row. Hartford's last victory in Vestal, N.Y., came on April 26, 2014.
 
Binghamton currently leads the conference with an overall record of 27-11 and a 12-4 mark in conference play. The Bearcats are playing to maintain their top seed, and the first-round bye that comes with it, in advance of next week's America East Conference tournament, which will be held in Lowell, Mass.

Fans can watch Saturday's doubleheader HERE and Saturday's finale against Binghamton HERE. Live stats for this weekend's series will be available HERE, with Twitter updates provided by @HartfordBASE.