ABILENE, Texas – Hartford fell twice to Abilene Christian, 11-7 and 8-7, in the team's final day in Texas, Saturday afternoon.
Junior
Zachary Ardito finished the day with three runs score, a double and a triple, as the Hawks fall to 0-6 on the year. Senior Kody Claborn registered his second walk off hit in as many nights, as Abilene Christian improves to 7-5 on the season.
GAME ONE: ABILENE CHRISTIAN 11 HARTFORD 7
With Abilene Christian leading 6-4 heading into the top of the fifth, Hartford came alive for three runs to take a 7-6 lead. Junior
Nik Pagan got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly to left field, plating senior
Chris Sullivan. After sophomore
Drew DeMartino reached on an error by the third baseman, junior
Jackson Olson hit a fly ball that was dropped by the right fielder, scoring senior
Ashton Bardzell. Sophomore
John Thrasher finished off the scoring for the Hawks, ground out to the second baseman but bringing DeMartino in to score.
The Wildcats, however, answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and two more in the bottom of the eighth, to take game two of the three-game series, 11-7
GAME TWO: ABILENE CHRISTIAN 8 HARTFORD 7
After Abilene Christian jumped out to a 6-0 lead through five innings, Hartford began to chip away at the lead starting in the sixth. Sullivan brought in the Hawks' first run of game two, sending a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring freshman
Donnie Cohoon. After Ardito took advantage of a wild pitch and scored from third, Pagan hit another sacrifice fly, plating Bardzell and making the score 6-3 midway through the sixth.
Hartford then took its first lead of the day in the seventh, bringing in four more runs for the 7-6 lead. Bardzell highlighted the four-run inning by knocking a two-RBI double down the left field line, scoring Ardito and freshman
Devin Kellogg.
Claborn, however, played hero for the Wildcats' for the second straight night, tying the game in the seventh with a sacrifice fly forcing the game into extra innings. Claborn then came to the plate again with bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, and hit a fly ball to left field, which was deep enough to score senior Dalon Farkas and give Abilen Christian the series sweep with the 8-7 win.
NEWS AND NOTES
- Freshman Will Nowak (0-1) took the loss in game one in relief, pitching 2.2 innings and allowing three earned runs on four hits and striking out two
- In game two, graduate student Jake Regula (0-3) was the fifth pitcher to enter the game for the Hawks, going 2.1 innings and allowing two earned runs on two hits and striking out one
- Sophomore John Thrasher has his second multi-hit game of the season in game one, going 2-4 with a double and a RBI. Thrasher is currently seventh in the conference with a .400 batting average and is tied for first with three doubles
NEXT ON TAP
Hartford remains on the East Coast for a midweek game against Central Connecticut on Wednesday. First pitch is 3 p.m.
