MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – A 10-run inning and spectacular relief pitching was the recipe for success as the University of Hartford baseball team opened their Spring Break trip with a 19-5 victory over Susquehanna Saturday night at the Ripken Experience's Crosley Field.
Before the bats came alive, it was junior
Luke Rier who set the tone on the mound. Immediately after Hartford tied the game with three runs in the top of the fourth, the River Hawks got the first two runners on base via the walk.
No sweat.
Rier (1-0) enters in relief and gets a deep flyout followed by back-to-back strikeouts. Inning over, threat quelched. He struck out the side in the fifth and sixth innings to finish with a career-high eight strikeouts in just three innings of action.
Hartford tacked on a single run in the fifth and exploded for 10 runs in the sixth. The first five batters reached, including freshman
Tyler Shannon – who opened the frame with his second homer of the game – to chase the SU pitcher. The new reliever was promptly welcomed to the game with a grand slam by freshman Alex Popovich. Three more hits followed, the latter being an RBI double by sophomore
Cameron Boardman. A sacrifice fly and a two-run error capped the Hartford scoring for the inning.
The Hawks tacked on four runs in the eighth inning.
INSIDE THE BOX & NOTES
- Hartford connected on five homers in the game, the most since hitting six against UMass Lowell on March 13, 2022.
- It's the most runs scored since the Hawks scored 19 against Quinnipiac in 2002.
- Popovich and sophomore Jeremy Mangiamelli drove in five runs each. Popovich was 3-for-5 with a run scored and a home run, while hit the Wendy's special 4-for-4 with three runs scored, a double, and his first career home run
- Shannon was 2-for-5 with four runs scored, two home runs, and three RBI.
- The bullpen trio of freshman Julian Rondon, freshman Anthony Bubba, and Rier hurled 6.2 innings of one-run baseball. The trio combined to allow just four hits. Bubba picked up his first career save, pitching the last three innings.
- Hartford finished with 18 hits as seven of the starters contributed multi-hit games.
WHAT'S NEXT
Hartford (2-1) returns to action at the Ripken Experience 4:30 p.m. Sunday, playing the United States Coast Guard Academy in a doubleheader.