Nico
Steve McLaughlin
11
Western New Eng. WESTERN 8-6, 1-2 CNE
12
Winner Hartford HARTFORD 9-9, 1-0 CNE
Western New Eng. WESTERN
8-6, 1-2 CNE
11
Final
12
Hartford HARTFORD
9-9, 1-0 CNE
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Western New Eng. WESTERN 5 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 11 13 1
Hartford HARTFORD 4 2 2 2 0 0 1 0 1 12 14 2

W: Featherstone, Michael (1-1) L: T. Donohue (0-2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Hawks Walk Off Western New England

WEST HARTFORD, Conn - The Hawks opened up Conference of New England (CNE) play at Fiondella Field on Tuesday where they would walk-off the Golden Bears of Western New England University by a 12-11 final score. 

Rapid Recap:
  • The Golden Bears got to work early in the fourth inning as they would put up five runs in the opening frame which would see 10 batters for freshman Justin Gouin (North Haven, Conn.). Hartford would retaliate in the bottom of the inning as on the first pitch of the inning sophomore J.J. Romatzick (Stratford, Conn.) would knock in a lead off single extending his hitting streak to 17 games. In his first game since Feb. 23rd sophomore Alek Popovich (Dudley, Mass.) would single. With two on and no one out graduate student Jake Santiago (Bristol, Conn.) would launch a ball over the left field fence to bring the Hawks within two. With one out, junior Jeremy Mangiameli (Middlefield, Conn.) would hit a solo shot out of the park which would bring the score to 5-4, after a nine run, ten hit first inning.
  • The Golden Bears would add three to their lead in the top of the second making the score 8-4. Sophomore Peyton West (South Windsor, Conn.) would lead off the second inning with walk. Romatzick would again find his way on base with an opposite field double. Popovich would hit a sacrifice fly that would score West. In the next at bat Santiago would ground out to second base, this would also score a run bringing the score to 8-4 through two. 
  • The Golden Bears would go scoreless for the first time in the top of the third inning, and in the bottom of the frame with one runner on sophomore Tyler Shannon (Madison, N.J.) would hit another homer for Hartford tying the game at eight a piece. The Hawks bats would continue to stay hot, as they would load the bases with one out, Popovich would score on a wild pitch. In the next at bat Mangiameli would hit a high fly ball at the warning track in left for a sacrifice fly that would score Santiago, as Hartford would take their first lead 10-8 through four innings.Western New England would not go out without a fight as this heavy offensive game continued as an RBI single would bring the Golden Bears within one, and a two run homer with two outs would give WNE the lead 11-10.The Hawks would find their way back into the game as in the bottom of the seventh Mangiameli would lead the inning off with a double and junior Jackson Ciccone (Danbury, Conn.) would bring him home with an RBI single tying the game at 11 a piece in the bottom of the seventh. 
  • Hartford would end the game in dramatic fashion as freshman Nico DiGioia (Hamden, Conn.) pinch hit in the ninth inning hitting a single down the left field line to score junior Cameron Boardman (Bradford, Vt.) to give the Hawks the first conference win of the season.
On the Mound:
  • Gouin went just the one inning allowing five runs (four earned) with a strikeout. Junior Logan Huzi (Trumbull, Conn.) followed with a lone inning allowing three runs. Sophomore Tyler Blumetti (Southington, Conn.) followed with 2.1 innings on the mound allowing two runs on five hits with a strikeout. Senior Luke Rier (Miami, Fla.) followed with 1.2 innings of work allowing a run with two punch outs. Sophomore Sam Smith (Branford, Conn.) came in for the seventh and eighth inning without allowing a base runner and getting a strikeout. Junior Michael Featherstone (Ramsey, N.J.) picked up the win with a clean ninth inning. 
At the Plate:
  • DiGioia played hero going 1-for-1 with the walk off RBI. Romatzick went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a double and a stolen base. Mangiameli went 2-for-3 with a homer, two ribbys, a double and two runs scored. Santiago and Shannon each added homers of their own. Ciccone added a 3-for-5 day at the plate with a RBI. 
Post Game Press:
"It feels good to deliver for the boys", said freshman Nico DiGioia (Hamden, Conn.). "I was just trying to stay warm all game, got my pitch there and delivered. This is going to give us a lot of momentum, we had a big score so we are going to move forward with that. We're going to win a lot of games and move forward as far as we can go."

Up Next:
The Hawks start will head on the road this weekend to take on Wentworth Institute of Technology in a Saturday double header starting at 11:00 AM. 

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