Baseball Drops Two Pitchers’ Duels At Hartford
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Runs were hard to come by Saturday at Fiondella Field in West Hartford, Conn, as the University at Albany baseball team dropped a pair of pitchers’ duels by scores of 3-2 and 3-0 to the hosting Hartford Hawks.
Hartford won the first game with a walk-off bunt single in the bottom of the ninth, and then scored all three of their runs in the first inning of the nightcap to capture the doubleheader sweep.
Sam DeCelle (1-1) took the loss in the series-opening contest, tossing 2.1 innings of middle relief. Starter Ryan Stinar went six solid innings, allowing two runs and five hits, while striking out four. Stephen Carey entered the bottom of the ninth with runners on first and third and faced one batter before the Hawks captured the win.
Offensively, UAlbany totaled five hits led by Brian Bullard’s 2-for-4 performance. Josh Nethaway and Evan Harasta each had a hit and an RBI.
Hartford took the initial lead in the bottom of the second, as Trey Stover lined in two with a double after a hit by pitch and a walk.
Starter Sean Newcomb held UAlbany without a hit until the fifth when Evan Harasta ripped a leadoff single down the left field line. In the sixth, UAlbany broke onto the board, making the score 2-1, as D.J. Hoagboon scored on Harasta’s RBI fielder’s choice.
The Great Danes tied it up, 2-2, in the top of the eighth when Bullard singled though the right side and Nethaway belted an RBI double down the left field line off reliever Sam McKay (6-1).
However, the Hawks made the most of their final at-bat, stringing together a single, sac bunt, and another single before Ryan Lukach played hero with his squeeze bunt single.
In the nightcap, Hartford jumped out to a quick lead in the bottom of the first, using two hits and an error to score three unearned runs. That ended up being all the runs in the contest as Hartford starter Brian Hunter and UAlbany starter Kevin Archbold dueled, both tossing complete-game gems.
Hunter (2-5) earned the win, holding the Danes to four hits and four walks, while striking out five in the shutout. Meanwhile, Archbold (1-2) took the unfortunate loss, allowing no earned runs, six hits, and struck out eight with just two walks.
At the plate for UAlbany, Hoagboon went 2-for-3, while Alex Lushkevich and Richard Bacon knocked the squad’s other two hits.
UAlbany (7-21, 4-10) and Hartford (20-14, 8-2) conclude the America East Conference series Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
