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AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Hartford baseball team\u00a0 fell to the University of Scranton Royals 8-5 on Wednesday to wrap up their spring break trip at the Russmatt Central Florida Invitational.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Knight powered the way with three hits as well as driving in three of the Hawks five runs. DiGoia had a two-for-four day and a stolen base. Senior Jackson Ciccone<\/a> (Danbury, Conn.) had two hits and drove in one. The other RBI came from Boardman who was on base three times, getting hit by a pitch twice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\n\tFollowing a 1-2-3 first tossed by sophomore Justin Gouin<\/a> (North Haven, Conn.). The Hawks would get off to a flying start in the first inning, back to back walks and a double steal from junior JJ Romatzick<\/a> (Stratford, Conn.) and sophomore Nico Digoia (Hamden, Conn.) would start the day. Then Romatzick would come home on a sac-fly followed by senior Ryan Knight<\/a> (Peabody, Mass.) ripping an RBI single to put the Hawks up 2-0 after the first frame.\u00a0
\n\tIn the second, Scranton would get a run back from a clutch 2-out single by Jared Cassella. The Hawks loaded the bases in the bottom frame with three straight singles trying to respond but couldn’t get anyone across. In the third, Scranton would knot the score at 2 after back to back singles would set up a sac-fly. After a quiet fourth, to start the fifth Gouin would walk the bases loaded, a bases clearing triple from Matthew Gannon ending the day for Gouin. The Royals pitching continued to show their superiority forcing the Hawks to go a third consecutive inning without a hit, and holding the lead at 5-2 Royals.\u00a0
\n\tIn the sixth inning Scranton yet again came through with two outs plating another run to stretch their lead to 6-2. Hartford finally got their first hit since the first but could not do anything with it as the Royals pitching continued their dominance. Freshman Logan Smalley<\/a> (Chatham, N.Y.) would be chased from the game after allowing a lead off triple to Joey Granko in the seventh, junior Julian Rondon<\/a> (West Nyack, N.Y.) would replace Gouin. Granko would score on a sac-fly after just four pitches making it 7-2 Scranton. Rondon was able to fight through a bases loaded jam in the eighth after a six pitch battle ended in a strikeout looking. In the bottom of the frame the Hawks would get on back the scoreboard when Knight came around to score on a single from senior Cameron Boardman<\/a> (Daegu, South Korea).\u00a0
\n\tThe Royals would get that run straight back in the ninth to make it 8-3. The Hawks kept fighting, Ryan Knight<\/a> would get two runs back driving in his third run of the game to cut the lead to 3. The late rally would end up not be enough as the Hawks fell 8-5.\u00a0
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\n\tGouin went four and two thirds allowing five runs and striking out seven. Smalley only faced eight batters and let up two runs. Rondon was sharp, striking out four in his two innings of work. Sophomore Even Gentile (Berlin, Conn.) pitched one inning of work allowing a single run.\u00a0
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\nThe Hawks head home for their home opener on Saturday taking on Clark University in a double header the first pitch for game one is slated at 12:00 PM.\u00a0<\/p>\n