WEST HARTFORD, Conn.— The Sacred Heart University Baseball fell to Nutmeg state counterpart, Hartford 12-10 in a rollercoaster game on Tuesday afternoon. The Pioneers (9-19) and Hawks (14-19) combined for 29 hits in the back-and-forth battle at Fiondella Field.

SHU registered 15 hits for the second time this season, with seven batters contributing multiple hits on the day. Sophomores Stephen Thibault and Elijah Brown led the Pioneers with three runs scored apiece. Redshirt sophomore Jake Frasca recorded three runs batted in while senior Dan Schock registered two to increase his season total to 27 runs batted in.

The Pioneer offense came out of the gate hot with four straight singles as Frasca and Schock plated runs batted in for the 2-0 lead. After a walk, co-captain PJ DeFilippo continued the hitting with another RBI single. Fellow captain Cody Doyle and Isiah Daubon added RBIs to take the 5-0 lead. Hartford answered immediately with five runs of their own including a three-run home run by Jackson Olson to tie things at 5-5.

Both teams traded runs in the second inning as Brown led off the top half with his second home run of the season over the right-field wall. The Hawks responded by scoring on a two-out error at short to bring the score back to 6-6. 

Hartford continued the momentum into the third putting up two more runs to take the 8-6 lead. SHU answered in the top half of the fourth on a two-run single from Frasca to tie it and a RBI groundout by Schock to jump ahead 9-8.

The Hawks continued to answer tying things up in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by TJ Ward and then taking the 10-9 lead on a RBI groundout by Zach DeMartino in the seventh inning. 

The Pioneers tied things up yet again in the eighth as Thibault recorded a one-out double and eventually scored on a passed ball from third two batters later to bring the score to 10-10. Hartford had the final answer as Ward smacked the two-run home run over the fence in right-center field in the bottom half of the inning to bring the score to the eventual final 12-10. 

Six pitchers saw action on the day for SHU with freshman Ryan LaMay starting on the bump. Redshirt junior Nick Rubino was charged with the loss in the eighth inning with the final runs for the Hawks.

SHU continues the busy week with a 3:30 p.m. matchup at crosstown rival Fairfield tomorrow at Alumni Diamond.