Hartford, Conn. – The Sacred Heart University baseball team rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to earn a 5-4 win over host Hartford on Tuesday afternoon. The victory improved the Pioneers to 9-17 on the season, while the Hawks fall to 8-14 overall.

Michael Attonito earned the win for the Pioneers, pitching two innings in relief of starter Thomas Pinto. Matt Aufiero threw three scoreless innings to earn his first save of the year. Justin Levito went 2-4 at the plate for SHU, driving in a pair of runs.

The Pioneers, winners of three straight, host Wagner in a three-game NEC series, beginning Friday at 3 p.m.

SCORING

• The Hawks plated a pair of runs in the third inning, on an RBI double from Chris Sullivan and a single from Ashton Bardzell, for the 2-0 lead
• Levito drove in Elijah Brown in the top of the fifth inning, with a double down the right field line and came around to score on a Justin Jordan single
• Jordan scored when Anthony Porrino tripled to left center for a 3-2 SHU advantage
• Porrino scored the fourth SHU run of the fifth, crossing the plate after Isiah Daubon singled through the right side
• Levito plated what would be the game-winning run in the next frame, singling to left to again score Brown for a 5-2 lead
• Drew Holtgrieve singled to right in the bottom of the inning, plating a pair for the Hawks to wrap up the scoring

NOTES

• Pioneer pitching struck out nine batters, with Pinto fanning four in his time on the mound
• Brown finished 3-3, with a walk, and two runs scored and recorded a stolen base
• SHU recorded 12 hits on the afternoon, with seven different players recording at least one
• Porrino and Jake Frasca were both 2-5
• Tim Blaisdell took the loss for Hartford, allowing two runs on four hits in 1.1 innings of work
• Pinto fanned four, allowed a walk, two runs and five hits in his start
• Aufiero didn't allow a hit and fanned a pair to earn the three-inning save