Men’s baseball took on a rough three games series against UC Santa Barbara. Falling 10-5 in the season opener followed by a 4-6 loss and finally a 0-14 blowout in game three.

Game one started out slow but had good individual performances for the Hawks with Senior Drew Holtgrieve and sophomore John Thrasher each having two RBI’s. The Hawks fell behind 5-1 heading into the fourth inning but started a two-out rally starting with junior Nik Pagan singling to load up the bases. Holtgrieve singled and junior Jackson Olson and sophomore Drew DeMartino scored closing the deficit to two. Thrasher hit a deep single to left center causing Pagan to circle all the bases and cut the deficit to one. The Gauchos (UC Santa Barbara) outscored the Hawks 5-1 in the remaining innings to take their third win on the season.

Game two was a heartbreaker for the Hartford baseball as they were up 3-2 going into the bottom of the eight when the Gauchos put up four runs to take a 6-3 lead. An impressive rally that ended with the go-ahead run coming up to the plate in the top of the ninth ended with Ashton Bardzell striking out to end the game. John Thrasher had another impressive showing going 3-4 with a double, run and an RBI. Ashton Barzell hit the Hawks first homerun of the season blasting his two-run shot in the fourth to give the Hawks the 2-1 lead.

Game three was not something the Hawks want to remember as they drop it 14-0. Sophomore John Thrasher, junior Nik Pagan and senior Chris Sullivan each had a double. Thrasher had an incredible weekend batting .556 with three RBI’s and two doubles.

Hartford baseball hopes to bounce back as they head to Texas on Friday for a three-game series with Abilene Christian. First pitch is at 7:30 p.m.