QU Baseball Upends In-State Rival Hartford, 7-5, behind Oestreicher's Three Hits

Thursday, April 14

West Hartford, CT

3 PM

Quinnipiac University

10-20

Hartford

21-9

Quinnipiac

Univ. of Hartford

QU Baseball Upends In-State Rival Hartford, 7-5, behind Oestreicher's Three Hits

4/14/2016 7:00:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

WEST HARTFORD, Connecticut – The Quinnipiac baseball team scored early and often as they built a strong first inning lead on the way to a 7-5 victory over the Hartford Hawks at Fiondella Field on Thursday afternoon.

The Bobcats win is their 10^th of the season as they improve to 10-20 (1-5 MAAC) while the Hawks (21-9, 5-4 AE) lose for just the ninth time this season.

Matthew Batten (Shelton, Connecticut) connected on his second career home run on his way to a 2 for 4 day at the plate with two runs scored, a walk and a stolen base while Matthew Oestreicher (North Haven, Connecticut) tied for the game-high with three hits as he went 3 for 5 with two RBIs.

Julius Saporito (Manalapan, New Jersey) went 2 for 5 with a run scored while seven of the nine batters in the game for the Bobcats tallied a hit. Lou Iannotti (North Haven, Connecticut) went 1 for 3 with a double, two walks, two runs scored and one RBI. Rob Pescitelli (Bayshore, New York) walked, reach on an error, stole two bases and scored two runs. Pescitelli now leads the team with 15 stolen bases this season.

Quinnipiac's bullpen came up big on Thursday, scattering four hits over five innings of one-run ball. Wyatt Hamilton (Falmouth, Massachusetts) won his first game of the season as he struck out one batter over two innings of work. Robert Hitt (Suffield, Connecticut) pitched two innings to earn his third save of the season, allowing one run on two hits with a pair of strikeouts.

The Bobcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Batten singled to left with one out in the inning and stole second base to get into scoring position. With a 2-2 count, Pescitelli reached on an error by Hartford shortstop Ben Bengston that allowed Batten to score from second base. Pescitelli stole second base before coming home to score on Iannotti's RBI double down the left field line. Just two pitches later, Oestreicher drove home Iannotti with a single to left center.

Hartford got a run back in the bottom half of the first inning as Aaron Wilson led off with a triple to right field and came home to score on David MacKinnon's RBI double down the left field line to make it 3-1.

Neither team scored again until the fourth inning when the Bobcats took a 5-1 lead. Saporito up the middle to lead off the inning and advanced to second on a Kyle Horton sacrifice bunt. Two wild pitches later, Saporito came home to score during Batten's at bat. Batten followed up the run with his second home run of the season to give the Bobcats a 5-1 lead.

The Hawks answered the Bobcats once again in the bottom of the fourth inning with three runs to cut the Bobcats' lead to 5-4. Chris Sullivan doubled down the left field line to score Erik Ostberg and an error by Saporito in left field allowed Bengston to score from first base. Three batters later with the bases loaded, Sebastian DiMauro brought home Sullivan with a sacrifice fly to left field before starting pitcher Brandon Shileikis (North Dighton, Massachusetts) got the Bobcats out of the jam.

Quinnipiac added an insurance run in the top of the fifth inning to make it 6-4 in favor of the Bobcats. Iannotti walked to lead off the inning and moved up to second on Oestreicher's groundout to shortstop. Burns drilled a single up the middle to score Iannotti all the way from second base. The Bobcats got two more singles from Ben Gibson (Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts) and Saporito but ultimately left the bases loaded to end the threat.

After two more scoreless innings, the Bobcats added their final run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. Pescitelli drew a four-pitch, one out walk and stole second base to get himself in scoring position. After an Iannotti ground out advanced him to third base, Oestreicher reached on an infield single that scored Pescitelli from third.

Hartford attempted to get a rally going in the ninth but only got one run to score. Wilson reached with a first-pitch double to lead off the inning. Two outs later, Ostberg drove him home with a single to right field to cut Quinnipiac's lead to two runs, but Bengston grounded out to Gibson at first to end the game.

The Quinnipiac baseball team will host the Iona Gaels (7-22, 2-4 MAAC) in the Bobcats' first home MAAC series of the season with a doubleheader scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 16 beginning at 12 PM followed by a single game on Sunday, Apr. 17 at 12 PM.