NEW LONDON, Conn. —
The United States Coast Guard Academy baseball team picked up a mid-week non-conference win on Wednesday with a 5-4 success against the University of Hartford. The Bears found themselves behind but came back to tie at multiple points during the contest before ultimately walking it off.
Coast Guard improves to 15-17 on the season, while Hartford moves to 19-13-1 overall. The Hawks will wrap up their season on Saturday at Conference of New England foes Gordon College (14-21).
After a scoreless top of the 1st by
Harrison Milbert (Kingston, Mass.), the Bears took an early lead by tacking one on in the bottom half.
Carson Cho (Haymarket, Va.) led off with a walk and advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt.
Max Van Auken (Franklinville, N.J.) moved Cho over with a single to left field before
Yadisson Karbalaiesghar (Coral Springs, Fla.) brought him home with a another one-bagger to left.
Patrick Joseph tied the game for Hartford in the top 2nd after he delivered an RBI single with no outs and the bases loaded. Milbert was able to get out of the inning without further damage by inducing a pop out followed by a double play. The Bears regained their lead in the bottom half after loading the bases themselves, thanks in part to two hit-by-pitches, before
Nate Stafford (Jupiter, Fla.) hit a sacrifice fly ball to center field to make it 2-1.
Hartford built a threat in the top of the 3rd, advancing runners to second and third with two outs before Cho stopped the tying run with a cross-body jump throw to end the inning. The Hawks were more successful in the top 4th by getting runners on first and second with one out and bringing one in with a single up the middle. With two down, a walk loaded the bases before another free pass gave Hartford the lead.
Coast Guard saw another pair of highlight defensive plays in the top 6th by third baseman
Luke Percifield (Pinellas Park, Fla.). The senior at the hot corner got the first out of the inning by making a diving stab at the ball before throwing over to beat the batter to first. He later made a pick on a hard-hit one-hopper to start off a classic 5-4-3 double play to get the Bears out of the inning.
Percifield would open the bottom half with an infield single before advancing to second on a passed ball, and then to third base on a
Connor Cilento (Point Pleasant, N.J.) sac bunt bunt. He'd cross the plate to tie the game at three when a routine fly ball off the bat of
Tate Scherer (Mystic, Conn.) was muffed.
Hartford loaded the bases again with one out to start the top of the 8th, and retook the lead with a sac fly to left field by
Alek Popovich.
Tyler Michalek (Fort Worth, Tex.) led off the bottom half by reaching on an error by second base. He was replaced on first by
Gus Barrido (Tampa, Fla.), who put himself in scoring position with a steal of second base and then came around on a Scherer single through the right side.
Jackson Dorsey (Newark, Del.) kept the score at four apiece with a 1-2-3 top of the 9th. Stafford led the bottom half off with a long double before Van Auken hit one to the same spot walk off the Hawks.
The Bears were limited to six hits, with Van Auken picking up two of them. Five of Coast Guard's baserunners reached on bean balls. Dorsey improved to 2-3 after 1.2 innings of scoreless ball in a Bears bullpen day that saw six men take the mound.
Jack Gausselin (Long Beach, Ind.) was a big piece, shutting out Hartford for three innings and striking out two.
Coast Guard baseball will wrap up their season on Saturday with two at non-conference side Rhode Island College (10-20). It will be the first match-ups between the two programs since 2022, when the Anchormen swept a mid-season twin bill.
