HAMBURG, N.Y. – After falling 6-1 in the first game, the Hilbert College baseball team opened the second game of the double header on fire and built a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning to cruise to a 10-4 nightcap victory over Mount Aloysius College April 19.  The Hawks surprised the Mounties and earned their first Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference win after honoring their five senior teammates between the games.

John Babocsi, Tom Irish, Sean McGrath, Joe Pernick and Ryan Tofil were recognized for their commitment to the Hawks baseball program on the sunny but breezy afternoon in between the two games.  Their ceremony gave new life to the team as they came out on fire in the second game of the day.

Anthony Wurstner singled through the left side to set the tone in the bottom of the first inning.  After the next two batters walked and now that bases were loaded, Kevin Moore's single to center field pushed everyone around the diamond.  John Babocsi hit a 2RBI single and advanced to second on the throw.  Bonafede and Pernick, the two who earned the free walk to first base, scored the next two runs thanks to Babocsi's hit.  After a quick pitcher change, Sal Carroccia singled to center and knocked in Moore and Babocsi.  Carroccia advanced to second base when Michael Best grounded out and then made it to third base after Noah Rasnik singled back to center field again.  While Rasnik distracted the Mounties with a second-base steal, Carroccia stole home for the sixth run of the inning.

After a quiet second inning by both teams Mount Aloysius posted two runs in the top of the third and two more in the top of the fourth.  That was it for the visitors.

Bonafede got another hit to start the fifth before the Hawks found themselves down in the count with two quick outs. Babocsi singled to the shortstop and Bonafede moved to third.  Carroccia got things moving again with a hit up the middle for the run to count.  Best's RBI hit back to center field scored Babocsi and when Rasnik singled to the pitcher, the Hawks had the bases loaded again.  Paul Wujek hit the Hawks first double of the day and scored Best and Carroccia for the 10th run by the bottom of the fifth inning.

Justin Crawley faced four batters in the top of the 6th and 7th to starve off a come-back.   The rookie pitcher went the full seven innings and faced 35 batters while giving up seven hits for four runs.

Sal Carroccia went 2 for 3 with 3RBI's and scored twice  while John Babocsi matched the 2 for 3 hitting with 2RBI's and scored twice.  Joe Pernick also connected for two hits with a late-game double. 

Earlier in the morning, Mount Aloysius didn't take control of the opening game until the top of the seventh inning.  The Mounties scored one run in the second inning and added three more in the top of the sixth.  The visitors added two more tallies in the last inning and hung on for the 6-1 victory.

Mount Aloysius finished with ten hits while Hilbert connected for eight, but only found home once.

Hilbert was knocking on the scoring door in the bottom of the fifth, when Michael Vogel singled to right field was followed by Sean McGrath's single to left. Wurstner reached on a fielding error which loaded bases, but Bonafede flew out to right field for the end of the inning.

The game ended with Hilbert's Wujek and Wurstner each hitting singles.  Bonafede followed up with a hit to send in Wujek to break into the scoring column.

Wurstner and Bonafede went 2 for 4.

Matt Goraj pitched a great game going 5.1 innings giving up seven hits with four runs and two strikeouts.  Tyler Wangler took over the last 1.2 innings with three hits and two runs.

Hilbert returns to action this week when they host Penn State Behrend Tuesday, travel to D'Youville Wednesday and host Brockport next Sunday.