SMITHFIELD, R.I. — No. 3 Hartford used clutch hitting and a solid bullpen to defeat the No. 6 Roger Williams University Baseball team, 5–2, in the opening round of the Conference of New England (CNE) Baseball Tournament on Wednesday at Conaty Park on the Campus of Bryant University.

Hartford (19–20, 9-7 CNE) scored in four separate innings and held off Roger Williams, who stranded 16 runners on base. Jake Santiago led the way at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run and two RBIs. Ryan Knight doubled twice and scored twice, while Tyler Shannon went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a stolen base.

On the bump, Anthony Bubba (5–1) picked up the win after working six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and six walks. Michael Featherston notched his third save with a clean ninth.

For Roger Williams, Louie Mosca (1–1) suffered the loss for the Hawks, giving up four runs, three earned, over six innings. Nick Gleason allowed one run in two innings of relief.

At the plate, Dennis Folan went 2-for-5 with an RBI, and catcher Braeden Ventura added two hits, including a double. Owen Hibbard reached base three times with a hit, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch, while shortstop Ethan Keeney also chipped in two hits.

Hartford opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single from Santiago following a two-out error. In the second, the Hawks extended the lead to 3–0 on a groundout RBI by Jack Kaplan and a two-out single from Josh Romatzick.

Roger Williams responded in the third with a sacrifice fly by Nick Sheehan and an RBI single from Dennis Folan to cut the deficit to 3–2. Santiago struck again in the fifth with a solo home run to left, giving Hartford a 4–2 lead, before Tyler Shannon added an insurance run in the eighth with a two-out RBI infield single to cap the scoring at 5–2.

Roger Williams (14-22, 6-10 CNE) will face the loser of Game #3 of the bracket between either No. 5 Suffolk or No. 3 Western New England against host No. 1 Endicott.