The Hornets scored seven runs twice in the game to lead them to a 20-4 win over Long Island today at Soldier Field. The Hornets improved to 3-14 with the win while Long Island drops to 4-12.

The Hornets headed into the third inning with a 2-0 lead over Long Island when the bats started to light up. The inning started with a single to right field by Jimmie Johnson.

Justin Bittner then reached on an error by the second baseman, moving Johnson over to third. Alex Carter walked to load the bases. He was followed by Jarrett Bibb, who hit a single to the left side scoring Johnson and Bittner. Then Jose Portela hit a 3-run homerun to right field.

Long Island’s starting pitcher Jesse Johnson was replaced by John Masklee. He started by walking Jamie Friel. Chris Kidd singled to third base. Jose Sanchez popped up to the pitcher. Troy Drummond sacrificed himself to move Friel to third and Kidd to second. Johnson then hit a single to the short stop scoring Friel. Bittner hit a double to the left side scoring Kidd.

Carter ended the inning by grounding out to the shortstop. The Hornets would go on to score seven more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and four runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Long Island scored two runs in the top of the fourth when Greg DeSantis hit a double to left center scoring Danny Etkin and Gerard Tingos. They later scored two more runs in the top of the eight. Tingos scored on a sacrifice fly by Etkin. Then DeSantis hit a single to right field scoring Frank DiMasi.

JR McAllister (1-1) was the winning pitcher for the Hornets, going eight innings, giving up four runs and striking out nine. Tony Tevis pitched one inning of scoreless relief in the top of the ninth.

The losing pitcher for Long Island was Johnson, who went two innings and gave up seven runs. They used five relief pitchers on the day.

Leading the offense for the Hornets was Portela and Bibb. Portela went 1-for-3 with 3 runs scored, 4 RBI’s, 3 walks and 1 homerun. Bibb was 4-for-6 with 2 runs scored and 4 RBI’s.

DeSantis led the offense for Long Island, going 2-for-3 with 3 RBI’s.

The Hornets return to play on Sunday with a doubleheader against Bucknell beginning at noon at Soldier Field.