Burlington, Vt. — Teddy Hoffman lined a two-out base hit to center field in the ninth inning to score the go-ahead and insurance runs as the Connecticut Tigers stunned a crowd of 3,312 at Centennial Field with an 8-6 victory over the Vermont Lake Monsters.

Trailing 5-0 in the fifth, Connecticut began to chip away at the lead with hits from Andres Sthormes, Will Savage and Dylan Rosa. Coupled with a fielder's choice and one of six Vermont errors, the Tigers got within two at 5-3.

After Vermont added a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-3, Connecticut inched closer in the eighth after Reynaldo Rivera reached on a error, Hoffman walked and Sthormes grounded out to bring home Rivera. Savage then reached on yet another miscue by the Lake Monsters, scoring Hoffman to cut the deficit to 6-5 heading to the ninth.

In the ninth, Luke Burch and pinch hitter Jordan Pearce produced one-out singles. Another Vermont error brought home Burch with the tying run and, after a Cam Warner walk loaded the bases with two outs, Hoffman delivered his biggest hit of the year, a line drive into center field to bring home pinch runner Ro Coleman and Colby Bortles.

Drew Carlton (1-0) threw two scoreless innings to pick up hist first win as a Tiger, while Brandon Kelliher (2-2) took the loss for Vermont, which now leads Connecticut by four games in the Stedler Division standings heading into game two of the series Sunday afternoon.