Seton Hall walked off the first half of the Saturday doubleheader, but UConn baseball rallied in the second game of the twin bill, and when combined with a victory in the opener, took the series on the road from the Pirates. The Huskies got a trio of three pitching performances to measure up against a strong Seton Hall pitching staff.
Friday: UConn 4, Seton Hall 3
UConn trailed 3-1 with six outs to go, but the visiting Huskies scored three runs in the final two frames to run their winning streak to nine games.
Paul Tammaro and Luke Broadhurst singled to begin the eighth, but after a strikeout, it looked like Bryan Padilla was going to ground into an inning-ending double play. However, third baseman Zack Sylvester sailed the throw, which was one of four Seton Hall errors on the day. Tammaro crossed the plate to make it a one-run game and Broadhurst settled on third. That was enough to tie the game, as Maddix Dalena recorded an infield single.
The following frame, Matt Malcom reached on another miscue and Drew Kron came on to pinch run. Caleb Shpur executed the sacrifice bunt to get him into scoring position. Tammaro came to the plate next and his grounder got under a diving Sylvester at third, which was enough to score the go-ahead run.
Seton Hall had two hits in the first to plate a run, but Quigley had another strong start, his second straight in the Friday role. He was able to go eight innings, striking out five with zero walks. He surrendered six hits and three runs.
UConn, on the other hand, struggled to solve the Pirates’ pitching through the first seven frames. Despite two errors, the only scoring the Huskies had was an unearned run in the third that came on a sacrifice fly. Jackson Balzan, who handled the first five innings, scattered four hits and no walks, while Nate Espelin had two hits and a walk over the sixth and seventh.
The Huskies also got runners to third in the fourth and fifth, with runners stranded on second in the sixth and seventh, but weren’t able to punch through until the final two frames.
Saturday Game 1: Seton Hall 2, UConn 1
With a full count and two down in the frame, Andrew Bianco snapped UConn’s nine-game winning streak, as he went the other way on a pitch down in the zone and it got just under the diving Maddix Dalena at first base. It was just enough to plate Cole Zak, who reached on an infield single to begin the frame and moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt.
It was a disappointing end to another strong outing by Garrett Coe, who delivered to home plate 124 times over eight innings. He scattered three hits and two walks in his outing, striking out seven with just one run.
The other run that Seton Hall scratched across came in the first, as he surrendered a pair of doubles. He allowed a third hit in the second and from there, it was smooth sailing. From there, he retired 10 straight Pirates, when a full-count walk snapped the streak.
Dalena committed a fielding error on the ensuing batter and a sacrifice bunt put a pair of runners in scoring position with just one down in the sixth. He struck out Joey Calabretti in a 12-pitch at-bat that included nine foul balls and induced a flyout to end the threat, holding the game tied.
UConn had similar problems with Seton Hall starter Ryan Reich, recording just three hits on the afternoon. All of them went on Reich’s ledger, who contributed six innings of work, striking out five Huskies. Michael Gillen walked a batter, but did not allow a hit in three innings of relief.
Bryan Padilla and Dalena each knocked two-baggers in the second to plate a run and from there, nothing was able to fall. Caleb Shpur worked a leadoff walk in the third and was able to reach third base with one out, but he was stranded. Jake Studley, who walked and stole second in the seventh, was the only other runner to reach scoring position.
Saturday Game 2: UConn 5, Seton Hall 2
Ian Cooke was just one out short of a complete game in the finale, carrying a shutout through 8 ⅔ innings. He surrendered just his fourth hit of the night, then walked the bases loaded. Dann Melnick singled on the first pitch to plate a pair of runs, which spelled the end of Cooke’s outing. Brady Afthim replaced him and needed just two pitches to record the final out with the tying run at the plate.
UConn was quiet early, going down in order in the first two frames before breaking through in the third as Jake Studley and Tyler Minick each doubled. Minick recorded another RBI two-bagger in the fifth, which was the theme of the afternoon. The Huskies would either go down without much incident or they would threaten to break the game open, but were unable to score more than one run in an inning.
The sixth was more like the former, then Minick got his third RBI in the seventh, this time on a single. The eighth was more of the latter. Jake Studley came up with two on and two out in the following frame and took the first pitch he saw up the middle to make it 4-0. Matt Garbowski then walked to load the bases, but Minick wasn’t able to come through for a fourth time, flying out.
The Huskies’ final run came in the ninth, as Morton singled home Paul Tammaro, but was retired trying to stretch a single into a double.
Meanwhile, Cooke was outstanding. Through the first eight innings, he allowed just three singles, neither of which were permitted to reach scoring position. He only walked the two batters to which he issued free passes in the ninth and struck out nine Pirates in what was unquestionably his best outing this season.
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UConn (27-19, 12-3 Big East) is back in action on Tuesday on the road against Northeastern. First pitch in Brookline, MA is at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on FloSports.
