UConn catcher Zac Susi swings at a pitch during a 4-3 win over Quinnipiac on Apr. 17 at J.O. Christian Field in Storrs. (File Photo/The Daily Campus)
The UConn baseball team traveled to Houston to play an important conference series after finals week in Storrs. Despite an extra-inning game on Friday and an eight-run loss on Saturday, the Huskies rebounded and avoided a sweep by winning game three on Sunday afternoon.
In Friday’s game, UConn (25-10, 10-8 the American) was down 5-0 through five innings. The Cougars, who received votes in last week’s USA Today Coaches’ Poll, scored three in the first off Huskies starter Tim Cate. Cate pitched eight innings and threw 113 pitches, giving up 11 hits, three walks and five runs (four earned) while striking out nine.
The Huskies cut the deficit to 5-2 with a RBI double from Conor Moriarty in the seventh. UConn tied the game in the ninth with three runs on five hits, including RBI singles from Alex LeFevre and Isaac Feldstein. The game went to extra innings, where Houston won the game on a bases loaded walk.
Freshman Mason Feole pitched six innings for the Huskies on Saturday, allowing six runs (five earned) on six hits and four walks and striking out seven. Tyler Gnesda was responsible UConn’s only RBI of the game with a single in the fourth to plate Feldstein. Six Huskies recorded a hit in the 9-1 defeat.
In Sunday’s series finale, UConn scored six runs in the final three innings to avoid being swept. Moriarty hit a two-run home run to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead in the seventh. The Cougars responded in the bottom half of the frame and tied the ball game up on a Joe Davis solo home run.
UConn scored four runs on four hits in the eighth inning, taking the lead on a RBI single from Feldstein. Gnesda and Troy Stefanski followed with RBI singles of their own later in the inning.
Wills Montgomerie got the start for the Huskies, pitching six innings and allowing just two runs on six hits while striking out seven. Montgomerie came away with a no-decision due to the late offensive production from the Huskies. UConn is now 10-2 in games that Montgomerie starts this season.
Next up for UConn is a midweek game against in-state rival Sacred Heart on Tuesday at J.O. Christian Field.
Josh Buser is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at joshua.buser@uconn.edu.