The two teams will battle it out Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. on the CCSU baseball field. (File/The Daily Campus)
Due to yet another impending Nor’easter, the Huskies baseball team will take on CCSU Tuesday. The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday, which is when the storm is expected to hit.
Earlier this month, the Huskies had to postpone their game against Quinnipiac to April 4.
UConn (9-7) is coming off a series win against St. John’s. They started off slow Friday, losing 14-4 behind poor defense and pitching. But the team grinded out a 1-0 win behind sophomore Mason Feole, who struck out eight batters over six shutout innings. He was named to the American Conference Honor Roll for his performance.
Feole said that the team was focused on playing hard after losing 14-4.
“(My focus is on) just competing,” Feole said in an interview on the team’s YouTube page. “Execute pitches from both sides of the plate and just go after every hitter. Just trying to go out there and get our guys pumped up and ready to win a baseball game.”
UConn head coach Jim Penders said Feole was able to execute and use his emotions to fuel the team’s success.
CCSU (3-7) is coming off two losses against LIU Brooklyn, but will host the Huskies in their home opener. Mitch Guilmette is the team’s leading source of power with four homers to go with two doubles and is hitting .243/.349/.622. They lack speed as a team, having only swiped eight bases. However, they do not allow many stolen bases (4) to opponents.
Starting pitcher Mike Appel has made the most starts for the team (4) and leads the squad in ERA (5.30). As a unit, the pitching staff has not been exactly lights out. Opposing offenses have been able to score 5.79 earned runs per game against them
Offensively, the Huskies are led by senior Troy Stefanski and junior Zac Susi. Stefanski has three dingers and is hitting .345/.371/.517. Susi has two doubles, eight RBIs, while hitting .333/.385/.367. Senior Isaac Feldstein leads the team with six homers and 16 RBIs.
Feole leads UConn’s starting pitchers with a 3.45 ERA to go with 31 strikeouts while going 3-0. Junior Tim Cate is the team’s ace, but has gotten off to a bit of a rocky start. He leads the squad with 36 strikeouts, but has a 4.85 ERA. It is expected that he will be able to get on track sooner rather than later.
The two teams will battle it out Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. on the CCSU baseball field.
Michael Logan is a staff writer for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at michael.logan@uconn.edu.
