Throughout the 2023 season, the offense served as the UConn baseball team’s primary weapon as they made it to the Gainesville Regional. Five different players who appeared in at least 50 games hit over .300, and the team’s 78 homers rank third in a single season in program history.
2024 started on a much different note.
The pitching staff had to step up with UConn’s offense struggling for most of the weekend—the Hook C batted .168 and stranded 17 runners across three games. UConn’s arms did just that. 10 pitchers combined for a 2.08 ERA as the Huskies went 2-1 in the USF Baseball Tournament in Tampa, Fla.
Junior ace Ian Cooke hurled his second-straight season-opening quality start. Cooke allowed three hits across six scoreless innings, walked two and struck out five.
The Louisville Cardinals nearly scored the game’s first run in the third inning on shortstop Gavin Kilen’s single. Leftfielder JT Benson misread the play, stopping at third before heading for home. By the time Benson touched the plate, graduate shortstop Paul Tammaro had tagged Kilen for the third out.
Connecticut had their chances with a runner on base in each of the first four innings. Southpaw Evan Webster held them scoreless every time. It was not until senior left fielder Korey Morton faced righty Kaleb Corbett with the bases empty in the fifth that the Hook C did damage. Morton smoked the first pitch he saw well over the left field wall for a 1-0 advantage.
Louisville responded in the seventh after UConn’s ace exited. Endicott transfer Gabe Van Emon ran into trouble in his Huskies’ debut when the Cardinals put two in scoring position. Tufts transfer Cameron Mayer entered and hit the first batter he faced to load the bases; catcher Matt Klein drove in two for a 2-1 Louisville lead.
Infielder Dylan Hoy’s RBI single gave the Cardinals a 3-1 advantage and had them threatening for much more.
Enter Ben Schild.
The first-year righty came in with runners on the corners and one down. He got out of it with a double play and subsequently struck out the side in the eighth.
It provided the spark for Connecticut’s offense.
Both Tammaro and Preseason Big East Player of the Year Jake Studley went yard, swiftly turning a two-run hole into a 3-3 ballgame. Fellow Endicott transfer Caleb Shpur pinch-ran for junior catcher Matt Garbowski in the bottom of the ninth, going from first to third on a stolen base and a groundout. Morton completed the Hook C’s 4-3 comeback victory with a walk-off single.
About an hour after that climactic contest, graduate southpaw Garrett Coe toed the rubber against the South Florida Bulls in his first-weekend start. UConn again drew first blood when sophomore second baseman Ryan Daniels looped an RBI single into shallow centerfield. Studley doubled the Huskies’ advantage an inning later with an opposite-field RBI single.
Coe’s only blemish in his 5.1 innings came in the fourth. Preseason All-AAC Team selection Bobby Boser belted a payoff pitch deep into the Tampa night with two down, splicing USF’s deficit in half.
The Bulls had a chance at tying the game in both the fifth and sixth innings. First baseman John Montes reached second and stole third on an error in the fifth with one down; the graduate lefty escaped the frame unscathed. Right fielder Drew Brutcher’s walk knocked out Coe and brought in redshirt sophomore righthander Thomas Ellisen with one away in the sixth.
Ellisen stood tall with two runners in scoring position, getting out of a jam with a groundout and a strikeout. The redshirt sophomore’s 2.2 scoreless innings kept Connecticut ahead by one, even with South Florida’s Mink twins dealing for most of the game.
The Hook C offense recorded just four hits in the nightcap, with Studley and Morton having two apiece. Those base knocks were enough as junior closer Brady Afthim struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth. His first career save secured UConn’s 2-1 win, their second over their former conference foe in three seasons.
The following afternoon, Indiana State Sycamores righthander Jacob Pruitt outdueled Preseason Big East Pitcher of the Year Stephen Quigley. Pruitt struck out nine and allowed two hits in six shutout innings. Quigley struck out five but allowed a run in 5.2 frames.
Both Huskies’ base knocks against the sophomore righty came second. Studley and sophomore first baseman Maddix Dalena each singled to the left side to put two runners on with nobody out. However, two quick groundouts got Pruitt out of the jam, and kept Connecticut off the board.
Indiana State made the Hook C pay in the bottom half. Redshirt senior left fielder Dom Listi ripped a double and reached third on a wild pitch. Catcher Grant Magill drove him home on a groundout. UConn put a runner in scoring position in the third and fourth, but the sophomore righty left them empty-handed both times.
Junior righty Joe Carrea relieved fellow junior Braden Quinn in the seventh following Listi’s walk. Indiana State moved him around the bases, doubling their advantage on redshirt sophomore Henry Brown’s RBI double. Van Emon retired all three batters he faced in the bottom of the eighth, giving the Huskies one final chance to go ahead in the top of the ninth.
Connecticut put runners on the corners with nobody out behind Tammaro’s double and Studley’s single, knocking righty Simon Gregerson out of the game.
Dalena’s RBI groundout cut Connecticut’s deficit in half, but it was all they could muster. Michigan State transfer Adam Berghorst got first-year third baseman Tyler Minick and Garbowski to fly out as the Hook C fell short 2-1.
UConn’s daunting non-conference slate next takes them to Berkeley, where they will play the California Golden Bears in a three-game set. All three contests will be broadcast on MIXLR.