The UConn baseball team gave it their all in a hard-fought series against Cal on the road over the weekend, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough as the Golden Bears swept the Huskies.
In Game 1, the Hook C tabbed Gerrit Coe as their starter. Through three innings, the left-hander delivered just what his squad needed, hurling three straight scoreless innings. Meanwhile, on the offensive end, manager Jim Penders got just what he needed from his guys as Jake Studley gave his team a 1-0 lead via a solo shot. Just two innings later, Ryan Daniels had a massive opportunity with the bases loaded and he took advantage, smacking a hit toward the first base gap for a one out double to score two.
Headed into the fourth, Connecticut had a 3-0 lead and plenty of momentum, yet that would all vanish in the blink of an eye. With Coe still pitching, Cal would explode for four runs, highlighted by two big home runs by Rodney Green Jr. and Peyton Schulze respectively. That offensive surge from the Golden Bears in the bottom of the fourth would be the difference-maker in just one game of an incredibly eventful series.
Despite a Matt Garbowski solo shot in the top of the fifth, it was Cal that was once again able to crack the formula of Coe, grabbing an additional two runs off the bat off Seth Gwynn with two outs in the bottom of the inning.
Thanks to some additional insurance runs in the late stretch of game one and some insurance runs off a fourth home run from Ryan Tayman, that would be all she wrote for the Hook C as the home squad grabbed the win to start the weekend.
Remarkably, this game paled in comparison to games two and three of the series.
Game two had Ian Cooke taking the mound and while Coe was able to pitch efficiently through three innings in game one, the 6-1 junior was unable to make it through just two innings. After surrendering five runs to the Golden Bears, Connecticut headed to the bullpen and replaced Coe with Ben Schild. Following another run from Cal, UConn now had an eight-run deficit to overcome, but the program was not ready to go down without a heroic effort.
That surge in effort started with catcher Matt Malcom, who drilled a ball to left field for Connecticut’s first run of the game. Shortly after, outfielder Caleb Shpur added some extra offense with a sacrifice fly, bringing in Korey Morton for two runs on the day. Following another RBI from Malcom, the deficit was cut to five for the Huskies.
Yet Cal answered right back with four runs of their own, pushing the deficit back up to a sizable nine point lead. All hope felt lost for the Hook C, yet just when things seemed at their lowest, Connecticut’s offense started to roar.
Led by the play of Morton, the Huskies plated eight total runs in the fifth and sixth innings. The senior outfielder would be responsible for half of those runs, highlighted by a monster three-run bomb that cut the deficit to just one. A scoreless bottom of the sixth set up a situation for Studley to make it a tied ball game and with two outs in the inning, the graduate transfer mimicked his teammate in the outfield with a solo shot to set the at 12 a piece.
Unfortunately for UConn, the squad would be unable to gain an edge in the final innings, giving up three total runs to surrender the momentum they’d built for themselves and the game. Just like that, Cal had taken two games in a row for the series and were looking for more.
Amazingly enough, Sunday’s contest may have been more heartbreaking than Saturday’s thriller. While the Huskies weren’t able to get the pitching they wanted throughout the weekend, the final game of the series was finally a breath of fresh air, courtesy of the play of Stephen Quigley. Through six innings, the former First-Team All–Big East member was solid, giving up just two runs through his start.
Unfortunately for Quigley and Connecticut, the offense couldn’t quite break through. That was until very late in the game as the Golden Bears held a very narrow one-run lead. It would be Tyler Minick who tied the game with an RBI single to bring in Morton. Suddenly the Huskies had life, and they weren’t done just yet. Sophomore Ryan Daniels secured another single to bring in Drew Kron and give the team the lead.
Unfortunately though, in the top of the seventh, Cal was able to plate two more runs via a three run dinger from Caleb Lovita. Suddenly, Connecticut was in a difficult spot and the program needed two additional runs to have a shot at not getting swept.
Those two runs would come soon after from catcher Matt Garbowski, who got his squad back in the game with a two run bomb to also score Maddix Dalena. However, it would be the Golden Bears that would have the last laugh.
With Brady Afthim on the mound and one out, Rodney Green Jr. would play hero ball and bat a single to bring in Jack Johnston, winning the game and officially securing a sweep of UConn.
As the tough weekend passes them by, the Hook C will look to bounce back next weekend against Auburn in Alabama.