The University of Connecticut baseball team managed a 1-2 record over the weekend while facing the No. 23 Auburn Tigers at Plainsman Park in Auburn, Alabama.
Game one of the three-game series was originally set for Friday before rain postponed the event to Saturday, resulting in a doubleheader.
Hook C’s Jake Studley got the scoring started in game one with a solo home run off of Tigers’ starter Chase Allsup. It was all Auburn after that, as the Tigers tied the game on an RBI groundout by Bobby Pierce in the bottom of the first before taking a 2-1 lead on a Cooper Weiss solo home run in the bottom of the third. In the fifth, Weiss drove in another run via a sacrifice fly before Pierce swatted a two-run homer to left-center and inflated Auburn’s lead to 5-1. Auburn wasn’t done as in the bottom of the eighth; Mason Maners scampered two more runs home on a single. Maners came around to score on a single by Weiss, making the score 8-1. John Armstrong navigated the final three innings out of Auburn’s bullpen to close the door and cement the game as a one-win.
Allsup received the win on the bump after bouncing back from the Studeley homer to pitch six strong frames. In total, the right-hander allowed one run on six hits and two walks, striking out six Huskies. Armstrong was credited with a save with the multi-inning effort. Garrett Coe started for Connecticut and was able to work through 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out two but was on the hook for the loss. Thomas Ellisen entered the game in relief of Coe and also allowed four runs in three innings. Both Weiss and Peirce drove in three runs for the Tigers with Maners driving in two himself while tallying a game-high three hits.
When game two was initiated later in the day, the action from game one carried straight into the first inning. Connecticut got on the board quickly after Luke Broadhurst singled two runs home in the top of the first. Matt Garbowski brought another run home on a groundout to make the score 3-0. The runs kept coming after a Matt Malcolm single drove in another run before Ryan Daniels cranked a two-run homer over the right field wall, making the score 6-0 UConn in the top of the first. The Tigers answered in the bottom of the frame with an Ike Irish solo home run and a Cooper McMurray two-run bomb, making the score 6-3 Huskies after one inning. Connecticut kept the foot on the gas as Broadhurst drove in another run on a single in the top of the second before a no-doubt solo home run by Malcom in the top of the third made the score 8-3 in favor of UConn. Auburn would score one more run on an RBI walk in the bottom of the eighth but could not surmount a comeback, securing the 8-4 win for the Huskies.
After Connecticut starter Ian Cooke was unable to escape the first inning, Gabe Van Emon entered the game in relief and put a stop to the Auburn offense. He won after working through 5.1 innings over which he allowed no runs on just three hits and two walks, striking out six Tigers. Brady Afthim was credited with the save after striking out three batters and allowing no runs over the final 1.1 innings. Auburn starter Joseph Gonzalez received the loss after allowing six runs to score in less than one inning. Both Broadhurst and Malcolm tallied three hits and multiple RBIs in the game, with Broadhurst driving in three and Malcom driving in two.
Game three took place Sunday afternoon. The Tigers got on the board quickly via a three-run home run from Deric Fabian in the bottom of the first. Connecticut cut into the lead as Malcolm smacked his second solo homer of the series in the second before Broadhurst scampered home a run with a single in the bottom of the fifth to bring the score to 3-2 Auburn. The home team bounced right back though with Maners scoring on an error in the sixth before Irish smacked a two-run home run later in the frame. Irish was not done, coming back up in the bottom of the eight and hitting yet another two-run home run to inflate Auburn’s lead to 8-2, which ended up being the final score.
Stephen Quigley took the bump for the Hook C and received the loss after going for 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks while also striking out two. He was credited with the loss. For Auburn, Cam Tilly was able to work through four innings of relief, receding the win after allowing just one run, one three hits and a walk, striking out two.
The weekend performance moves the Huskies’ record to 3-6 in the early going of the campaign. The Hook C will continue their early season road trip with three games against the University of California Santa Barbara next weekend.