The University of Connecticut baseball team went 2-1 over the weekend while facing the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Bainton Field in Piscataway, New Jersey.
Game one took place on Friday, where the Huskies and the Scarlet Knights went back and forth in a scoreless affair until the seventh inning. In the bottom of the frame, Rutgers got on the board after Tony Santa Maria swatted a solo home run over the right field wall to make it 1-0. Rutgers would tack on two more after Ty Doucette singled home a run, and a Johnny Volpe suicide squeeze bunt scampered home another run. The Hook C was held scoreless during the contest, wrestling in a 3-0 loss.
UConn starter Gabe Van Emon held the home team in check until the seventh inning. Scarlet Knights starter Justin Sinibaldi was electric against Connecticut, pitching a complete game shutout while yielding just four hits and one walk. He struck out nine batters en route to the win.
The Huskies offense showed more life in Saturday’s game, too, but not enough to slow down Rutgers’ hot bats. The Scarlet Knights jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the second following a Cameron Love RBI double, RJ Johnson RBI double and a two-run home run from Trevor Cohen. A two-run home run by Brian Padilla in the top of the third inning cut the deficit in half, but Rutgers’ Jackson Natili smacked a two-run home run of his own and Doucette singled in two more in the third and fourth innings to bring the score to 8-2.
A Korey Morton infield single in the top of the fifth gave the Huskies their third run. Still, two more runs from the Scarlet Knights in the bottom of the sixth made the score 10 to three. In the top of the eighth, T.C. Simmons scored on a passed ball before Maddix Delena smacked a solo home run to again cut the deficit in half, 10 to five. However, in the bottom of the inning, Natili singled in another run before Johnson Jr. scampered two more runs in on his own infield single to give the home team 13 runs. Connecticut put one more run on the board in the top of the ninth, but that was not nearly enough, as they lost by a 13-6 final.
Garrett Coe took the loss for the Hook C after managing 3.2 Innings while allowing eight runs to score on eight hits and four walks. He also struck out three batters. Christian Coppola received the win for Rutgers after 5.2 innings, which allowed three runs on five hits and two walks, striking out six. Jake Marshall received the save after 3.1 innings of work, allowing three runs. Morton had three hits for Connecticut, while Johnson Jr., Doucette and Natili all had three RBIs apiece for the home squad.
The Huskies bounced back with a win in game three of the series. Morton scored with an RBI single in the top of the first inning. Connecticut and Rutgers went back and forth without scoring until the top of the eighth inning, when a Padilla home run, Delena RBI fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly by Luke Broadhurst scored two more runs to make the score 5-0 in favor of UConn. Natili answered with a solo home run at the bottom of the frame, but Paul Tammaro doubled one more run at the top of the ninth frame to see a 5-1 victory.
Connecticut starter Steven Quigley was lights out on the bump, pitching a complete game. He allowed just one run to score while scattering five hits and just one walk, striking out for batters in the win. Zack Konstantinovsky was on the hook for the loss for the Scarlet Knights despite a solid effort in which he allowed just one run and struck out six in 5.1 innings the Rutgers bullpen combined to allow for runs to score in 3.2 minutes.
After the weekend, the Hook C is now 9-13 on the season. Rutgers moves to 17-7 after a solid showing on their home turf.
UConn will return to Storrs for two midweek matchups this week, starting with the Boston College Golden Eagles on Tuesday and followed by the Northeastern Huskies on Wednesday. Both games will take place at Elliot Ballpark at 3:05 p.m.