Eight weeks ago, three University of Connecticut athletic programs battled the Providence Friars five times in four days. While the No. 1 overall seed UConn men’s basketball team is currently up in Boston, the UConn baseball team welcomed two programs from Beantown to Elliot Ballpark. Unlike their home opener last Wednesday, neither midweek contest ended in victory.
First-year righty Ben Schild walked the first two batters he faced Tuesday afternoon against the Boston College Eagles. Second baseman Bryan Padilla prevented either runner from touching home with a 4-3 double play. Boston College instead struck first in the second inning. First-year right fielder Adam Magpoc stole second base and took third on a throwing error, scoring on Owen DeShazo’s RBI squeeze.
Connecticut countered in the bottom half. Junior catcher Matt Garbowski redeemed his defensive miscue on a 1-1 count with Hook C runners on the corners, whacking an opposite-field, game-tying RBI single past a diving Sam McNulty. Eagles righty Kyle Kipp relieved Brian McMonagle after he collected two straight outs; Padilla smacked his first pitch straight down Broadway for a go-ahead RBI single.
Schild was one strike away from working around a leadoff base on balls in the fourth when McNulty mashed a single. Head coach Jim Penders brought in righty Ian Cooke following that base knock. That is when things started to unravel for UConn. Two pitches after Patrick Roche’s walk loaded the bases, Cameron Leary laced a grand slam over the right field wall for a 5-2 Eagles advantage.
Designated hitter Luke Broadhurst tried to give the Huskies’ one of those runs back in the bottom half, leading the frame off with a walk and swiping second. Kipp kept Broadhurst at third. Connecticut instead responded in the fifth against righty Travis Lane, knocking him out of the game almost immediately behind consecutive free passes.
Gavin Hasche walked Paul Tammaro on four straight pitches to load the bases with nobody out; two of them scored. Korey Morton drove in one on a fielder’s choice while first baseman Maddix Dalena followed suit with a sacrifice fly that made it a 5-4 ballgame. Junior southpaw Braden Quinn relieved Cooke in the seventh inning, running into trouble when Leary and Kyle Wolff singled on consecutive pitches. Although Leary stole third, the Hook C went around the horn for the inning-ending double play.
Tammaro walked and stole second in the bottom half with two down. Jordan Fisse left him right there when he struck Morton out swinging. Both teams put a runner on third in the eighth, with the Eagles’ Austin Hartsell swiping two bases and Dalena doubling in the bottom half. Neither of them touched home plate. Brady Afthim relieved Quinn in the ninth and nearly got out of a bases-loaded jam unscathed when Parker Landwehr hit his 0-2 pitch.
But UConn committed an error on the play, giving Boston College two essential insurance runs. Eric Schroeder subsequently retired the side in the bottom half for the two-inning save as the Eagles bested the Huskies 7-4.
Infield miscues again plagued Connecticut in the first inning versus the Northeastern Huskies the following afternoon. Graduate lefty Gabe Van Emon nearly got out of a two-runner jam, but Alex Lane’s line drive went through Ryan Daniels’ glove, bringing Tyler MacGregor home unearned. Jack Doyle continued making the Hook C pay for their mistake with an RBI groundout.
Right fielder Jake Studley prevented righty Michael Gemma from striking out the side with a single in the second, taking second base on Broadhurst’s five-pitch walk. Team captain Ryan Hyde subsequently hammered Gemma’s 2-0 pitch, equalizing the contest at two on a loud double that nearly got out. It did not take long for Northeastern to get their lead back, however, as Doyle drove in Mike Sirota on a fielder’s choice in the third.
Northeastern’s senior starter mowed down UConn’s hitters over the next two frames, setting the stage for his team to break the game open. Van Emon hit Harrison Feinberg and Luke Beckstein on back-to-back pitches, forcing Penders to turn to the bullpen after he walked Sirota to load the bases. In came redshirt sophomore Tommy Ellisen, whose first pitch doubled Northeastern’s one-run advantage when Lane hit a sacrifice fly.
Doyle struck again two pitches later. The junior third baseman cleared the left-field fence on a 1-0 pitch for a three-run shot that put Northeastern ahead 7-2. Ellisen quickly stopped the bleeding when Carmelo Musacchia grounded out.
Just because they were down five does not mean that Connecticut was out of it, however. Padilla doubled on the first pitch he saw with two away in the bottom half, smoking it far enough for center fielder Caleb Shpur to sprint from first to home.
The Hook C kept their comeback efforts rolling as rain began falling in Storrs. Studley and Broadhurst started UConn’s half of the seventh with consecutive singles, moving one base closer to home on Hyde’s groundout. Shpur pulled Connecticut within three when he lined one to the shortstop, but it was all they could muster.
Graduate righty Cooper McGrath entered in a save situation in the ninth with Northeastern ahead 7-4. McGrath got Dalena to pop out to third and punched out Hyde three batters later, but he could not seal the deal. Facing an 0-1 count and with the Hook C down to their final out, Shpur ripped a two-run double down the left field line. UConn, down five in the fifth, had pulled within one and possessed momentum.
Junior Jack Beauchesne relieved his veteran teammate following that double. He stood tall against Padilla, who hit a foul ball into MacGregor’s mitt at first as Northeastern held off Connecticut’s comeback efforts 7-6.
The Hook C have Easter Weekend off, but non-conference action ramps right back up when they welcome the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils on April 1. First pitch Monday from Storrs is at 3:05 p.m. on UConn+.