The UConn baseball team (2-7) picked up its second win of the season after dropping the first two games of the Southern California Classic.
On Friday night, the Huskies faced the University of Southern California (USC) (8-1) at Great Park in Irvine, Calif.
Connecticut jumped out to an early lead in the second inning on a two-out double by freshman catcher Connor Lane. Later in the inning, the Huskies’ lead doubled to 2-0 thanks to junior first baseman Maddix Dalena, who scored on a wild pitch.
Oliver Pudvar seized the opportunity of making his first career start, with a season-high five strikeouts in three innings.
USC pulled ahead of UConn and never looked back. The fourth inning included a massive rally for the Trojans, who scored three runs off left-handed pitcher Cayden Suchy. While Suchy gave up three runs in an inning, head coach Jim Penders trusted him to settle in, which he did. Suchy held USC scoreless for the next two innings and finished the night with five strikeouts.
Sophomore infielder Tyler Minick cut Connecticut’s deficit to one run with a sacrifice fly to left field in the fifth inning, but USC scored five unanswered runs going into the ninth inning.
Redshirt freshman Rob Rispoli made the most of his pinch-hit opportunity, hitting an RBI single to drive in his first career run. Graduate student outfielder Caleb Shpur followed up with an RBI single to cut the Huskies’ deficit to three runs. It was the East Canaan, Conn. native’s third hit of the night.
With the potential tying run on deck, freshman utility player Anthony Belisario looked to continue the rally, as he pinch-hit for graduate student outfielder Sam Biller. However, he popped up to second base, ending UConn’s hopes of starting their West Coast trip with a win.
The Huskies played the next two games at Jackie Robinson Stadium on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus. UConn met up with the UCLA Bruins (8-3) for the second game of the weekend.
Like the night before, Connecticut scored first. Minick hit a solo home run for his fourth homer of the season. The Reading, Pa. native put up three hits, driving in a run off a single in the seventh inning that cut the Huskies’ deficit to two.
Senior starting pitcher Ian Cooke stood strong for 4.2 innings, the longest outing for a UConn starting pitcher. Graduate student Gabe Van Emon (1.2 innings, one unearned run), redshirt sophomore Jude Abbadessa (one scoreless inning) and sophomore JT Caruso (0.2 innings, one strikeout) lent their arms as well, with Caruso making his UConn debut after spending the 2024 season at the University of Miami.
Rispoli came up clutch, with a multi-hit game on Saturday. He hit his first career home run, a two-run shot, in the fifth inning that knotted the game at three runs apiece. Along with the Staten Island, N.Y. native, junior Gran MacArthur also recorded a multi-hit effort.
UCLA put the Huskies’ hopes away in the fifth inning with a five-run frame, all of which came with two outs. It did not help that UConn misplayed some of the plays on the field.
Connecticut got on the board on Sunday afternoon as they faced the Vanderbilt Commodores (9-3) in Los Angeles.
Like the first two games, UConn scored first, with MacArthur hitting an RBI single in the top of the first inning.
Vanderbilt answered with an RBI single of their own in the bottom of the first inning and took a 2-1 lead off an RBI double in the bottom of the second inning.
That would end up being the final run the Commodores scored. Junior infielder Ryan Daniels hit a solo shot in the top of the fourth inning. Later in the inning, graduate student infielder Bryan Padilla hit a two-run home run that gave UConn a 4-2 cushion.
That cushion improved with Biller homering in the top of the fifth inning. In the top of the sixth inning, a wild pitch allowed Padilla to score for the second time of the afternoon.
Redshirt junior pitcher Thomas Ellison earned the win after pitching six innings and striking out five batters. Senior right-hander Brady Afthim helped out on the mound with two scoreless innings, striking out four batters.
Next weekend, UConn will head to Coral Gables, Fla. to play a three-game series against Miami — a homecoming trip for Caruso.