During spring break at the University of Connecticut, the UConn baseball team went on their annual eight games in 11 days stretch. In that week, the Huskies went up against Campbell, Duke, North Carolina and UNC Greensboro, all in North Carolina.
The week started in Buies Creek, NC at Campbell on Friday, March 14. In the series opener against the Fighting Camels, the Huskies secured the 6-5 win at Jim Perry Stadium. Redshirt sophomore LHP Oliver Pudvar had the start for UConn and earned his second-straight victory with 6.0 innings of one run ball and he posted a career-high in strikeouts with eight. In the fourth inning, the Huskies scored all six of their runs with 11 batters coming to the plate. Sophomore Tyler Minick and junior Ryan Daniels led the inning with back-to-back singles and both came around to score after junior Grant MacArthur hit a double to take the 2-1 lead. UConn extended their lead on a bunt base hit from junior Aidan Doughertythat was thrown down the right field line to graduate student Bryan Padilla. The inning continued after graduate student outfielder Sa Biller hit an RBI single to make the score 4-1. To push the lead to 5-1, freshman Connor Lane hit an RBI safety squeeze and then Minick finished the offense of the inning with an RBI single to right field, putting the Huskies up 6-1 over the Fighting Camels.
Senior Brady Afthim came in for relief and earned his first save of the year, his ninth of his career by recording the six final outs of the game. Campbell got the bases loaded with two outs and Afthim allowed a ground out to second base to seal the 6-5 victory in the first game of the spring break stretch.
The Huskies continued the series against Campbell on Saturday with a double header Buies Creek, NC. In the doubleheader, after having the lead in both games, the Huskies were not able to get the job done and were swept by Campbell, leading them to lose the weekend series. In game one, UConn led 6-5 as they entered the bottom of the eighth inning, but they ultimately fell 7-6 in 10 innings against Campbell. In game two of the day, the Huskies led the Camels 5-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. Freshman LHP Cayden Suchy made his first career start for the Huskies and he did not allow a hit until the fifth inning of the game. Dougherty drove in a pair of runs, graduate student Beau Root hit a two-run single in the sixth inning. However, Campbell had an offensive explosion with a six-run inning and the Huskies were not able to make a comeback. Campbell secured the 8-5 win and they clinched the series victory which closed out the weekend.
With off days on Sunday and Monday, UConn traveled over to a different area of North Carolina for two mid-week matchups. On Tuesday, March 18, the Huskies took on Duke in Durham, NC at Jack Coombs Field.
In the game against Duke, UConn scored a season-low two runs on four hits. Senior Matt Garbowski and redshirt freshman Rob Rispoli produced a pair of RBI singles. In Durham, redshirt freshman Kyle Peters tossed a career-high 1.2 innings and redshirt freshman Frank Spirito IV pitched a career-high 1.1 innings with his first career strikeout. UConn had no offensive spark and fell to Duke 12-2 on Tuesday.
However, on Wednesday, March 19, the Huskies continued their trip and wound up in Chapel Hill, NC to face off against No. 17 UNC and earned a Top 25 victory at Boshamer Stadium.
The UConn pitching staff held North Carolina’s offense to one run on just six hits. The lone run of the game came from UNC’s Kane Kepley on a lead-off home run. Pitching kept the Huskies in control and ahead of the Tar Heels in this matchup.
After the Tar Heels attacked first, the Huskies responded with a two-out, two-run single from Padilla in the second inning to take the 2-1 lead. UConn added to their lead with a pair of sacrifice flies by MacArthur and freshman Connor Lane in the third running. Freshman Gabriel Tirado notched his first career RBI with a bases loaded walk in the same inning.
The Huskies’ defense was strong with the pitching and on the field. The UConn bullpen combined for 8.0 shutout innings with junior Evan Hamberger (2.0 IP), sophomore Sam Hutchinson (2.2 IP), junior Greg Shaw III (2.0 IP) and Afthim (1.1 IP) to shut down the Tar Heels offense. As for the field, the Huskies turned a pair of double plays and got big moments from Minick to end Carolina’s rally in the sixth inning.
Root registered his first career multi-hit game with a four-hit day at the plate for the Huskies in their 5-1 victory over No. 17 North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
For their final destination of the spring break week, the Huskies headed over to Greensboro, NC to face UNC Greensboro at UNCG Baseball Stadium . In the series opener on Friday, March 21, Pudvar had the start in the circle for UConn and pitched his career-high 7.0 innings. The redshirt sophomore from Vermont became the first UConn pitcher to record double digit strikeouts this season with 10 total.
Freshman Anthony Belisario and Root brought in the first run of the game to equalize the score. In the fourth inning, the Huskies took the lead after graduate student Caleb Shpur reached first- base on a bunt single, stole second base and then scored on an infield single by Padilla. The UNC Greensboro first baseman missed the ball, but by that time, Shpur was already halfway to home plate and scored easily. In the eighth inning, Minick added an insurance run with an RBI single, Root scored and made the score 3-1. Shaw III came out of the bullpen in the eighth frame and threw for a pair of strikeouts in a 1-2-3 inning. The Huskies closer Afthim continued the pitching with two strikeouts in a 1-2-3 frame in the ninth inning to record his third save of the season. In the pitchers duel, UConn secured the 3-1 victory in the opening game of the series against UNC Greensboro.
The series against UNC Greensboro resumed on Saturday, March 22 and the HookC captured their third straight win. Suchy started game two for the Huskies and posted a career-high 7.0 innings. He allowed one unearned run and struck out a career-best nine batters which eventually led to his second win of the season.
The offense showed up with a four-run fourth inning. Minick hit his seventh home run of the season to get UConn on the board first 1-0. MacArthur doubled, then Belisario plated MacArthur with an RBI single to center field. Belisario finished the game with his second-straight multi-hit game of the weekend series. Shupur finished the inning’s offense with a two-run triple on two outs which just passed the dive of the UNCF right fielder in the right field corner. In the eighth inning, the Spartans made it a 4-2 game, but Rispoli hit an opposite field home run to get the Huskies lead back to three runs, 5-2. That was Rispoli’s second home run of the year. Afthim came in to close out the game and he registered the five final outs to seal his third-straight save for the Huskies. UConn clinched the series on day two with the 5-2 victory against UNC Greensboro.
For the final matchup of the 11-game stretch in North Carolina, the Huskies closed out their weekend in UNC Greensboro on Sunday, March 23. The Huskies rallied from a 4-0 deficit to earn the 6-4 win against UNC Greensboro at UNCG Baseball Stadium.
The Huskies headed into the fifth inning tracking 4-0 to the Spartans. Shpur beat out a ground ball that looked to be an inning-ending double play, but he beat the throw to first base and got UConn on the board. Minick continued to cut UNC Greensboro’s lead with a RBI double in the sixth inning. The Huskies posted a four-spot to take their first lead of the game in the seventh inning, Tirado launched his first career hit which was an RBI double that made it a one-run game. Root earned UConn their first lead of the day with a two-run single to make it a 5-4 game with the Huskies ahead. Biller added an RBI single in the same inning.
After the offense flourished, the UConn bullpen posted 4.2 shutout innings. Sophomore Sean Finn pitched 2.0 shutout innings which included an immaculate inning in the sixth frame. Shaw earned his first save after recording the final six outs of the game. UConn earned their fourth-straight victory with the 6-4 win over UNC Greensboro and also secured their first series sweep of the season. After the eight-game stretch in North Carolina, the Huskies won five games, lost three and their record now improves to 10-11 on the season.
The UConn baseball team will be back in action on Tuesday, March 25 to face off against Boston College at 3:05 p.m. at Elliot Ballpark in Storrs, CT. The game will be available to stream live on UConn+ and on the radio on Fox Sports Radio 97.9 FM.