The Hook C came to play with their offense on Tuesday afternoon as they traveled 90 minutes up north to face off against Boston College for their last midweek matchup game on the road.
Graduate student Caleb Shpur got the Huskies started with a 2-run blast in the first inning to get UConn on the board, which marked his third home run of the season.Redshirt freshman Giovanni Conte started in the circle for the Huskies and collected his first career strikeout in the bottom of the first inning.
After Boston College equalized the score at two in the first inning, redshirt freshman Rob Rispoli responded with an RBI single to center field which scored junior Grant MacArthur in the second inning.
Once again, Boston College scored in the bottom of the frame so both teams entered the third inning with three runs. For the Huskies, graduate student Bryan Padilla stayed on his hot streak by hitting an RBI single to left field to score sophomore Tyler Minick. Graduate student Beau Root helped to extend the Huskies lead with an RBI single with two outs in the top of the third frame. Then with two runners still on base, freshman Connor Lane hit in the gap in left field for a double and scored both Padilla and Root to give UConn the 7-3 lead. Rispoli capped off the five-run inning for the Huskies with another RBI single, scoring Lane. After Boston College came up to bat, UConn finished the third inning with the 8-6 lead.
The Huskies then exploded in the fourth inning. Padilla got them started by clearing the bases with a triple that brought home Minick, junior Aidan Dougherty and graduate student Sam Biller, and extended UConn’s lead to 10-6. Lane came up to bat as the Huskies held the 12-6 lead, the freshman launched a three-run homer to bring UConn to 15 runs. That marked Lane’s fifth RBI of the day and all seven batters that had come to the plate for the Huskies in the top of the fourth inning, scored. Dougherty added another run in the frame with a single that scored Shpur.
In the fifth inning, the Huskies reached their season-high of runs in a game with 18 after MacArthur notched his fourth home run of the season. At the end of the fifth frame, UConn leads Boston College 18-8.
In the middle of the sixth inning, the Huskies maintained their 19-8 lead, MacArthur drew a bases loaded hit by pitch to add another run for the Hook C against Boston College. In the seventh inning, Dougherty collected a two-run single to extend the Huskies lead over the Eagles to 12 runs.
By the end of the seventh inning, the Huskies had reached the run-rule limit and the game was called in Chestnut Hill. UConn defeated Boston College 21-9 on the road.
“It was obviously an offensive day with the way the wind was blowing but the guys did a really nice job with their approach,” said Head Coach Jim Penders following the run-rule victory over Boston College.
This win improves the Huskies record to 17-17 (.500) overall and their conference record remains at 5-4 (.556). Up next for the Hook C is a three-game series at home against Seton Hall. The series will open on Thursday, April 17 with a 6:05 first pitch, then continue on Friday, April 18 at 6:05 and wrap up on Saturday, April 19 at 1:05 p.m.. All games will be played at Elliot Ballpark in Storrs, CT and will be available to stream on FloSports.