This weekend saw the UConn baseball team (26-17, 11-4 Big East) sweep the St. John’s Red Storm (20-20, 6-6 Big East) to extend their win streak to 13 games.
At Jack Kaiser Stadium in Queens, N.Y., the Huskies saw their best offense in a doubleheader in nearly 30 years.
The three-game series was supposed to run Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but the first two games were played on Friday due to inclement weather on Saturday.
The bats were flying early in the first game of the doubleheader, which began Friday at 1 p.m. Junior Ryan Daniels put the Huskies on the board in the first inning with an RBI double. The Meriden, Conn. native later hit his fifth home run in the last four games in the third inning.
Graduate student Sam Biller kept Hook C’s offense hot with a bases-clearing, three-run double that capped a five-run third inning while holding the Red Storm scoreless through three innings.
The latter would not be a trend for long, with St. John’s rallying with a six-run fourth inning to even the score at 7-7.
Biller came up clutch again with his sixth home run of the year, a solo shot with two outs in the fifth inning. St. John’s answered just a frame later to tie the game up at eight runs.
Sophomore Tyler Minick hit his 13th home run of the season in the sixth inning, a solo shot that made it a 9-8 UConn lead. He had his first five-hit game of his career in the series opener. Senior tri-captain Matt Garbowski added more insurance with a two-run double that gave Connecticut a three-run lead.
Junior Aidan Dougherty added another run to the high-scoring win with an RBI single in the ninth inning.
Right-handed pitcher Greg Shaw III did damage control with 5.2 innings pitched while allowing just one run to earn the victory out of the bullpen.
“He’s our real slow heartbeat guy,” UConn head coach Jim Penders said in a postgame interview posted to the team’s X account. “He’s a pitcher’s pitcher and a coach’s pitcher. He’s fun to watch… We don’t win that game without Greg Shaw’s presence.”
The second game started at 5:15 p.m., and the offense did not slow down.
Dougherty’s turn was to have a five-hit game, including four RBI doubles.
Connecticut had a significantly more dominant performance in the second game, scoring in seven of their nine at-bats. Outside Dougherty’s five-hit performance, three other players had at least three hits in the series-clincher. Graduate student Caleb Shpur also had his first career five-hit game, while redshirt freshman Rob Rispoli and junior Ryan Daniels had three-hit performances.
Minick stayed hot, hitting a two-run home run in the second inning. It was the Reading, Pa. native’s 14th home run of the season.
Right-handed pitcher Tommy Ellisen pitched six innings that saw him strike out six Johnnies, rightfully earning him the win. In the bullpen, left-handed pitcher JT Caruso and right-handed pitcher Kyle Peters provided scoreless frames to keep the Huskies’ commanding lead.
“Aside from the 0-2 mistake, I thought he pitched great,” Penders said. “Kudos to him.”
With the win, UConn has now won four-straight series at St. John’s. The doubleheader sweep in Queens is the first in the program’s history. Overall, Connecticut scored 30 combined runs on Friday, the most for the program since scoring 41 runs against Boston College on April 20, 1996.
“That was the most fun I’ve had in Queens in one day,” Penders added.
The final game of the series occurred on Sunday, with a 1 p.m. start.
In the second inning, Biller got the scoring going yet again. He reached on a fielder’s choice as Minick crossed home plate. Later in the inning, he stole second base. Because of a throwing error, graduate student Beau Root scored to make it a 2-0 ballgame.
St. John’s answered a frame later with a two-run home run to tie the game.
In the fourth inning, freshman Connor Lane hit an RBI single to break the 2-2 tie. Later in the frame, graduate student Bryan Padilla reached base on a sacrifice bunt that was misplayed by St. John’s pitcher Victor Frederick. That allowed Lane to cross home plate to double their lead.
The fifth and sixth innings ended any hopes for St. John’s at winning the series finale.
In the fifth inning, Minick hit his 15th home run of the season to make it a 5-3 game. Dougherty hit his first home run as a Husky that gave UConn a 6-3 advantage. Biller followed Dougherty with a home run of his own, his seventh of the year.
Shpur put a cherry on top of a dominant fifth inning with an RBI single to make it an 8-3 game.
An inning later, Biller stayed hot. He drove in his third RBI of the day and his ninth of the weekend with a single through the left side.
Lane drove in Biller on an RBI double to center field. Rispoli returned the favor with an RBI single to drive in Lane.
The final bit of damage was done in the eighth inning when Padilla hit a three-run home run to right field to drive in Biller and Dougherty. The lead was so massive that it was a run-rule win for UConn.
The pitching staff held their own, allowing just three runs in the series finale. Left-handed pitcher Charlie West pitched six innings, only allowed two hits, and struck out six batters.
“He was just sensational, super poised the whole way,” Penders said on X following the series finale. “I’ve been so impressed with him.”
UConn now holds a 71-61 advantage over St. John’s. It was the program’s first-ever sweep in Queens, N.Y.
The Huskies will turn the page to back-to-back nonconference games with Rutgers and Rhode Island coming to Storrs, Conn. this week.