For the second weekend in a row, the UConn baseball team is hitting the road for a weekend series. Last weekend, they traveled down to Queens for a complete sweep over St. John’s, and this weekend they will head to Pennsylvania to face Villanova.
The Hook C is coming off two midweek matchups. On Tuesday, they faced Rutgers, and their 13-game win streak snapped after a 13-11 loss. However, they bounced back on Wednesday night after defeating Rhode Island 16-6 in seven innings.
Sophomore Tyler Minick has been a home run machine for the Huskies, with four homers in his last five games and 16 total in this season. Junior Ryan Daniels is not far behind at 10 home runs this season. For offense against Rhode Island, Minick finished the night with four RBIs, and graduate student Sam Biller, freshman Connor Lane and Daniels drove in three RBIs. Lane ended the game in the bottom of the seventh inning after launching a three-run home run, putting the 10-run rule into effect against URI.
Villanova is entering this series with a 20-21 overall record and 4-8 in Big East play. They are currently on a four-game losing streak and are looking to get back into the win column against the Huskies. A player to look out for on Villanova is catcher Jason Neff, who has been on fire at the plate for the Wildcats. He is currently batting .500 (9-for-18) with one home run and nine RBIs over the five-game span and has recorded an on-base percentage of .609. Neff’s season is tied for eighth in program history for home runs with 13 and ranks 15th in RBIs with 55. The graduate student catcher has been red-hot batting at the plate, but the Huskies will also have to keep their eyes peeled for Neff while hitting on offense as well.
Another consistent player of the Wildcats lineup this season is outfielder Austin Lemon. He has been a regular on the base paths this season. After going 4-for-4 and reaching base on all six plate appearances on Tuesday for Villanova, Lemon has posted a team-best .352 batting average and a .462 on-base percentage.
After winning 14 out of their last 15 games, the Huskies have a 27-18 overall record with an 11-4 record in conference action. UConn currently sits second in the Big East conference standings behind Creighton in first place.
The series against Villanova will start on Friday, May 2 with first pitch at 3:00 p.m., continuing on Saturday, May 3 at 2:00 p.m. and wrapping up on Sunday, May 4 at 1:00 p.m. As the Huskies only have a couple of regular season series remaining, every game counts, as the Big East Tournament and NCAA playoffs are just around the corner. All the games against Villanova will be available to be streamed on MIXLR.