The UConn Baseball team completed their six-day road trip undefeated starting in Georgetown with a three-game sweep over the Hoyas and ending in New Jersey with a midweek matchup win against Rutgers.
For the Tuesday afternoon matchup against Rutgers in Piscataway, NJ, junior Charlie Hale started on the mound for the Huskies. The junior finished the day with four strikeouts and only allowed two earned runs in 4.2 innings pitched.
The scoring got started in the fourth inning when junior Chris Polemeni launched a solo home run to left field. That marked Polemeni’s 7th home run of the season. The Huskies then brought in two more runs from sophomore Jackson Marshall and sophomore Rob Rispoli to end the top of the fourth inning with a three-run lead over Rutgers.
After Rutgers hit a lead-off double to start the bottom of the fourth inning, Hale struck out Rutgers’ senior catcher Matt Chatelle to leave the runner stranded at second and keep the Scarlet Knights off the board.
In the fifth inning, Rutgers scored a pair of runs to cut UConn’s lead to 3-2.
Out of the bullpen, senior Greg Shaw III tossed a scoreless sixth inning to keep the Huskies lead alive.
In the top of the seventh, UConn added two insurance runs, extending their lead to 5-2 over Rutgers. Sophomore Chris Cancel hit his first career home run to start off the inning. Freshman Cam Righi then singled to right field, scoring sophomore Peyton Jemison.
Keeping the game close, Rutgers added a run in the bottom of the 7th inning, then one more in the eighth frame. At the end of the eighth inning, UConn was holding on to a 5-4 lead over Rutgers, looking to close out the game in the ninth.
Graduate student Paxton Meyers struck out a batter and handled the rest to push UConn to a 5-4 win over Rutgers on the road. This victory pushes the Huskies to a six-game win streak. Hale secured the win as the starting pitcher to continue his 6-0 undefeated record and Meyers earned his fifth save of the season.
Following the weekend and the midweek matchup at Rutgers, Hook C’s record improves to 25-20 overall and 10-5 in Big East Conference play.
The Huskies will be back in action at home in Storrs this weekend for a three-game series against East Tennessee State. The non-conference series will open this Friday, May 1 at Elliott Ballpark with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. All three games over the weekend will be available to stream on UConn+.