The Huskies earned a run-rule victory over the Rams.
UConn baseball got together with Rhode Island for the 198th time on Wednesday night and after the Rams knocked a grand slam in the top of the first, the Huskies stormed back to take a 16-6 win in a shortened, seven-inning contest due to the run rule.
Patience was key for the hosts, as they scored those runs on just eight hits, all of which were concentrated between the second through sixth hitters in the lineup. However, they worked 11 walks, led by three for Ryan Daniels. Sam Biller, Connor Lane and Tyler Minick each had two hits, including a home run for the trio. Biller and Lane knocked a double, as well.
Jude Abbadessa allowed three straight singles to load the bases for DJ Perron. He left a 1-1 pitch over the middle of the plate and the right-handed hitter took it the opposite way over the right-field fence. The right-hander didn’t allow another hit over the rest of his 2 1⁄3 innings, but walked a hitter in the second and hit another in the third, prompting Ian Cooke to come out of the bullpen.
He started off with a free pass, but completed the contest and only allowed two runs in the seventh, coming on a two-run single with two outs in the inning. He surrendered four hits, three of which came in the seventh, and walked one against eight strikeouts over 4 2⁄3 frames.
UConn started the comeback in the bottom half of the first, as Minick fouled off three pitches hard down the third-base line to start his at-bat and remained aggressive, taking a breaking ball that stayed in the center of the zone over the visitor’s bullpen in left-center field for a two-run shot. He had four RBI on the night.
After a one-inning respite, Daniels drove in one of his three RBI in the third with a single to bring the deficit to one and with two outs, Biller knocked his home run to tie the contest. The second inning was the only one in which the Huskies didn’t score.
The biggest frame for UConn was the fourth, as five runs came across the plate on just two hits. Rhode Island pitching hit two hitters, walked two more and committed an error to help move the Huskies around the bases.
Daniels walked with the bases loaded for the go-ahead run and Minick, the next hitter, got into another 0-2 count and his grounder to third base wasn’t fielded cleanly. He beat it out and was credited with a hit for another run. Biller followed it up with a two-run double and Minick made it 9-4 as he crossed the plate on a failed pickoff attempt.
The home team scored two more each in the fifth and sixth without registering a hit, as the Rams issued six more free passes and hit another batter, with a wild pitch, passed ball, fielder’s choice and sacrifice fly mixed in.
Lane called game in the seventh, as UConn led 13-6 and Minick worked the team’s 11th walk and Biller was the victim of Rhode Island’s fifth hit batter. He nearly went yard to right field in the first pitch of the at-bat, but went into the UConn bullpen on the next pitch to put his team up 10 runs and end the contest.
The Huskies (27-18) will play its penultimate Big East series this weekend on the road against Villanova. First pitch on Friday is at 3 p.m. on FloSports.