UConn baseball splits midweek contests against Rhode Island and LIU

The Huskies fell to Rhode Island, but won their home opener on Wednesday.

UConn baseball has now won five of their last seven games and are now 8-11 on the season following a midweek split. The Huskies were unable to beat Rhode Island on Tuesday, but exploded for 14 runs in their home opener against LIU on Wednesday afternoon.

Tuesday: Rhode Island 4, UConn 1

It was a cool and windy day in Kingston, Rhode Island, which was a rude return from southern California for the Huskies and the Rams took a 4-1 victory, scoring four unanswered runs in the process.

Joe Cinella had a solid outing, contributing five innings of work, with just two runs allowed. They came on three hits and a walk, while he struck out six. However, UConn’s offense was unable to produce much of anything, with just a pair of walks, hit batters and hits each.

Paul Tammaro was hit by a pitch as the second batter of the game, but he was promptly retired as part of a 6-4-3 double play. From there, neither team did much of anything until the fourth.

Korey Morton recorded a bunt single, which was the second of two UConn hits on the afternoon, to push Tammaro to second, who was hit by another pitch. Luke Broadhurst moved each of the runners forward 90 feet on a sacrifice and Matt Malcom broke the scoreless tie on a groundout.

Michael Anderson promptly re-tied the game with a home run to lead off the bottom half of the frame and Nichols Toro drove in what proved to be the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly.

Anthony DePino opened the advantage up to three runs with a two-run home run in the sixth off of Jack Sullivan. Meanwhile, UConn didn’t record another hit and its only baserunners were Tammaro in the sixth and Broadhurst in the ninth, each on a base on balls.

Wednesday: UConn 14, LIU 8

It was opening day at Elliot Ballpark on Wednesday and UConn was able to erase an early 5-0 deficit with a six-run second, tacking on four in the fifth and three in the eighth to leave no doubt against the Sharks on a blustery day.

Ben Schild was touched for five runs, four of which were earned, in just two innings of work. He didn’t strike out a batter and surrendered six hits and two walks. However, Ian Cooke gave his team solid length out of the bullpen, giving up three runs over five innings of work to earn the win.

The Huskies got blitzed early, as Jake Mastillo opened the scoring on an RBI groundout in the first, but LIU added four in the second. Seth Surrett doubled the lead with an RBI double and put two runners in scoring position in the process. A walk loaded the bases and Mastillo cleared the bases with a single up the middle, with the third run coming home on a Drew Kron throwing error.

UConn came back with a vengance in the bottom half. Jake Studley reached on a fielder’s choice and moved up 90 feet on an infield single and Matt Malcom walked to load the bases, while Maddix Dalena worked another free pass to drive in a run and Kron kept the rally going by beating out the back end of a double play. They were rewarded, as Ryan Daniels walked and Paul Tammaro delivered a grand slam just inside the left field foul pole.

Daniels added another run in the third on a productive out and the Huskies struck again in the fourth. Korey Morton brought home a run with an infield single and Luke Broadhurst went opposite field with a three-run shot to make it 11-6.

LIU got one each in the sixth and seventh, but Dalena worked another walk to bring in a run and Kron knocked a two-RBI single.

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UConn will head to New Jersey this weekend for a three-game series against Rutgers. First pitch on Friday is at 4 p.m. and will be on BigTen+.