The Huskies surged into first place in the Big East after three close wins.
UConn baseball has won 11 of its last 14 games after a weekend sweep of Georgetown in Washington DC to take sole possession of first place in the Big East. The Huskies came out on top in three one-run games.
Friday: UConn 7, Georgetown 6
UConn trailed 4-1 after six innings in the series opener, with a Korey Morton homer representing the only run. The Huskies exploded for four in the seventh and needed to come back again with a run each in the eighth and ninth to secure the victory.
Jake Studley got the rally started in the seventh, getting hit by a pitch, then took an extra base after a Maddix Dalena single. Caleb Shpur doubled down the left field line to get both runners across the plate and push Tyler Minick, who walked, 90 feet away from tying the game. Two batters later, Luke Broadhurst knocked a two-run single to give his team the lead.
That lead lasted for half an inning. In the bottom half, Owen Carapellotti responded with a two-run knock of his own, making it 6-5 in favor of Georgetown.
Free passes helped the Huskies in the eighth, as both Bryan Padilla and Dalena worked a base on balls. Between batters hit by pitches and walks, UConn got an extra seven baserunners on the night. With two outs, Shpur came to the plate and worked the count full, getting the runners started and helping Padilla re-tie the game on his single.
Georgetown extinguished the threat, but Broadhurst led the ninth off with a solo homer, which proved to be the difference, as Braden Quinn allowed just one hit over the eighth and ninth innings.
Ian Cooke started for the Huskies and gave his team five innings with 10 strikeouts, but four Georgetown runs came on his tab, as he allowed six hits and walked two. The Hoyas got two in the second to go up 2-0, and Cooke only retired them in order once, dealing with traffic throughout the evening.
Saturday: UConn 5, Georgetown 4
This time, the go-ahead theatrics were in the eighth, as Bryan Padilla capped off a 2-for-3, four-RBI day with a single up the middle that plated the tying and go-ahead runs. He also homered to tie the game at 3-3 in the fourth and got the Huskies on the board early on with a bunt.
Georgetown committed five errors on Saturday, leading to two unearned runs. This particularly helped the Huskies keep innings alive and move baserunners, as they recorded just three hits.
Marco Castillo committed errors on the first two hitters of the game, putting Caleb Shpur and Paul Tammaro on base. A third miscue brought Shpur across and Padilla’s bunt plated Tammaro for an early 2-0 lead.
Garrett Coe responded with a shutout inning in the first, but three Hoyas crossed the plate in the second frame. Joe Hollerbach led off the frame with a home run, and then a trio of doubles gave Georgetown the lead. Coe responded, however, as he was clean through the middle innings and only an unearned run came across on his watch without a hit in the frame, as he helped save the bullpen with 7 2⁄3 innings of work.
Outside of Padilla’s home run in the fourth, the Huskies were similarly quiet. Georgetown’s pitching faced the minimum in the second, third, and fifth, with just a walk in the sixth and a two-out error in the seventh.
In the eighth, a hit-by-pitch and a walk to lead off the frame got the rally started. Matt Garbowski walked to load the bases and Padilla singled up the middle to plate the runs, though the next two were retired to end the threat.
The game-tying run got to third with two outs on Brady Afthim, but he was able to induce a fly-out with the count full to secure the save and give the Huskies the series win.
Sunday: UConn 7, Georgetown 6
While Georgetown tagged Stephen Quigley for three runs in the bottom of the first, UConn was able to play from in front through the middle and late innings, instead of holding off the Hoyas from having some late-game dramatics of their own.
Owen Carapellotti opened the scoring with a three-run home run, but Quigley bore down after that. He dealt with traffic throughout, as the home team recorded nine hits over his 4 2⁄3 innings, but no additional runners crossed the plate.
UConn struck for five in the fourth to take the lead and never gave it back, adding a pair more in the fifth.
Maddix Dalena started the scoring with a two-run double, which was one of five hits in the inning. He came across two hitters later on a Caleb Shpur single before Paul Tammaro was hit by a pitch, which loaded the bases. Luke Broadhurst took advantage, jumping on the first pitch to score another run. Korey Morton would add a fifth on a sacrifice fly.
In the following frame, Tyler Minick added a two-run home run. From there, the Huskies were largely quiet, with just one other legitimate threat, as Jake Studley reached third with two down in the ninth.
Meanwhile, Braden Quinn did his best to stem the Georgetown tide. The Hoyas got one run back in the sixth, which was charged to Jack Sullivan, as Quinn inherited a runner on third with one out, but was able to avoid a big inning. In the seventh, a 4-6-3 double play killed a rally, but he wasn’t so lucky in the eighth, as he served up a two-out, two-run home run.
Georgetown again got the tying run to third on Brady Afthim in the ninth, but the right-hander was able to tightrope walk out of the situation and secure the UConn sweep.
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UConn (20-18, 7-2 Big East) will get back on the field on Tuesday against UMass. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m. on UConn+.