Both contests were shortened due to the run rule.
UConn baseball played a couple of overmatched squads this week, as the Huskies have now won five in a row and 12 of their last 14 games with a pair of games shorted to seven innings via the run rule. UConn gave up early runs in both contests, but its quality shined through shortly afterward.
Tuesday: UConn 13, UMass 3 (7 innings)
Each of the nine Huskies in the order scored a run, eight of them had a hit and six of them drove in a run in a dismantling of UMass to open the week.
Gabe Van Emon delivered a quality start, scattering two runs on three hits over six innings of work, helping save the bullpen as the offense held up its end of the bargain, helping shorten Tuesday’s contest at Elliot Ballaprk.
UConn scored first on a Bryan Padilla single up the middle, but the Minutemen held a lead after three innings as Carter Hansen knocked a two-run homer in the top of the frame. However, Van Emon shut it down from there, retiring the final 10 batters he faced and the Huskies broke out offensively.
There a was a near-miss in the third, as Tyler Minick, Paul Tammaro and Luke Broadhurst were each hit by pitches, loading the bases with two outs, but Korey Morton flew out going after the first pitch, ending the threat.
Then the onslaught came. Twelve Huskies came to the plate in the fourth, plating seven runs, while 10 more did so in the fifth, scoring five more.
Maddix Dalena tied the game with a single and put Jake Studley, who recorded an infield single, on third. Matt Malcom got plunked to load the bases and the Huskies took the lead when Caleb Shpur wore one. He was one of eight hit-by-pitches on the afternoon.
Tammaro then scored two with a base hit and Broadhurst delivered a home run to extend the lead to 8-2. The lead could have been larger, but Padilla was stranded on second base.
In the following frame, Tammaro stayed hot with another two-run knock, this time a double. He scored on a Korey Morton two-bagger and Padilla pushed the lead to 11 with a two-run double of his own. The Huskies were able to load the bases as Dalena and Malcom were hit by pitches, but a strikeout ended the threat.
UMass scored a run in the seventh off of Sean Finn, but it wasn’t enough to extend the contest.
Wednesday: UConn 14, Hofstra 3 (7 innings)
The second game of the week played out similarly to the first one. The opposition jumped out to an early lead, then UConn exploded offensively and forced an early end, but this time the output was a bit more concentrated.
Seven Huskies out of 11 position players to appear scored and scored a run. Ryan Hyde scored a run without recording a base knock, while Jake Studley was unable to cross the plate.
All three runs came on Garrett Coe’s tab, but each of them were unearned. He pitched three innings and struck out three, with zero walks and four hits.
Luke Broadhurst allowed the leadoff hitter to reach as he couldn’t field a grounder cleanly. Paul Tammaro had similar trouble on the next play, preventing a double play, though he did get the out at second. These miscues permitted a two-out rally, as three-straight hits when Coe should have been out of the inning plated a trio of runs before he picked off a runner trying to take second to end the frame.
UConn’s offense responded with a bang. The Huskies scored 10 runs in the bottom of the third as 13 hitters recorded a plate appearance. Maddix Dalena singled through the right side to score Korey Morton, who led off the frame with a single, pushing Bryan Padilla to third. That put him in range to score on a Ryan Hyde squeeze, reaching as Hofstra tried to cut down Dalena at second.
TC Simmons walked to load the bases and Caleb Shpur singled, with the Huskies moving station to station in a now-tied game before Tammaro wore a pitch, which proved to be the game-winning RBI.
After Dalena came up to the plate again and hit a home run, the Huskies were up 10-3 and had recorded six hits, scoring five with two down in the frame.
Shpur drove in another run in the third as his single up the middle got under the center fielder’s glove and got nearly to the wall, plating Simmons.
In the fifth, Tamamro had a two-run double, scoring on a two-bagger by Morton, putting the run rule in play.
Meanwhile, UConn pitching combined to retire each of the Hofstra hitters that came to the plate between the third and sixth innings, with just two base hits in the seventh to speak of before the game was called. Joe Cinella, Jack Sullivan and Thomas Ellisen each had a clean frame.
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UConn (22-18) will return to Big East play against Villanova this weekend. Friday’s first pitch at Elliot Ballpark is at 6:05 p.m. on FloSports.