Huskies Overpower Quinnipiac; Defeat Bobcats 26-5

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STORRS, CT (April 22) -- The Huskies barraged Quinnipiac with 23 hits including four home runs as the University of Connecticut baseball team upended the Bobcats 26-5 on Thursday afternoon at J.O. Christian Field in Storrs.  With the victory, the Huskies creep back over .500 at 19-18, while Quinnipiac, a team that came into today's contest ranked No. 2 in New England, slips to 19-13. 

Collectively Connecticut went 23-for-45 (.511) on Thursday and all but one Husky who recorded an official at bat got a hit. 

The pitching effort of sophomore hurler Tim Norton (Pascoag, RI) should not get lost in the shuffle.  Norton went 5.1 innings and surrendered only one earned run on four hits in recording his first win of the season. 

Mike James (Roswell, GA), Brendan McGinn (Tolland, CT) and Joe Smeraglino (Shelton, CT) finished off the final 3.2 innings for Connecticut. 

Tim Dempsey (Lexington, MA) sparked the Huskies' six-run third inning with a two-run blast over the scoreboard in right center.  Senior Mike Mocerino (Northboro, MA) preceded Dempsey with a single in his first game back since he suffered an injury on March 28 at Villanova.  Mocerino also hit a one out solo shot into right field in the fifth and went 2-for-4 with four runs scored and an RBI in his return to the Husky lineup. 

Junior Jeff Hourigan (Beacon Falls, CT) drilled a grand slam over the center field wall with no outs in the eighth to put an exclamation point on the Huskies' victory.  Hourigan went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and five RBI and reached base five times.

Senior Marc Peluso (Pawcatuck, CT) broke out of a 3-for-25 slump with a 5-for-5 afternoon and scored three runs and drove in two more. 

Leading by a 10-2 score in the fifth, UConn eliminated any thought of a Quinnipiac comeback with seven runs in the fifth frame.  After Mocerino hit his solo shot with one out, Dempsey flied out for the second out.  Quinnipiac seemed to be out of the inning when Dennis Donovan (Center Moriches, NY) hit a hard ground ball at the shortstop.  However, the Bobcat shortstop could not handle it and Donovan would reach on the error. 

UConn then proceeded to bring eight consecutive batters to the plate with two outs and scored six more runs to break the game wide open. 

The Huskies are back in action for a critical doubleheader with BIG EAST foe Boston College on Saturday, April 24.  The double-dip is slated for a 12:00 p.m. start in Boston, MA.